October 13th Weekly Update

SHIP LOGS & EXERCISES:

Ship & Group Locations Checked & Updated (October 7 to 13)

ACTIVE EXERCISES:

JOINT WARRIOR (October 1-12) @ Scotland, UK

• (Oct 1) Exercise Begins (US Navy )
• (Oct 2) VBSS Team Training
• (Oct 8) USS Gettysburg participates in NEO exercise (US Navy )
• (Oct 11) Exercise ends (US Navy )

RUSSIAN PACIFIC FLEET TACTICAL HARBOR EXERCISE (October 7 to 13?) @ Avachinskaya Bay, Kamchatka, Russia

GROWLER 12 (October 7 – 13?) @ RAAFB Amberley, Australia

PHIBLEX (October 8 – 18) @ Philippines

• (Oct 8) begin PHIBLEX at Subic Bay, Philippines (US Navy )

RUSSIAN PACIFIC FLEET MARINE SCOUT FIELD EXERCISES (October 8 to 20?) @ Primorsky Krai, Klerk Peninsula, Russia

COUGAR 2012 (October to November, 2012) @ Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas

• (Oct 11) UK Task Force heading to Mediterranean (Royal Navy )
• (Oct 12) UK Task Force visits Gibraltar (Panorama )

SHIP LOGS:

FS Charles de Gaulle (CVN)

• (Oct 11) visiting Naples, Italy, Exercise LEVANT ends

FS Siroco (LSD)

• (Oct 8) relieves FS Ventose (FFG), begins CORYMBE Gulf of Guinea patrol (Defence Ministry )

HMS Diamond (DDG)

• (Oct 11) joint board & search EX with UAE frigate Murayjib in Arabian Gulf

HMS Edinbourgh (DDG)

• (Oct 11) completed visit to Lisbon, Portugual, en-route to S. Atlantic

HMS Kent (FFG)

• (Oct 12) Kent and Severn visit Belfast, Ireland

RFS Admiral Gorshkov (DDG)

• (Oct 8) Launched, first Udaloy Class (Project 22350) Destroyer in the Russian navy to be made of carbon composition
• (Oct 10) Izvestia changes it's mind... Dockside trials begin in November, ship isn't carbon composition, but does have special radar absorbing coat to superstructure

RFS Novocherkassk (LST)

• (Oct 5) visiting Corfu Island, Greece for two days

USS Bonhomme Richard ARG

• (Oct 8) begin PHIBLEX at Subic Bay, Philippines (US Navy )

USS Ft. McHenry (LSD-43)

• (Oct 11) patrolling in Mediterranean ...might be slated to participate in COUGAR 12

USS Mt. Whitney (LCC-20)

• (Oct 9) @ Gaeta, Italy, Basic damage control drill while at homeport

USS Nimitz (CVN-68)

• (Oct 4) at San Diego, change of command ceremony for Naval Air Forces commander
• (Oct 6) received and refueled an MV-22 Osprey while at sea, testing aircraft as potential replacement for the C-2 Greyhound

USS Olympia (SSN-717)

• (Oct 4) at Subic Bay, Philippines

USS Peleliu ARG

• (Oct 10) visiting Timor-Leste for EXERCISE CROCODILLO 2012

USS Reuben James (FFG-57)

• (Oct 3) departs Pearl Harbor for final deployment ...added to Ship Logs

USS Stennis CSG

• (Oct 6) rescues drowning man in Straits of Malacca
• (Oct 12) in Andaman Sea with Washington CSG

USS Toledo (SSN-769)

• (Oct 12) returns from EUCOM deployment

USS Underwood (FFG-36)

• (Oct 8) @ Colon, Panama on-loading supplies

USS Washington CSG

• (Oct 7) @ Port Klang, Malaysia
• (Oct 9) USS Cowpens (CG-63) visits Jakarta, Indonesia
• (Oct 12) in Andaman Sea with Stennis CSG;
• Lt. Gen Dato' Zulkiple bin Hj Kassi, Field Commander of the Malaysian Army visits ship

GROUND UNITS LOGS & EXERCISES:

US Ground units logs updated per DOD reports, up to (October 7 to 13) (DOD News Releases )

France, UK, Russia, China Army logs updated per various news releases and open sources

ACTIVE EXERCISES:

CHISTOY NEBO 2012 (October 5 - 16) CIS ADA Exercise in Central Asia

UNIT LOGS:

FRANCE

• 21^st Marine Infantry Regiment assumes command of Task Force Epervier in Chad for four month rotation (Oct 2)

UK

• 4 Mechanized Brigade – Officially takes over Afghan mission (Oct 11), HERRICK 17 begins, delete HERRICK 16 from log ()

USA

• 3^rd Infantry Division, 2^nd Brigade – Begin returning home (Army Times )

NEWS that makes me go Hmmmm......

IRAN

• (Oct 6) Israel shoots down Iranian drone over N. Israel
• (Oct 9) Intelligence estimates that Iran has enough 20% uranium to produce a warhead in November, 2012; that Israel converted large numbers of 707's into air tankers, and is able to successfully attack Iran with only 100 fighter-bombers; and that the US and Israel has 20-days to decide to attack (Debka )

SYRIA

• (Oct 10) Turkish AF force passenger jet flying from Moscow to Syria to land in Ankara on suspicion of carrying arms, it's feared that Turkey may be unilaterally imposing aerial blockade and/or no-fly-zone over Syria (Debka ); US Defense Sec. Panetta announces that US forces are building an HQ in Jordan to aid in the monitoring of Syrian WMD's and refugees in Jordan (Yahoo News )
• (Oct 11) Turkey releases the civilian airliner after impounding part of the cargo; places it's military on full alert (Debka )
• (Oct 12) fighting intensifies: Rebels capture another air defense base E of Aleppo; Turkey scrambles two F-16s when a Syrian Attack helicopter bombed the Syrian border villlage of Azmarin, shooting it down; 400-Syrian army soldiers were captured at Jisr al-Shoughour, conscripts were released, officers weren't; fighting reported at military barracks close to Maarat al-Nuaman on the road from Homs to Aleppo, The capture of Maarat jeopardizes Syrian Army reinforcements to Aleppo, an armored column sent to break the rebel advances in Maarat was halted, and heavy artillery bombardments were reported along the entire highway from Khan Sheikhoun to Maarat (Yahoo News )

MAPPING UPDATES

INDIAN OCEAN – UPDATED TO CURRENT LOCATIONS

MEDITERRANEAN – UPDATED TO CURRENT LOCATIONS

SYRIA – TIMELINE UPDATED