Gerald R Ford Lower Bow Lift. Photo by Ricky Thompson via Huntington Ingalls

Huntington Ingalls’ Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division this week reached a major milestone in the construction of the U.S. Navy’s new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), as the lower bow was lowered into place in dry dock.

As we saw earlier this week, the Gerald R. Ford is being built using modular construction, a process where smaller sections of the ship are welded together to form large structural units, outfitting is installed, and the large unit is lifted into the dry dock. Of the nearly 500 total structural lifts needed to complete the ship, 390 have been accomplished.

The lower bow section shown here is more than 60 feet tall and, at 680-metric-tons, is one of the heaviest superlifts to be placed on the ship.

“The lower bow is a distinctive component of an aircraft carrier,” said Rolf Bartschi, NNS’ vice president of CVN 78 carrier construction. “Its sheer size is indicative of the massive undertaking of this project and the incredible work ethic of the shipbuilders bringing Ford to life. I congratulate the team on yet another major construction milestone.”

This is one of the cooler photos we’ve seen in a while and I highly recommend viewing it in hi-res, HERE.

The placement of the lower bow section as seen during the Gerald R. Ford build sequence animation. Click for Video

Here is an aerial shot of New York harbor during the “Parade of Sail”, an event that officially marks the start of Fleet Week in New York.

This years event, which goes from May 23-30, is taking on special significance as it commemorates the bicentennial of the War of 1812. During the parade, six Navy ships, three Coast Guard cutters, 12 coalition ships from around the world sailed under the Verrazano Bridge and into New York harbor.

This photo was taken Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Leona Mynes and can be viewed in Hi-Res HERE.

Here is some video taken from onboard the Matanuska ferry at the moment it crashed into the Ocean Beauty Seafood dock and processing plant in Petersburg, Alaska on May 7.

While the cameraman did not visually get the impact on film, she did provide some interesting commentary and kept the camera rolling, catching the vessel backing off and revealing extensive damage to the dock and building.

No injuries were report onboard or on land, which is very lucky considering the 3,029gt ferry almost perfectly t-boned a second story office and fish processing plant at 1 pm on a Monday.  The M/V Matanuska suffered only minor damage and returned to service shortly thereafter.

The 408-foot Matanuska is one of 11 vessels in the Alaska State Ferry system.  It had 60 passengers onboard at the time.

The allision is currently under investigation.

"Oh my gosh!"

UDPATE: Insider reports are indicating that the Matanuska hit the dock after being forced to maneuver around another much smaller vessel:

Fishing boat coming out of the harbor supposedly cut off the Matanuska forcing the ferry to do drastic collision avoidence. The maneuver forced the ferry to over shoot the Petersburg dock. The ferry tried to turn 180 degrees to get to the dock. During that turn is when the Matanuska hit the dock. Tides were extra large that weekend with 5 knots of current on the stern. Petersburg is at the north end of Wrangell Narrows, a challenging waterway for the most experienced navigators.

Photo: BAE Systems

A huge section of hull for HMS Queen Elizabeth, the first of the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers being built for the UK Royal Navy, left BAE Systems’ Portsmouth facility Monday on a four day journey to the east coast of Scotland.

Employees watched as the large sea-going barge carrying the 6,000 tonne forward section of hull, known as Lower Block 02, was towed from the company’s facility to begin her passage to Rosyth.

To celebrate the departure of the block, a team of 50 cyclists from across the Aircraft Carrier Alliance will set off on a grueling challenge on Friday, cycling 500 miles from Portsmouth to Rosyth in an attempt to “Beat the Block” and raise funds for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.

Beat the Block is a great way to not only mark this significant stage in the carrier programme, but also raise money for a charity which supports the men and women of our armed forces. The cyclists face a tough few days ahead so I encourage people to get behind the challenge and show support to the cyclists on route. -Steven Carroll, Queen Elizabeth Class Project Director at BAE Systems

Over the next few days, the block will travel up the east coast of Britain before its scheduled arrival in Rosyth on Friday, May 25.  Upon her arrival, Lower Block 02 will be floated off the specialized barge into the waters of the River Forth, where it will then enter the dry dock at Rosyth and workers will undertake a complex move to fit the giant pieces of the jigsaw together. A 13,000 tonne section of hull already in the dock will be floated out to allow Lower Block 02 to move into position and both sections to come together.

An artist’s rendition of the Queen Elizabeth supercarrier. Via wikipedia

At Portsmouth Naval Base, the future home of the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers, a significant plan of investment is underway to prepare for the ships’ arrival. The plan includes dredging the existing channel to Portsmouth to make it deeper and wider, the renovation and reinforcement of the base’s jetties to ease access for both the QE Class and Type 45 fleet and the installation of new navigational beacons to help the ships find their way safely into and out of the harbour.

The aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales are being delivered by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, a unique partnering relationship between BAE Systems, Thales UK, Babcock and the UK Ministry of Defence. BAE Systems has an overarching role in managing the QE Class program, as well as playing a central role in the design and build of the ships.

Once completed, the 65,000 tonne QE Class will be the center piece of Britain’s military capability.

From Amver Blog:

Rescue personnel in Falmouth requested Amver information from the U.S. Coast Guard. The tanker Stolt Invitation was identified and requested to divert and assist. The Stolt Invitation arrived on scene and the crew worked to recover the two sailors. The survivors were treated for mild hypothermia and accompanied the ship to New York. Personnel from the Finnish Consulate met the sailors when they arrived in New York and the crew of the Stolt Invitation were presented with a certificate of appreciation from the Amver office.

Here’s a video of the rescue:

Click here to view the embedded video.

An interesting (and rather amazing) statistic about Amver?  Every 33 hours, an Amver participating ship saves a life somewhere in the world. Find out how you can enroll in Amver and help ensure no call for help goes unanswered.

Remember, whale strikes can go both ways.  Check out this amazing photo of a similar incident in 2010, this one thankfully just off the coast of Capetown.

Remember this? In 2010 a giant right whale bellyflopped onto a yacht off Capetown, South Africa. This is not photoshopped.

LINK: AMVER Blog

Click to interact

Today, an annular solar eclipse will occur all the way from Thailand, across the pacific, and ending in Texas.  Here is a map of the projected path of the eclipse from NASA.

This map shows the path of the Annular Solar Eclipse of 2012 May 20 . The northern and southern path limits are blue and the central line is red. The yellow lines crossing the path indicate the position of maximum eclipse at 10-minute intervals. -NASA

So what exactly is an annular solar eclipse anyway?

• Sun and moon are directly in line
• Apparent size of moon is smaller than the sun, creating a vivid ring of fire around the border
• Viewed along the red line in the map eclipse will appear to be a near total eclipse, only a small ring will be visible bordering the moon More…

In the United States, the eclipse begins around 5:30 p.m. PDT and if you’re near the center-line of the eclipse, which runs from Northern California through Northern Texas, for about 4.5 minutes you’ll be able to see a “ring of fire”.

Pay attention to the shadows during this event as they are said to cast odd ring shaped shadows on the ground.   If you are hoping to photograph the eclipse, look into a Solar Filter to protect both your eyes and your camera.  And bare in mind, despite the blocking of the sun the rays will still be just as intense.  Do not stare directly into the sun!!!

Graphic of an Annular Solar Eclipse:

Link: NASA’s Eclipse Website

Pizza's here!

I know this is technically the second Incident Video of The Week but I felt like this is a good one for a Friday afternoon and rules are made to be broken anyway.

The video shows the Eihatsu Maru, a Japanese trawler stranded on Clifton beach in Cape Town, South Africa . It starts out as a satire of sorts but about a minute and a half in its apparent that this actually happened, and it is no joke.

What I do know is that if I were to run my ship up on a beach, a good pizza as I await to be refloated would make my day just that much better.  Just watch.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In the video the 68,789 dwt bulk carrier, Grand Rodosi, absolutely destroys the much smaller tuna boat, Apollo S, while moored at the wharf in Port Lincoln, South Australia.  The Apollo S quickly sank (at least once the Grand Rodosi had unpinned it) and the wharf was damage in the collision.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Additional information can be found on this incident HERE.

According to a release by the marine wildlife conservation society, Sea Shepherd encountered an illegal shark finning operation run by a Costa Rican ship called the Varadero and order them, under authorization by the “order of the Guatemalan authorities”, to cease activities and head back to port to be prosecuted.  While escorting the vessel back to port, the crew of the Varadero contacted the Guatemalan authorities and said that that the crew of Sea Shepherd actually tried to kill them.  Staying true to their roots, the Guatemalan authorities quickly switched sides and dispatched a gunboat to intercept the Sea Shepherd crew.  The Sea Shepherd retreated, fleeing into Costa Rican waters where they continued their assault on illegal shark finning groups.

But that’s not the end of the story.  Years later in October of 2011 a warrant for his arrest was first issued in Costa Rica, which Sea Shepherd says curiously coincides with a civil suit filed against the Sea Shepherd Society in the U.S.  by the Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR).

Although Sea Shepherd first said that the charges would likely be dropped, German officials on Tuesday decided to proceed with the extradition of Captain Watson to Costa Rica.

Now the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society issued an urgent plea to its followers:

Our last hope of saving Captain Watson from extradition is to convince German officials at the Ministry of Justice to step in and overturn their decision.  Show your support for Captain Watson by contacting Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, the Federal Minister of Justice in Berlin, Germany.  Let her know that the warrant for Captain Watson’s arrest is politically motivated and thus should be ignored by the German government.  With international support we can set Captain Watson free, and keep him from the possibility of facing an unfair trial in Costa Rica.

You can find the details of how to contact Mrs. Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger HERE.

Join the discussion: Paul Watson of Sea Shepard Arrested for Attempted Murder

A zoomed-in view of the photo taken by Jeff Gilligan. When he saw the image, Adrian Vasquez — the boat's only survivor — said, "That's us.

A Panamanian fisherman who was rescued after 28 days adrift at sea is suing the owners of the cruise ship that he says sailed right past him and his two friends bobbing  in the Pacific Ocean while all three were still alive.

According to media reports, Adrian Vasquez, 18, has filed a lawsuit in Miami, Florida that alleges negligence on behalf of Princess Cruises after one of their cruise ships, the Star Princess, failed to respond to the 3 three fisherman who had been spotted and reported to crewmembers by the ships passengers.

As the story goes, Vasquez and two of his friends, 16 and 24 respectively, had set off from the port of Rio Hato in Panama for an afternoon fishing trip aboard their 10-foot fishing boat, Fifty Cents.  All was as planned until the boats engine died, setting the trio adrift well off in the Pacific Ocean.

Sixteen days later, with all three still alive but severely dehydrated, the group spotted the Star Princess, a 109,000 gross ton cruise ship sailing from Chile to San Francisco, and began frantically waving for help. Aboard the Star Princess, three passengers out birdwatching spotted the boat and notified crewmembers of what they saw and their concerns, but the cruise ship sailed on.

Two of the boys died after the encounter with the ship and Vasquez was eventually picked up near the Galapagos Islands, alive but barely.

What happened after the initial report from the passenger is still being investigated, but it has been reported that crew members themselves may have seen the distress signals and reported to the ships bridge, although no log of the incident was ever recorded.   One of the witnesses was allegedly so convinced she later emailed the USCG to let them know what she saw, even though she acknowledged it was not in their jurisdiction.  She never heard back.

In a statement, Princess Cruises said there appeared to have been a “breakdown in communication in relaying the passenger’s concern” and notes that the company and its employees understand that a responsibility and the law of the sea is to provide assistance to any vessel in distress.

Meanwhile, the ships captain, Captain Edward Perrin, insists that neither he nor the officer of the watch were notified of the incident.

Now it’s up to the courts to decide.