>>21518156 (lb)

Greetings Planefag!

Poking around I get zero results for a vessel or platform named Entropic but 56 results for a vessel named CHELSEA. There is one satellite only track (yep, paywall) for a ship that may have been in the position given for CHELSEA as she is still heading roughly Northwest. I see for the most part Global Marine Distress and Safety System (GNDSS) equipped vessels have used Iridium satellites for emergency comms, but the big lines seem to all be going with Starlink. Swire Pacific Offshore (SPO) seems to be the exception and still going with Inmarsat which is what many vessels would have to receive tv broadcasts for crews, and some oil platforms.

Swire Pacific’s Fleet Gets Unlimited Internet Access

May 28, 2013

Swire Pacific Offshore (SPO), a Singapore-based leading service provider to the offshore oil and gas industry, is upgrading to Inmarsat’s FleetBroadband

Excerpt

Ohad Har-Lev, Managing Director Mobile Satellite Services, RRsat said: “Maritime broadband services have opened up a wide range of commercial, operational and personal crew communication uses. The ongoing and challenging economic environment for the shipping industry has driven the need for efficient and cost effective satcom solutions. FB Unlimited, along with the enhanced smart@sea solution, allows SPO to manage its communication costs, while meeting the growing demand for bandwidth.”

The upgrade agreement for SPO comprises SAILOR FB500 terminals, on-going maintenance and support services, as well as Station711’s smart@sea communication gateway, which was originally installed as part of the FB 5GB contract awarded back in 2011.

SMTS will conduct surveys of all SPO’s vessels before carrying out the installation of the antennas and FleetBroadband terminals, as well as the on-board Local Area Networks (LANs). Station711 will provide the satcom management and control toolset based on its DPlatform solution. This is in addition to smart@sea for Unified Threat Management (UTM) security, the crew welfare voice and data module, IP traffic real-time compression, acceleration, caching and filtering, shore-side unified POP facility providing a centralised management interface, and a powerful control system.

https://gcaptain.com/swire-pacifics-fleet-unlimited/

SMART@SEA

The result of over 50 years’ experience in the maritime industry, SMART@SEA is our single application solution that provides customers with a smart technology portfolio covering all their IT, security, welfare and communication needs.

Tailored to suit your requirements

We understand that requirements vary and, as such, we’ve designed our SMART@SEA solution to be highly flexible; offering the remote deployment of different value-added services to suit the unique challenges you face.

Our SMART@SEA solution can work with your existing onboard systems, seamlessly integrating communications networks, cybersecurity, crew welfare and IT services through one digital platform – with world-class security features to ensure you remain IMO 2021 cyber regulations compliant.

https://www.nsslglobal.com/solution/smartsea/

OSG Signs Fleet Up for Starlink Satellite Internet Service

December 19, 2023

Elon Musk’s SpaceX continues to penetrate the market for maritime satellite communications with Overseas Shipholding Group announcing an agreement to

https://gcaptain.com/osg-signs-fleet-up-for-starlink-satellite-internet-service/

MOL to Install Starlink Satellite Internet on Over 200 Ships

October 16, 2023

SpaceX’s satellite internet service Starlink is continuing to increase its presence in the commercial maritime sector with Japanese shipping company

https://gcaptain.com/mol-to-install-starlink-satellite-internet-on-over-200-ships/

Maersk to Roll-Out Starlink Satellite Internet Across Containership Fleet

October 12, 2023

A.P. Moller – Maersk has announced plans to install SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet on its fleet of more than 330 owned containerships.

https://gcaptain.com/maersk-to-roll-out-starlink-satellite-internet-across-containership-fleet/

Hapag-Lloyd to Roll Out Starlink Internet Service Across Fleet

September 21, 2023

Hapag-Lloyd is rolling out Starlink satellite internet technology across its fleet, following a successful pilot phase.

Hapag-Lloyd is the world’s fifth largest container shipping line by TEU capacity, with a fleet of over 250 vessels including 122-owned ships, according to Alphaliner.

https://gcaptain.com/hapag-lloyd-to-roll-out-starlink-internet-service-fleet-wide/

Anglo-Eastern Installs Starlink Internet Service on First of More Than 200 Managed Ships

March 13, 2023

Hong Kong-based ship manager Anglo-Eastern says it has rolled out SpaceX’s Starlink broadband internet service on an initial dozen vessels with more than 200

https://gcaptain.com/anglo-eastern-installs-starlink-internet-service-on-first-of-more-than-200-managed-ships/

>>21519048 (me)

I could not tell you about the waters off Japan, but here's a mention of ADSB on oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico:

The Impact

Before ADS-B, aircraft over areas with limited surveillance and air-ground communication, like the Gulf of Mexico, had to fly far apart because aircraft need more space when radar cannot extend across large bodies of water or uninhabited areas. The Gulf, for instance, has been treated as oceanic airspace, with aircraft separations of 10 to 15 minutes. However, ADS-B stations on oil platforms allow separations of only 1 to 2 minutes in the Gulf.

https://www.volpe.dot.gov/air-traffic-systems-operations/air-navigation-and-surveillance/monitoring-skies-with-ads-b

>>21519268

They would have to sell the stuff at bargain basement prices. Competition is fierce

>>21519345

>>21519367

Show me an active website for jidf

Hint: you can't, those high school kids grew up and graduated so haven't been active in years

Around comes the mimic

the ill-tempered cynic

to soothe its angry inch

It badly wants Yous

to fend off the blues

caused by the angry inch

It tries day and night

with all of its might

to console the angry inch

Starved of attention

trapped with the tension

cursed with an angry inch

Starve it of (You)s and it will have a complete hissy fit

>>21519392

Canada #63 >>21517816 also has a video

>>21519416

West Nile, Bird Flu, Covid, Ebola, Sloth Fever, etc

Where are the Murder Hornets, it's September and I don't want them to catch a cold

>>21519468

Democrats despise the electoral college. Perhaps they should get over that

By David Lauter Senior Editor July 14, 2023 3 AM PT

WASHINGTON —

Traumatized by the results of 2000 and 2016, when Republicans George W. Bush and Donald Trump won the presidency despite getting fewer votes than their Democratic opponents, many on the left and center-left have developed a deep aversion to the state-by-state counting of electoral votes, regarding it as both anti-democratic and anti-Democratic.

A Gallup poll taken in 2020, for example, found that roughly 9 in 10 Democrats favored abolishing the electoral college and choosing the president solely on the basis of who gets support from the most voters. Just 2 in 10 Republicans agreed.

Responding to that sentiment, lawmakers in 25 states — most of them with Democratic majorities — have voted for an interstate agreement designed to bypass the electoral college and choose the president by popular vote. It won’t be in effect for 2024, but could be by 2028.

The irony would be deep if Democrats succeeded in abolishing the system just in time for it to flip back in their favor.

Could that happen? Yes, and the tipping point is far closer than many people appear to believe.

A flawed system; a questionable reform

The electoral college has several flaws:

The system encourages presidential candidates to spend the lion’s share of time and energy on the few states whose votes are truly up for grabs — no more than eight this time around — although there’s not much evidence that those states gain anything other than a ton of political ads on television.

There’s the risk, small but not zero, of electors casting their votes for someone other than the candidate who won their state.

And because the system guarantees at least three electoral votes to each state and the District of Columbia, it amplifies the power of the very smallest jurisdictions. Wyoming’s 581,000 residents control three electoral votes; California’s 39 million have 54. On a proportional basis, that gives Wyoming’s overwhelmingly Republican residents almost four times the electoral clout of Californians. The same goes for the heavily Democratic voters of Vermont, who also get three electoral votes.

The flaw that attracts the most attention, however, is the system’s ability to elect a president who has support of a minority of voters nationwide — a feature that has delivered victories to Republicans twice in the last six elections.

That’s a rarity. As Kyle Kondik and J. Miles Coleman recently documented on the Crystal Ball election site, the system is pretty unbiased most of the time: In the 19 presidential elections since the end of World War II, the results of the electoral college and the popular vote matched closely.

That brings us to the proposed National Interstate Popular Vote Compact, which is designed to short-circuit the electoral college without amending the Constitution. The idea is that states would mutually agree to give their electoral votes to whichever candidate won the national popular vote, not the candidate who won each individual state. The compact would go into effect if it’s enacted by states that together account for 270 electoral votes, a majority of the electoral college.

The California Legislature approved the compact in 2011, with sponsors arguing that it would prod candidates to pay more attention to the state. At the time, it was very much a theoretical proposition. A dozen years later, it’s seeming more real. States with 205 electoral votes have signed on.

So imagine it’s election night 2028, and the popular vote compact is in effect. Democratic candidate Gretchen Whitmer has won California by 20 points and carried the big swing states, but appears to have lost the nationwide popular vote to Republican Ron DeSantis, who racks up big margins in Florida and Texas. Would California voters really be OK with the state’s electoral votes going to make DeSantis president?

The question is made more acute by the fact that support for abolishing the electoral college has come almost entirely from one side of the aisle. Republican leaders are happy to see Democratic states give up control of their electoral votes, but they have no intention of doing so themselves.

More:

https://www.latimes.com/politics/newsletter/2023-07-14/democrats-despise-the-electoral-college-perhaps-they-should-get-over-that-essential-politics

South Korean Shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean Secures Landmark U.S. Navy Maintenance Deal

Mike Schuler August 29, 2024

Hanwha Ocean, the major South Korean shipbuilder, has secured a groundbreaking contract with the U.S. Navy for the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) of a 40,000-ton logistics support vessel, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency has reported.

The contract is said to mark the first instance of a South Korean shipyard winning a regular overhaul deal for a U.S. Navy vessel.

The contract stipulates that the U.S. Navy’s logistics support ship will undergo regular maintenance at Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje shipyard in South Korea.

Hanwha Ocean views the deal as a significant opportunity to enter the U.S. MRO market wth the U.S. Navy, which is estimated to be worth approximately $15 billion annually.

The milestone follows Hanwha Ocean’s signing of a Master Ship Repair Agreement (MSRA) with the U.S. Navy in July. The MSRA, granted to companies meeting stringent quality standards for ship maintenance services, allows Hanwha Ocean to participate in MRO projects involving U.S. Navy vessels.

The company’s recent acquisition of American shipbuilder Philly Shipyard is expected to further bolster its entry into the U.S. market and expand its MRO reach.

Collectively, the developments are expected to strengthen Hanwha Ocean’s position in the global naval shipbuilding market.

The maintenance contract follows U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro’s visit to Hanwha Ocean in February as part of his broader Maritime Statecraft initiative, which aims to restore the United States as a comprehensive maritime power, with a particular focus on countering China’s dominant position in global shipbuilding.

https://gcaptain.com/south-korean-shipbuilder-hanwha-ocean-secures-landmark-u-s-navy-maintenance-deal/

>>21519617

Anon

The USNS support ships are owned by MARAD and not USN. They are crewed by Civilian Mariners, aka CIVMARS, and only have a small contingent of Naval Personnel aboard

Anecdote: Went to see about getting a Merchant Mariners Document back in the early 90s while still Active Duty Navy. Visited the Exam Center on Canal Street in New Orleans. Got to see a USCG Warrant Officer about it. Gues what?: Only Fire Island New ork firefighting school is accredited with USCG that issues the licenses so every school I went to from Great Lakes boot camp to the then new one at Mayport did not count. My "A" school fr operating radars and doing charts, etc also did not count because USN never officially asked USCG to accredit that either. The kicker: At the time I only had service on one ship (carrier) but 2 Med Cruises and the work-ups and the transit to shipyards but USCG was not about to credit me any of my documented Actual Underway time.

The older Montgomery GI Bill had written into it that it could not be used to fund Seamanship Training.

I had learned from an OS2 that had served on a USNS that every now and then MARAD would actually go to prisons to recruit CIVMARS.

The evil bastids have been slowly destroying the Fleet for decades

>>21519671

Hellz yeah, then I wouldn't look up these little flags so much!