The U.S. Navy's newest warship, the USS Little Rock (LCS-9), was expected to be well on its way to its new home port in sunny Jacksonville, Florida, at this point, but it became trapped in ice in Montreal and it may not budge until spring.
A sustained cold snap played caused ice to form faster than expected along the St. Lawrence Seaway and has kept the USS Little Rock docked since its arrival.
Ice cover across all of Great Lakes increased from 3 percent on Christmas Eve to nearly 30 percent by Jan. 6, or a period of about two weeks, - NOAA Ice Map: https://www.glerl.noaa.gov/data/ice/
In a phone interview, Lt. Cmdr. Courtney Hillson said there was no date set for departure from Montreal, but noted that the ice in the Saint Lawrence Seaway historically melts enough for safe passage by mid-March.
Temporary heaters and 16 de-icers have been added to the USS Little Rock, and its crew members — some 70 officers and personnel in all — have been given new cold-weather clothing while staying on the ship for training and certification during the delay, Hillson added.
Russian Navy “Exercise” Sure Looks Like a Submarine on Fire
Video of what the Russian government claims is merely an “exercise” appears to show a submarine on fire.
The video, shot in the Russian far eastern city of Vladivostok, shows a large fire and thick, black smoke close to several moored Russian Navy submarines. The submarine involved appears to be a Kilo-class diesel electric attack submarine. The Russian government says the fire was part of a planned exercise, but the fire and smoke look way too close to the submarines for comfort.
The Kilos have had a history of accidents, especially in India. In 2013 a fire erupted on the INS Sindhurakshak which caused an explosion that killed 18 crew members and sank the sub. In 2014, a fire started on the INS Sindhuratna that killed two Indian Navy officers. That fire was blamed on malfunctioning batteries.
The color and thickness of the smoke rising from the flames seems to suggest a diesel fire, which happens to be the fuel utilized in the five submarines moored nearby. This could potentially support the idea that the fire was (at least started) as a part of a training exercise, though it stands to reason that it could also have resulted from a refueling accident, or potentially that the submarine closest to the fire may have a leak in a fuel tank.
Vladivostok serves as Russia’s largest port, as well as the home of Russia’s Pacific Fleet. The five submarines situated near to the fire account for nearly all of the Kilo-class diesel-electric submarines assigned to the Northern Fleet, and it seems unlikely that Russia would be willing to put them in such direct danger for the sake of a fire drill. - Satellite View
The incident has gone quiet on the Internet in the last eighteen hours and is still a mystery.