Navy Purposely Sinks Retired Battleships

'XO Movie Night' contained gay slurs, sailors in drag, shower scenes

(NEWSER) - The second-in-command aboard the nuclear-powered USS Enterprise spent an inordinate amount of time producing gay-bashing videos that he broadcast to the entire ship—often while on missions supporting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—and the US Navy is taking a look into the matter. As the Virginian-Pilot reports, the videos feature sailors in drag, gay slurs, simulated masturbation, and a rectal exam. And starring front and center in the sketches for "XO Movie Night" is Owen Honors, now captain of the boat. More»

(NEWSER) - Seven and a half tons of steel from the fallen World Trade Center towers returned to New York today, reconstituted as the bow of a newly launched Navy warship. The crew of USS New York stood at attention for a 21-gun salute as the $1 billion amphibious dock landing ship sailed past Ground Zero. "I thought about my son, how proud he is and all of them, how proud they'd be at this moment," the mother of a firefighter who died on 9/11 told the Daily News . The ship will be christened Saturday. More»

Speicher was first casualty of 1991 Persian Gulf War

(AP) - The remains of the first American lost in the 1991 Persian Gulf War have been found in Iraq, the military said today. The disappearance of Navy Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher has bedeviled investigators since his fighter jet was shot down on the first night of the war. He was positively identified through a jawbone found at the site and dental records. Several Iraqis said they remembered the crash and that Bedouins had buried his remains. More»

Obama orders military to stop rogue state's ships for inspection

(NEWSER) - The Obama administration will instruct the Navy to attempt to inspect North Korean ships suspected of carrying arms or nuclear technology—but it will stop short of boarding them by force. The new effort to track North Korean ships is a component of America's "vigorous enforcement" of a UN Security Council resolution in the wake of the country's most recent nuclear test. It's the most aggressive approach on North Korea taken in years, reports the New York Times. More»

Impeccable may have been snooping on Chinese nuclear subs

(NEWSER) - Beijing said that a US Navy surveillance ship approached by several Chinese vessels this weekend was conducting illegal information-gathering, the Washington Post reports. The US had completely misrepresented the incident in its complaint, a Foreign Ministry rep. said, as the USS Impeccable was in a "Chinese exclusive economic zone" without permission. "The US claim is totally inaccurate and confuses right and wrong and is unacceptable to China," Ma Zhaoxu added. More»