Saturday, January 13, 2024

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx curation engineer, Neftali Hernandez, fixes one of the tools made to remove the two final fasteners to the capsule. (Image credit: NASA)

After months of prying and jimmying, NASA scientists have at last opened the canister containing material scraped from the "potentially hazardous" asteroid Bennu, the agency announced on Thursday (Jan. 11).

The sample — roughly 8.8 ounces (250 grams) of rocky space rubble collected by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft — is thought to contain some of the earliest precursors to life and is the first chunk of a space rock ever grabbed by a NASA mission.

NASA had already collected 2.5 ounces (70 g) of the sample from the canister's lid, but two stuck fasteners stopped scientists from reaching the material inside. After creating new tools to remove the stubborn clasps, NASA engineers finally unsealed the container on Wednesday (Jan. 10).

"Our engineers and scientists have worked tirelessly behind the scenes for months to not only process the more than 70 grams of material we were able to access previously, but also design, develop, and test new tools that allowed us to move past this hurdle," Eileen Stansbery, chief of NASA's ARES (Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science) division said in a statement. "The innovation and dedication of this team has been remarkable. We are all excited to see the remaining treasure OSIRIS-REx holds."

NASA scientists first retrieved the canister on Sept. 24 after it hurtled back to Earth aboard the OSIRIS-REx capsule at speeds of up to 27,000 miles per hour (43,000 kilometers per hour). After a seven-year, 4 billion-mile (6.4 billion kilometer) round trip, the capsule deployed its parachute and safely landed in the Utah desert before being transported to Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The hold-up on retrieving the capsule's precious cargo was caused by two out of its total of 35 fasteners getting stuck. To prevent contamination NASA had to preapprove any tools used to open the narrow container. The solution came in the form of two clamp-like tools made from surgical steel; these were first tested in a rehearsal lab to prove they could safely remove the clasps.

Now that the box has been opened, NASA says it will follow a "few additional disassembly steps" before it can photograph, extract, weigh and process the remaining sample. Small pieces scraped from the lid have already been sent around the world for analysis, and will soon be followed by the contents found inside.

OSIRIS-REx collected a sample from the asteroid Bennu. — An artist's illustration of OSIRIS-REx above the asteroid Bennu's surface. (Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center via AP)

Bennu is a potentially hazardous asteroid that has a 1-in-2,700 chance of striking Earth in the year 2182 — the highest odds of any known space object. But the scientists are more interested in what's trapped inside the space rock: the possible extraterrestrial precursors of life on Earth.

"This is the biggest carbon-rich asteroid sample ever returned to Earth," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at a news conference upon the sample's return. "Carbon and water molecules are exactly the elements we wanted to find. They're crucial elements in the formation of our own planet, and they're going to help us determine the origins of elements that could have led to life."

Earth's water is older than the planet itself and was probably brought here by asteroid and comet impacts. But water likely wasn't the only material asteroids brought to Earth; the building blocks of life likely hitched a ride on a space rock, too. Bennu is a B-type asteroid, which means it contains high amounts of carbon and, potentially, many of the primordial molecules present when life emerged on Earth.

Two images taken by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft show the sampling arm touch the surface of asteroid Bennu. (Image credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona)

Some of these building blocks — including uracil, one of the nucleobases for RNA — were recently found on the asteroid Ryugu by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Hayabusa2 spacecraft, which returned to Earth with its rock sample in 2020. OSIRIS-REx mission scientists are hoping to find other such biological precursors inside the Bennu sample.

OSIRIS-REx mission scientists spent nearly two years searching for a landing site on Bennu's craggy surface before the spacecraft touched down to collect the sample. Upon making contact with the asteroid, OSIRIS-REx fired a burst of nitrogen from its Touch-and-Go Sample-Acquisition Mechanism to both stick the landing and prevent the craft from sinking through the asteroid.

The blast sent rocks and dust careening around the craft, and some of that rocky debris landed in a canister aboard OSIRIS-REx. A follow-up blast of OSIRIS-REx's thrusters later lifted it from Bennu, and the spacecraft completed a number of flyovers before leaving the asteroid for Earth in May 2021.

Now that the sample has arrived, scientists around the world will begin analyzing it for clues about how our solar system, and the life on our planet, came to be.

Friday, January 12, 2024

Citi to slash 20,000 jobs by 2026 after £1.4bn loss

By JOHN-PAUL FORD ROJAS

12 January 2024

Citigroup has announced plans to cut 20,000 jobs over the next two years under a turnaround plan led by the Wall Street giant's British chief executive Jane Fraser.

Fraser pledged that 2024 would be a 'turning point' after the lender reported a £1.4billion loss for the fourth quarter that she admitted was 'very disappointing'.

The loss was caused by a series of one-off charges including an industry-wide contribution to cover the cost of the collapse of two lenders last year. It was also hobbled by costs relating to Russia and Argentina and restructuring.

Full year profits were down by 38 per cent to £7.2billion.

Fraser has already made clear that change was coming, last autumn announcing that Citi would strip out a layer of management as she seeks to boost profits and share price. She told staff in September they should 'get off the train' if they were not committed to the shake-up.

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Turnaround plan: The 20,000 job cuts announced will take out a big chunk of Citigroup's 239,000-strong workforce

The 20,000 job cuts announced yesterday will take out a big chunk of its 239,000-strong workforce. A further reduction of 40,000 will come as it spins off Mexican bank Banamex, leaving 180,000.

A spokesman said it would not provide a breakdown of how many of Citi's 16,000 UK employees would be affected.

Chief financial officer Mark Mason yesterday admitted the job cuts were 'tough on morale' but that they would not prevent revenue growth. Shares rose 1.2 per cent, or 0.6p, to 53.2p.

It came as Wall Street rival JP Morgan said its quarterly profits fell by 15 per cent to £7.3billion but full year profits rose 32 per cent to £38.9billion.

At Davos 2024, Leaders Must Invest In Future Of Youth

Michael Sheldrick
Contributor
Global Citizen
Contributor GroupF
Jan 12, 2024

The World Economic Forum (WEF) occurs in Davos yearly, but 2024 already feels different. Rapid global economic changes, conflicts, unprecedented heatwaves, growing apathy towards democratic principles, and the continuous evolution of technology are impacting humanity at a blistering pace, hitting the poorest the hardest.

As world leaders and business executives convene next week to address these pressing issues, advocates and policy entrepreneurs will be out in force to ensure discussions along the Davos Promenade focus on immediate actions leaders should take in 2024. One of the most critical areas to focus their attention on is urgently driving investments, particularly for youth, to establish the groundwork for a prosperous, common future.

25% of the world's population is under 14, especially in Africa, where the median age is 19. This population group is the one that is most vulnerable to today’s challenges and is impacted most by decisions and actions for which it isn’t responsible.

With the appropriate level of investment, this cohort can thrive. Africa, home to 1.2 billion people, is estimated to constitute a quarter of the world's population by 2050. Nigeria is poised to surpass China as the second most populous country globally, following India, by 2100. Moreover, 70 percent of sub-Saharan Africa's population is under 30, positioning the continent with the potential to become one of the world's largest consumer markets. Africa is a continent on the move.

This population's energy, excitement, and untapped potential were vividly showcased at the inaugural Move Afrika: Rwanda event, which marked the launch of the first pan-African touring concert circuit headlined by international artists. The debut show in Rwanda alone employed over 1000 Rwandans and engaged 75 percent of the local crew and production staff. The event placed a particular emphasis on creating opportunities for skill development and international event training. As expressed by Kweku Mandela, the event set "a marker in the sand around live touring events and showcasing the creative economy on the African continent." It serves as a model that other industries could emulate.

However, not investing in the continent poses profound risks in several ways. Firstly, if the current trajectory persists, Africa is set to have 23 out of the 28 countries with the highest share of extreme poverty in their population by 2030. Secondly, the challenge of rebuilding trust—highlighted as this year’s WEF theme—arises at a time when the relationship between African nations and the West is already at a new low. This decline follows years of broken promises on climate financing, vaccine hoarding by the West during the COVID-19 pandemic, and an ongoing perception of double standards and hypocrisy.

To advance, rebuild trust, and forge a common future, world leaders can commence in 2024 by prioritizing three critical investments in the future aspirations of the world’s youth:

1.Access to Healthcare

Approving two new vaccines against malaria marked a significant turning point last year in the battle against malaria - a disease that is responsible for claiming the lives of over 1000 children per day.

The upcoming 12 months are critical for securing funding to advance large-scale distribution of these and other vaccines and bolster local manufacturing capacity in Africa to reinforce the continent’s public health security.

This urgency is heightened by the evolving threat of malaria due to climate change, putting more children worldwide at risk.

According to Gavi, the vaccine alliance, it costs a minimum of $16 to deliver a malaria vaccine. We have to reach 180 million children alone across Africa. 2024 must be the start of the end of malaria, alongside other efforts to reduce child deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases.
2.Skills & Education:

Young people need to be equipped with jobs and skills to take advantage of investments in industries like the creative arts, clean energy, and information technology.

However, conflict and other crises have resulted in more and more children bearing the brunt and missing out on education. That is why Education Cannot Wait, for instance, is seeking nearly $700 million to ensure the continuation of education for at least 20 million children currently without. This funding will help children learn across 19 countries in Africa alone.
3.Green Jobs:

In 2023, the world agreed to transition away from fossil fuels for the first time. 2024 is the year to begin to put this into practice - we have to reduce emissions by 7% annually through 2030 to avoid catastrophic climate change. Yet governments increased subsidies for fossil fuels to more than $1 trillion in 2022.

In 2024, redirecting these funds towards generating jobs for young people across Africa via clean energy projects and sustainable agriculture is crucial, ensuring that the world's most youthful population reaps the benefits of this significant industrial transition.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out some of my other work here.

Michael SheldrickFollow

I am a co-founder of Global Citizen and author of Ideas to Impact: A Playbook for Influencing and Implementing Change in a Divided World. (April 9th).... Read More

"Pusher" Jeep May Have Caused Deadly Ro/Ro Fire in Newark

Burned-out Jeep Wrangler fitted with steel push bumper, Deck 10, Grande Costa D'Avoria (Courtesy AFT / USCG)

In a Coast Guard hearing on last year's deadly ro/ro fire at Port Newark, three longshoremen said that their employer used everyday light trucks to push broken cars up the ramps of ro/ro vessels - and that these adapted "pusher vehicles" may not have been maintained on a calendar schedule. The fire aboard the Grande Costa D'Avoria may have started when one of the pusher vehicles - an older Jeep Wrangler fitted with a steel bumper - caught fire during a loading operation.

The ILA longshore duty mechanic on the day of the fire told the panel that there was an informal repair schedule for the pusher vehicles. "We don't have preventive maintenance, we just check fluids, we don't change fluids. It only happens when it goes into the shop for repairs [when something fails]," said Piotr Zyla, who performed basic repairs on the vehicles on the dock for the longshore team.

The Jeep that caught fire had been used in the manner of a towtruck to move cars on board ro/ros, and worked alongside a fleet of several Ford Rangers (the smallest model of Ford pickup). On the day of the fire, longshoreman Gavin Puchinsky was behind the wheel of the Jeep. He told the panel that the Jeep would often be operated with the accelerator pressed all the way to the floor in order to push a heavier broken vehicle up the steep internal ramps of a ro/ro's cargo decks. Though it was the team's most powerful pusher vehicle, the Jeep would sometimes struggle on a ramp, and he might have to back down and get a running start to make it all the way up, he said. The speed of operation would depend upon the weight of the broken vehicle being moved.

In questioning Wednesday, Puchinsky said that the pusher trucks were not the kind of vehicles he would expect to see on a public road. "Some of them were missing mirrors, the Jeep was missing the back windshield, dirty inside, no plates on the vehicle," he told the panel.

The Jeep was running as well as ever until seconds before the fire, when it made a "clunk" as he was maneuvering inside the ro/ro's car decks, Puchinsky said. A few moments later, a fellow longshoreman shouted at him to get out of the vehicle because it was on fire. Flames appeared to be coming from under the hood, Puchinsky said, and were coming in the passenger window.

Puchinsky said that he grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher and attempted to put out the blaze, without success. As the fire grew, he and his colleagues escaped from the vessel.

A local firefighting team responded to the scene and boarded the ship in an attempt to combat the growing blaze. They were forced to retreat by the intensity of the fire, and two were killed during this maneuver. Two Newark Fire captains were also injured in the response and were treated at a local hospital; both recovered from their injuries.

Video: Heavy Waves Wash Aboard Car Ferry in Strait of Juan De Fuca

WSF — Video still courtesy Washington State Ferries

[Brief] Washington State Ferries' roll-on / roll-off car ferries usually operate on sheltered routes, but occasionally they have to make a transit across open water for repositioning. This is a routine matter, so long as the weather is forgiving, but on one recent voyage it was a bit rougher than expected.

On Tuesday, the ferry Issaquah was repositioning to Anacortes from her previously-assigned crossing at Mukilteo. Anacortes is the gateway to the San Juan Islands, and to get there, Issaquah had to cross the east end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The Strait is an open runway to the North Pacific, and it is known for periods of foul winter weather.

On Tuesday morning, Issaquah passed Port Townsend and headed north along the coast of Whidbey Island, making 17 knots. She quickly encountered higher waves than the crew had expected from the forecast, according to WSF. AIS data shows that as she rounded Fort Ebey, she slowed to seven knots and began changing course, zig-zagging northwards along the coast.

There were no passengers on board during this transit, but the crew (and their personal vehicles) were there to witness the effects. One crewmember captured a video of the car deck awash with saltwater, with the rolling sea visible past the open-ended bow. (Advisory: strong language.)

After the ordeal, Issaquah exited the strait and made it to sheltered waters. She arrived safely at her destination at about 1245 hours, about two hours after she entered the strait.

According to Washington State Ferries, the damage caused by the encounter was minimal and will have no effect on service.

"We sometimes have waves crashing over the bow, but for this to happen, it is very, very rare. Keep in mind this occurred outside one of our normal routes as we were moving the boat," WSF clarified in a social media post. "This was an extremely rare occurrence for water to get to this level."

U.S. Navy Settles Water-Pollution Lawsuit Over its Potomac Test Range

A naval weapons test on the Potomac (NRDC)

The U.S. Navy has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by two environmental nonprofits over its use of the lower Potomac River, where it has operated a live-fire testing range for more than 100 years.

In a consent decree finalized in federal court on Wednesday, the Navy agreed to apply for a state water quality permit from the state of Maryland for its use of the waters of the Potomac. The permit would satisfy the requirements of the federal Clean Water Act, and would mean that the Navy would have to abide by state water quality standards and carry out monitoring to ensure its compliance.

The Navy estimates that between 1918-2007, its Dahlgren test center fired more than 33 million pounds of shells and ammunition into a 50-mile stretch of the Potomac River. Some of the materials deposited into the waterway during these live-fire tests may be hazardous, like heavy metals, explosives solvents, according to the NRDC. In the most concentrated area of activity on the river, the cumulative impact amounts to about 70,000 rounds per square mile (of various munitions).

An unidentified rocket recovered from the waters of the Potomac (NRDC)

Environmental advocates say that the Potomac test range includes spawning grounds for the endangered Atlantic sturgeon, and the effect of the activity on the fish's habitat is not known. Until now, the Navy's weapons-test discharges into the Potomac were not regulated, though the Clean Water Act has been applied to other Navy weapons-test sites for decades.

The Natural Resources Defense Council filed suit last summer to compel the Navy to obtain a discharge permit from the State of Maryland, and the Navy and Department of Justice moved quickly into settlement negotiations. In the consent decree announced this week, the Navy has promised to apply for a permit within 30 days and provide regular disclosures of its progress. In return, NRDC and fellow plaintiff Potomac Riverkeeper have agreed not to sue the service over any unregulated "discharges of munitions or chemical or biological simulants" in the next two years, while the permit application is in process.

The Navy has encountered a series of public challenges related to water quality over the past three years. It is still working to address the tank farm spill that contaminated drinking water supplies for servicemembers at Pearl Harbor in 2021, and has had to remediate a firefighting-foam discharge on the same site. On Monday, in the latest setback, the service's Pearl Harbor sewage plant lost power and released two million gallons of partially-treated sewage just offshore.

UK Parliament Launches Probe on Decommissioning Two Royal Marines Vessels

Royal Navy amphibious vessels — Sister ships Albion and Bulwark are the Royal Marine's amphibious vessels (Royal Navy)

Following reports that the UK government is considering retiring the Royal Navy’s two Albion Class assault ships, the House of Commons Defence Committee announced it will launch a probe as well as a broader look at the status of the service. The plans for an evidence session to be held within the next few weeks come as the Defence Committee has also expressed concerns about the current government’s plans for the Royal Navy and Marines.

Last week, several local news outlets reported that Secretary of Defense Grant Shapps had decided to decommission both HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark, ten years earlier than their scheduled phase-out. The reports said the decision was reached due to the recruitment crisis facing the Royal Navy. By standing down the two vessels the reports suggest the Royal Navy would reassign the crews to the new fleet of Type 26 frigates joining service.

Defence Minister James Cartlidge was quick to respond to the reports saying “No final decision has been made on these platforms.”

The two ships are amphibious Landing Platform Docks, designed to transport the Royal Marines and their equipment. The two vessels, which are the only ones of their kind in the fleet, were commissioned in 2004 and 2005 and in its materials, the Royal Navy highlights the versatility of the vessels. Each has a crew of approximately 325 sailors and can also accommodate up to 400 additional troops, as well as 31 trucks, 36 smaller vehicles, battle tanks, and on their flight deck can also house two Merlin or Sea King helicopters and two Chinook heavy-lift helicopters. There is also a floodable well dock that can take four Landing Craft Utility boats.

HMS Albion's return to base in 2023 after six years of overseas deployment (Royal Navy)

HMS Albion was deployed for six years from 2018 to the summer of 2023 sailing the world, initially to the Far East, and later spending most winters and springs in the Arctic and Baltic with fall deployments to the Mediterranean. She returned to Portsmouth in July 2023 with her duties scheduled to be assumed in 2024 by her sister ship HMS Bulwark after the vessel completes an extended period of refurbishment. As per recent Royal Navy plans, HMS Albion is to be held in reserve for the next few years, and both vessels were scheduled to remain in service until at least 2034.

The Defence Committee in a 2018 report titled “Sunset for the Royal Marines?” warned that an early disposal of HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark would be “militarily illiterate” and “totally at odds with strategic reality.”

Responding to the new reports, the Defence Committee said that it is deeply concerned with the information that the government is considering retiring the two vessels. Losing these ships, they said would make successful amphibious landings very difficult. The Defence Committee highlighted that the suggested alternatives are unlikely to fill the hole HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark would leave in the capabilities of the Royal Navy.

Parliament’s planned evidence session the sponsors said will help to map the impact of losing these ships and to hold the UK government to account for its plans for the Royal Marines’ capabilities.

Sarens Involved in Maintenance Works at Whitla Wind Facility in Alberta

[By: Sarens]

This windfarm, which last phase was commissioned in 2021, is capable of avoiding more than one million tons of CO2 per year which would have been produced by fossil fuel power generation, equivalent to taking more than 200,000 vehicles off the road.

Sarens worked on the assembly and disassembly of blades, rotors, gearboxes and main shafts to ensure the correct operation of the wind turbines.

Sarens has extensive experience in wind farm maintenance in Canada, having worked on the Golden South Wind Project in Assiniboia and the Blue Hill Project in Saskatchewan, among others.

Sarens, world leader in heavy lifting, engineered transport and crane rental services, has worked on the maintenance maneuvers at the Whitla Wind facility, the largest in Alberta. In this case, Sarens’ engineering team was in charge of the lifting of the blades, rotors, gearboxes and main shafts for four turbines (T-79, T-89, T-91 and T-7). The hub height of each tower is measured at 105 meters and the average weight of the components came in at 31 tons.

This wind farm has an installed capacity of 352.8 MW, which allows it to generate enough energy to power more than 100,000 homes per year. Located in Forty Mile County, it consists of 98 Vestas V136 wind turbines of 3.6 MW each, with a hub height of 105 meters and a rotor diameter of 136 meters. According to Capital Power, the company that owns and operates the project, Whitla Wind will prevent the emission of more than one million tonnes of CO2 per year, which is equivalent to taking more than 200,000 vehicles off the road.

The Whitla Wind project contributes to Canada's efforts to transition to cleaner, low-carbon energy, so it’s therefore particularly important to keep your energy production stable by reducing breakdowns through proper maintenance. For this reason, Vestas commissioned Sarens to lead the logistical maneuvers of transport - via Sarens Trucking from Pincher Creek, AB - and the lifting and lowering of the various parts to reduce downtime and optimize the energy production of the facilities.

Taking into account the variables to be considered such as component weight, tower height and access for machinery assembly, the Sarens team of experts selected the Demag CC 2800 Crawler Crane configured with 108m Main Boom, 12m Luffing Jib, 120Te Main CWT, 20Te Carbody CWT, and 110Te Superlift CWT. This crane was selected because of the height of the towers as this particular configuration would allow for a boom tip height of 120 meters while remaining under 75% of the crane’s lifting capacity.

The Whitla plant uses state-of-the-art wind turbines, designed to optimize the utilization of the wind resource while reducing noise and wear and tear. The turbines are connected to an electrical substation, from where the power is transmitted to the provincial grid via a 240 kV, 34 km high voltage line. The project has a remote control supervision system, which allows the turbines to be monitored and operated from a centralized control center, ensuring safe and efficient operation. The project has been developed in several phases, with the first phase coming into commercial operation on December 1st 2019 and phases 2 and 3 on 1 December 1st 2021.

Sarens has a long history of developing wind projects in Canada. These include the Golden South Wind Project in Assiniboia and the Blue Hill Project in Saskatchewan. In the latter case, Sarens contributed to the transport and erection of 50 wind turbines at their final destination. This facility will be responsible for generating up to 200MW of renewable energy, and will bring an economic impact of over $45M to its community.

The products and services herein described in this press release are not endorsed by The Maritime Executive.

U.S. Navy Names Destroyer After WWII Hero Charles J. French

Petty Officer Charles Jackson French (U.S. Navy illustration)

The U.S. Navy has named its next destroyer after a World War II hero, Petty Officer Charles Jackson French, known as the "Human Tugboat" for his efforts to tow injured shipmates to safety.

French, an orphan, joined the Navy in 1937 and served one tour as a mess attendant aboard the cruiser USS Houston. He left the Navy with an honorable discharge in November 1941 and moved to Omaha, but not for long. He had been out of the service for barely a month when the Japanese armed forces attacked Pearl Harbor. He re-enlisted and was assigned to the high speed transport USS Gregory, a former destroyer refitted to carry Marines and launch boats for amphibious assault operations.

After a training workup in the spring and summer of 1942, USS Gregory and three sister ships headed west to join the Guadalcanal campaign, the first shoreside step in the Pacific Theater "island-hopping" strategy. Gregory's Marine Corps complement was part of the first assault wave at Guadalcanal on August 7. After the landing, the transport worked in the area to shuttle supplies and patrol for Japanese submarines.

In the early hours of September 5, USS Gregory and sister ship USS Little had finished a transport mission to Savo Island and were transiting just offshore. At 0056 hours, their crews saw cannon fire in the distance. Three Japanese destroyers - Y?dachi, Hatsuyuki and Murakumo - had snuck into position and were bombarding the Marine Corps emplacements at Henderson Field.

Before the lightly-armed Gregory and Little could flee, they were silhouetted against the night by a string of flares, which had been dropped by a Navy pilot who thought he was illuminating an enemy submarine. The Japanese destroyer crews spotted the transports opened fire, and their cannonfire left both Gregory and Little disabled and sinking. Gregory's commanding officer, Lt. Cmdr. Harry F. Bauer, ordered abandon ship. The bombardment did not entirely cease: At 0123, the Japanese destroyers began shelling the survivors in the water.

Those in the water had a choice: stay at sea and hope to evade Japanese fire or a shark attack, or swim for shore and risk capture or death at the hands of Japanese forces on Guadalcanal. Petty Officer French was aboard a raft of survivors, most of whom were hurt. He tied a rope around his waist, got in the water and swam for hours, hoping to keep the raft out of harm's way. All aboard survived and were safely rescued by a Marine Corps landing craft in the morning.

French received a letter of commendation for his actions, but did not receive a medal in his lifetime. Later in the war, he returned to sea as a messman aboard USS Endicott and USS Frankford, serving in the Atlantic Theater. French's history after the war is less clear; he died in 1956, at the age of 37, and was buried at a military cemetery in San Diego. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Marine Corps Medal in 2022. “For too long, we did not recognize Petty Officer French appropriately, but we’ve begun to correct that,” said Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro on Wednesday. “Today, with profound conviction and a heart brimming with long-overdue recognition, I am proud to announce the name of our newest destroyer, DDG 142, will be the USS Charles J. French.”

USS French will be the Navy's 91st Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, and will be built at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi beginning in 2026.

Red Sea Disruption Forces Tesla to Suspend Production in Germany

The Tesla Berlin-Brandenburg plant (Michael Wolf Penig / CC BY SA 3.0)

Yemen's Houthi rebels have been disrupting commercial shipping in the Red Sea with drone and missile attacks since November, delaying transits and doubling rates for containerized freight on the core Asia-Europe route. On Thursday, as the U.S. and UK prepared airstrikes against Houthi positions, Tesla - the world's second-largest manufacturer of electric cars - announced that it would have to suspend production at its new German plant for two weeks because of the supply chain disruptions.

"Due to a lack of components, we are forced to suspend vehicle production at the Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg between January 29 and February 11, with the exception of a few sub-areas," the company said in a statement. "The armed conflicts in the Red Sea and the associated shifts in transport routes between Europe and Asia via the Cape of Good Hope are also having an impact on production [at the plant]."

The firm said that the "considerably longer transportation times" are delaying its supplies, creating a gap in the constant flow of materials from Asian suppliers to its German plant. (Tesla's manufacturing facilities in China and the United States are not affected.)

Tesla is not the only firm with supply chain issues caused by the Red Sea disruption. This week, the Federation of German Industries called for the German government to provide military protection for Red Sea shipping, warning of significant effects on the German economy if the attacks continue.

The allied U.S.-British strikes on Houthi positions on Thursday may change the equation in the Red Sea, but until ocean carriers regain confidence in the security of the route, elevated freight rates and longer transit times will continue. Shippers are adapting to a new "Cape route" paradigm by diversifying their supply chains and looking at alternative routes. Rail operators report an increased interest in Eurasian overland rail services, which are faster and more expensive than ocean freight. The services are a niche option for high-value cargo in limited quantities: In 2021, the China-Europe container-on-rail trade accounted for about 600,000 TEU of volume, a fraction of the 26 million TEU of China-Europe maritime trade that year, according to The Diplomat.

Top image: The Tesla Berlin-Brandenburg plant (Michael Wolf Penig / CC BY SA 3.0)

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