The Hellenic Navy (HN) (Greek: Πολεμικό Ναυτικό, Polemikó Naftikó, abbreviated ΠΝ) is the naval force of Greece, part of the Greek Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy has its roots in the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independence. During the periods of monarchy (1833–1924 and 1936–1973) it was known as the Royal Navy (Βασιλικόν Ναυτικόν, Vasilikón Naftikón, abbreviated ΒΝ).The total displacement of all the navy's vessels is approximately 150,000 tons.The motto of the Hellenic Navy is "Μέγα το της Θαλάσσης Κράτος" from Thucydides' account of Pericles' oration on the eve of the Peloponnesian War. This has been roughly translated as "Great is the country that controls the sea". The Hellenic Navy's emblem consists of an anchor in front of a crossed Christian cross and trident, with the cross symbolizing Greek Orthodoxy, and the trident symbolizing Poseidon, the god of the sea in Greek mythology. Pericles' words are written across the top of the emblem. "The navy, as it represents a necessary weapon for Greece, should only be created for war and aim to victory."...............The Hellenic Merchant Marine refers to the Merchant Marine of Greece, engaged in commerce and transportation of goods and services universally. It consists of the merchant vessels owned by Greek civilians, flying either the Greek flag or a flag of convenience. Greece is a maritime nation by tradition, as shipping is arguably the oldest form of occupation of the Greeks and a key element of Greek economic activity since the ancient times. Nowadays, Greece has the largest merchant fleet in the world, which is the second largest contributor to the national economy after tourism and forms the backbone of world shipping. The Greek fleet flies a variety of flags, however some Greek shipowners gradually return to Greece following the changes to the legislative framework governing their operations and the improvement of infrastructure.

This is a bilingual blog in English and / or Greek and you can translate any post to any language by pressing on the appropriate flag....Note that there is provided below a scrolling text with the 30 recent posts...Αυτό είναι ένα δίγλωσσο blog στα Αγγλικά η/και στα Ελληνικά και μπορείτε να μεταφράσετε οποιοδήποτε ποστ σε οποιαδήποτε γλώσσα κάνοντας κλικ στη σχετική σημαία. Σημειωτέον ότι παρακάτω παρέχεται και ένα κινούμενο κείμενο με τα 30 πρόσφατα ποστς....This is a bilingual blog in English and / or Greek and you can translate any post to any language by pressing on the appropriate flag....Note that there is provided below a scrolling text with the 30 recent posts...Αυτό είναι ένα δίγλωσσο blog στα Αγγλικά η/και στα Ελληνικά και μπορείτε να μεταφράσετε οποιοδήποτε ποστ σε οποιαδήποτε γλώσσα κάνοντας κλικ στη σχετική σημαία. Σημειωτέον ότι παρακάτω παρέχεται και ένα κινούμενο κείμενο με τα 30 πρόσφατα ποστς.........

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

U.S. drones are "fully accounted for"...[ 3014 ]

Iran Claims It Captured U.S. Drone

December 4, 2012, 10:03 a.m. ET// The Wall Street Journal

By FARNAZ FASSIHI

A U.S. Navy spokesman said all U.S. drones are "fully accounted for" after Iran's state TV said that the country's Revolutionary Guard captured an American drone. WSJ's Farnaz Fassihi reports.
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BEIRUT—Iran claimed that the naval unit of its Revolutionary Guards Corp had shot down a U.S. drone allegedly spying over Iranian airspace in the Persian Gulf.

Iran's English news channel Press TV showed 11-minute footage of two Iranian military officials inspecting a drone. It identified the drone as a ScanEagle, manufactured by Boeing BA +0.30% . The drone appeared fully intact as the camera zoomed on it from different angles.
But Cmdr. Jason Salata, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain, said that ScanEagles operated by the Navy "have been lost into the water" over the years, but there is no "record of that occurring most recently," according to the Associated Press.
The conflicting accounts leave open the possibility that Iran could have pulled the drone from the sea in the past and unveiled it Tuesday for maximum effect following escalating tensions over U.S. surveillance missions in the Gulf, the AP said.
A large poster showing a map of Iran and the Persian Gulf was in the backdrop of the ScanEagle, which was elevated on a tripod. A quote from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei, the founder of Iran's Islamic Revolution, read: "We will trample America under our feet."

Video

Footage of two Revolutionary Guard commanders examining what appears to be an intact Scan Eagle drone. It wasn't clear if that was the same drone Iran claimed to have captured. Footage from PressTV via YouTube.

Iran and Drones

Iran Fired on Drone Before Vote , 11/9/2012
Iran Says It Captured Aircraft , 12/9/2011

If Iran's claim is found to be true, Tuesday's incident marks the third time that the Revolutionary Guards have targeted a U.S. drone and would offer a boost for the Islamic Republic at a time of heightened tensions with the West.
In December 2011 Iran said it forced-landed an RQ-170 Sentinel, a drone operated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency from Afghanistan. In early November of this year, Iran fired on a drone flying over the Persian Gulf and said it had entered Iran's airspace. The U.S. denied that and said the Predator drone was above international waters.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad struck a defiant tone on Tuesday during a speech at an industrial complex in the city of Isfahan. He contradicted his earlier comments that international sanctions were hurting Iran's economy and said Iran was heroically "riding the wave of sanctions."
"Our enemies should know that our history is 10 times longer than theirs. It's possible that the enemy will take a few steps forward, but we will push them back to their own borders," Mr. Ahmadinejad said.
Write to Farnaz Fassihi at farnaz.fassihi@wsj.com

Captured alongside Saturn...[ 3013 ]

Tiny Tethys

Tethys may not be tiny by normal standards, but when it is captured alongside Saturn, it can't help but seem pretty small.

Even Saturn's rings appear to dwarf Tethys (660 miles, or 1,062 kilometers across), which is in the upper left of the image, although scientists believe the moon to be many times more massive than the entire ring system combined. This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 18 degrees below the ringplane. The image was taken in green light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Aug. 19, 2012.

The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.5 million miles (2.4 million kilometers) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 63 degrees. Image scale is 86 miles (138 kilometers) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Japan highway tunnel collapse...[ 3012 ]

7 missing in Japan highway tunnel collapse

Police officers and firefighters gather at the exit of the Sasago Tunnel on the Chuo Expressway in Otsuki, Yamanashi Prefecture, central Japan, Sunday morning, Dec. 2, 2012. Police said that parts of the tunnel collapsed Sunday morning, trapping an unknown number of vehicles as smoke from a fire inside prevented rescuers from approaching. / AP Photo/Kyodo News

AP/ December 2, 2012, 7:16 AM

TOKYO At least seven people were feared missing Sunday after about 150 concrete panels fell from the roof of a tunnel on the main highway linking Tokyo with central Japan.
Efforts to rescue any survivors trapped inside the tunnel were hindered by heavy smoke after one vehicle caught fire inside the Sasago Tunnel, about 50 miles outside Tokyo.
Rescuers also temporarily suspended work because of fears of a further collapse.
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They were attempting to reach at least several vehicles believed buried in the rubble, including a truck whose driver was trapped inside and had called his company for help.
"I could hear voices of people calling for help, but the fire was just too strong," said a woman interviewed by public broadcaster NHK after she escaped from the tunnel.
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Local media reported that at least three bodies had been found inside the tunnel. However, Norio Furusawa, a spokesman for the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, said he could not confirm that information.
Executives for Central Japan Expressway Co. said the company was investigating why the concrete panels had given way. A check of the tunnel's roof in September and October found nothing amiss, they said.
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A woman who escaped from a rental car that was trapped in the 3-mile tunnel told authorities that she was unsure about the condition of five other people who had been in the vehicle with her. Two other vehicles were known to be buried in the rubble, suggesting at least seven people were trapped inside, according to a statement by the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
It said two people were confirmed injured, one of them moderately.
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The tunnel, which opened in 1977, is one of many in mountainous Japan. The location of the collapse, about a mile inside the tunnel, was complicating rescue efforts, reports said.
Police vehicles, fire trucks and ambulances were massed outside the tunnel's entrance.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Brussels Christmas tree...[ 3011 ]

Mixed reactions to Brussels modern art Christmas tree

30/11 21:29 CET

Play/stop Video

Despite a petition against it signed by thousands of people, the electronic Christmas tree has gone up in Brussels and is causing a mixture of reactions.
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Campaigners against the installation wanted a more traditional tree in Brussels’ Grand Place, but the tourist board said they wanted to “emphasize culture and modernity” this year.
Two Russian tourists standing in Grand Place couldn’t agree on whether or not they like the tourism board’s new approach.
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Christian Piem from Belgium was unequivocal: “It’s awful, awful and shameful of the councillors who decided to set up here, on the Grand Place. It’s such a horror.”
The tree is a 25-metre installation made from screens that put on light and sound displays and is supposed to be a reinterpretation of the traditional Christmas tree.
More about: Brussels, Christmas, Modern Art

Wind Tunnel Testing...[ 3010 ]

SLS Model 'Flies' Through Langley Wind Tunnel Testing

SLS buffet model in the Langley Researcher Center Transonic Dynamics Tunnel

NASA's Space Launch System buffet model in NASA's Langley Researcher Center's Transonic Dynamics Tunnel. The SLS is America's next heavy-lift launch vehicle that will provide an entirely new capability for science and human exploration beyond Earth's orbit.

Image credit: NASA/LaRC

Πέμπτη	+19°	+11°
Παρασκευή	+17°	+12°
Σάββατο	+19°	+11°
Κυριακή	+19°	+11°
Δευτέρα	+15°	+6°
Τρίτη	+16°	+10°