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The Navy’s “Red Crown”: Guardians of the Skies – The Role of PIRAZ Stations

Featured image: “The Spooks” of the USS Fox (DLG–33/CG-33) – Positive Identification Radar Advisory Zone, PIRAZ, Gulf of Tonkin, 1971.  Special thanks to Bill Scholz for allowing his picture to be used on this post.

During the Vietnam War and other major conflicts, the U.S. Navy operated a select group of ships known as PIRAZ stations, short for Positive Identification Radar Advisory Zone. These vessels, often referred to by their radio callsign “Red Crown,” formed the backbone of radar coverage and command coordination for friendly aircraft in designated combat zones.

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The U.S. Marine Who Forced Nazi Officers to Toast FDR at Gunpoint — and Became the Most Decorated OSS Operative

Most Marines had never seen combat when Peter Ortiz joined the Corps in June 1942. However, he had already survived five years in the French Foreign Legion and fought in Africa, faced the Nazis in France, spent 15 months as a prisoner of war, and escaped occupied Europe to get back into the fight.

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First CTI Female Selected to Chief Petty Officer, 1987

Chief Tanner is the first active duty Navy woman to be selected for Chief “I” Brancher Chief Tanner was born in China Lake, California, the daughter of a U.S. Navy Senior Chief Corpsman. She joined the Navy in 1974 and attended basic training in Orlando, Florida. From there she went to Dental Tech “A” school in San Diego, California. After serving as a Dental Technician at Balboa, Groton, and Pearl Harbor, Chief Tanner was transferred to Pensacola, Florida.

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HII Successfully Completes Builder’s Sea Trials for Destroyer Ted Stevens (DDG 128)

PASCAGOULA, Miss., (Sept. 27, 2025) — HII’s (NYSE: HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division successfully completed builder’s sea trials for guided missile destroyer Ted Stevens (DDG 128), marking a major milestone in the construction of the second Flight III destroyer built at Ingalls. The trials were conducted over several days in the Gulf of America, and tested the ship’s engineering, navigation, and combat systems to ensure readiness for the future acceptance trials and eventual delivery to the U.S. Navy.

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Remembering Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., USN

William Frederick Halsey, Jr.
30 October 1882 – 16 August 1959

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The U.S. Navy’s Big Ticonderoga-Class Mistake Still Stings

Key Points and Summary – The U.S. Navy’s ambitious Cruiser Modernization Program for its aging Ticonderoga-class ships was a high-profile failure.

-A damning GAO report revealed the Navy wasted $1.84 billion modernizing four cruisers that were ultimately divested before ever deploying.

-The program was plagued by soaring costs (over $500 million per ship), poor contractor performance, and the extreme technical difficulty of integrating modern systems onto 1980s-era hulls.

-The Navy ultimately concluded it was no longer cost-effective, canceling the program in favor of the new DDG(X) destroyer.

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