The Armyfication of the Navy

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CIMSEC – The United States Navy has set a course that will see it morph into an army on the sea. The differentiating factors between the sea services and its landbound compatriots are fast eroding, diminishing the value of the fleet as its capabilities are more constrained. Traditionally, the utility and strength of the U.S. Navy revolved around the supreme maneuverability of the fleet and its ability to pass without a trace, skills the U.S. Army could only dream of. Now, however, fleets have never been more visible or more movement constrained, exposing them to the same strategic limitations an army on campaign faces. Adding to these challenges is the development of a set-piece mentality within the force over the previous decades as the U.S. Navy acted as mobile strike assets for ground wars. Redressing this army-fication, however, will be key to ensuring the continued success of the sea services and ultimately the safety of the United States.

An 11-foot drone boat rated for 690 miles and 58 mph is going after a Pentagon prize whose floor is 230 miles and 12 mph, with a launcher for one-way attack drones bolted to its deck and no published count of how many it carries

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Autonocion – Small drone boats have spent the last two years running errands. They map seabed, shadow suspicious hulls, carry spare parts between ships and stay well clear of anything that goes bang. One of them, an 11-foot boat called the Typhoon, had its moment in July by driving in through the open stern gate of a moving American warship with nobody aboard and nobody on a joystick. Its maker has now bolted a launcher for one-way attack drones onto the same deck.

(Thanks to Alain)

Germany considers helping fund UK nuclear deterrent

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Navy Lookout – Reports in the Telegraph that Germany is considering financial and military support for Britain’s nuclear weapons are part of a widening debate over European defence. Berlin could help protect the bases and reinforce the conventional forces around them, but access to the deterrent itself would remain tightly controlled by London and constrained by Washington.

(Thanks to Alain)

The Human Element of Sea Power: Ports, People and Presence in the South China Sea

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CIMSEC – The U.S. Navy does not need to match the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s local presence ship for ship in the South China Sea. Instead, the U.S. Navy needs access that links lawful operations at sea to port visits, exercises, repair arrangements, and partner relationships ashore. The human element of sea power, built on trust, access, and routine cooperation, turns ship presence into influence. The decisive factor in the South China Sea is not ship numbers or capabilities alone, but the human infrastructure of access, repair, and partner trust that allows ships to operate with purpose and endurance.

Royal Navy tracks more Russian vessels amid 25% rise in monitoring operations

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Navy Lookout – Four Royal Navy warships have been involved in a concentrated three-day operation monitoring Russian naval and sanctioned merchant vessels around the UK. This is routine activity, but RN activations to track Russian ships have increased by 25% during the first eight months of this year compared with the same period in 2025.

Strategic Assets: The Intelligence Vulnerabilities of the American Shipbuilding Workforce

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Center for Maritime Security – It’s widely established that near-peer adversarial actors have actively and clandestinely targeted the U.S. defense industrial base; notable actions include cyber operations and corporate obfuscation to embed itself within the lower tiers of the U.S. supply chain. This extends to the United States’ MIB, with a 2025 Section 301 Investigation Report by the Office of the United States Trade Representative indicating China’s multi-decadal systemic campaign targeting and marginalizing the U.S.’s maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors to diminish the U.S.’s naval dominance and destabilize its maritime enterprise. Accordingly, the shipbuilding enterprise has evolved into a principal arena intensifying the active U.S.-China competition.

Royal Navy to study extending Type 45 destroyers service life

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Navy Lookout – Having previously been committed to an out of service date of 2035-38, the MoD now says it has set aside money to study whether the Type 45 destroyers will need to be extended in service. The Type 83 replacement programme has been abandoned, and the alternative Hybrid Navy vision of Common Combat Vessels (CCV) and uncrewed platforms to replace the capability is far from mature.