US Navy – The USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier battlegroups have been ordered to assume station off of Iraq. They will join the USS Constellation and USS Harry S. Truman battlegroups.

• Virginian Pilot: Roosevelt battle group ordered toward Iraq

US Navy – Patroling the Gulf’s shipping lanes aboard P-3 Orions.

• Virginian Pilot: Aerial missions have new focus under threat of war

US Navy – Joint Venture HSV-X1 is sailing for the Gulf.

• Virginian Pilot: Experimental high-speed catamaran tapped for Mideast deployment

Background – Oceanography – Looking back at 2002 and forward to 2003 for the field of oceanography.

• Sea Power: A Year of Peaceful Turbulence

Background – Iraq – James F. Dunnigan calculates the cost of a war against Iraq.

• StrategyPage: The Costs of the War on Terror