Background – Information Warfare – A look at how Naval Academy midshipmen are wargaming information warfare.

• Washington Post: Cyber War Game Tests Future Troops

Royal Marines – 3 Commando Brigade is heading home.

• Associated Press: British commandos head back to home and families

Canadian Navy – Canada needs to secure the sovereignty of the Northwest Passage.

• Toronto Star: Snowplow sinks sovereignty patrol

US Navy – The USS Harry S Truman battlegroup will head home soon.

• Virginian Pilot: Truman to return in May

NOSI will take a brief break until next Wednesday. Here is some weekend reading, in advance:

Background – Naval History – Maritime and naval history serve the needs of several ìaudiencesî in and around the Navy. However, the serviceís approach to naval history is ìdisjointed, sporadic, [and] inconsistent.î Despite various initiatives and widespread interest, the Navy lacks an integrated policy for employing naval history, and high-level interest will be required to make history the valuable resource it could and should be.

• Naval War College Review: The Uses of Maritime History in and for the Navy

Malaysian Navy – A new training ship will be build by the Malaysian Navy.

• The Star: Second training ship for navy

US Navy – Aboard the USNS Comfort.

• Virginian Pilot: War brings out wide-ranging skills of personnel

US Marines – Tales from an embedded reporter with the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines.

• Washington Times: War diary: Tales from the front

US Marines – Downtime is bad time for these Marines.

• Virginian Pilot: War-tempered Marines find downtime is no good time

US Marines – To get to Baghdad, the marines of the Third Battalion fought the old-fashioned way ó by shooting as many of the enemy as they could. Their victims weren’t all soldiers.

• New York Times Magazine: ‘Good Kills’

Background – Strategy – Ralph Peters reviews what were the key decisions made in the war by the U.S.

• New York Post: The Key Decisions

Taiwanese Navy – Taiwan still can’t decide if it wants to buy the Kidd-class destroyers from the US.

• Taipei Times: MND asks navy to cut missiles in bid to save Kidds deal

US Coast Guard – Coast Guard members on board the USS Chinook have located
and secured a cache of Iraqi military equipment and weapons hidden in
coastal caves in southern Iraq.

• Daily Press: Yorktown-based Coast Guard patrol finds Iraqi weapons

US Coast Guard – They live a weird, watery, Mad Max kind of life, the
39 U.S. Coast Guard reservists who have landed the unlikely job of guarding
the Mina al Bakr oil rig 13 miles off the coast of Iraq. Commandeered by
Navy SEALs on March 19, the nearly milelong rig-a ramshackle, rusty
contraption overrun with cockroaches and connected to Iraq’s southern oil
fields by underwater pipeline-was Iraq’s only legal export point for oil
before the war.

• US News: Offshore security
  – A new role, and a different coast, for the Coast Guard

Background – Unmanned Aerial Vehicles – The pilotless planes that hovered over Baghdad are the cusp of a technological revolution that could change the way wars are fought ó with fewer soldiers and smarter machines. But within the military itself, the idea persists that all wars eventually have to be won on the ground, with blood and guts.

• New York Times Magazine: The Unmanned Army

Royal Australian Navy – HMAS Stuart helps Australia defends its borders against drug smugglers.

• Daily Telegraph: North Korean heroin ship is seized by SAS
• The Australian: Bail refused for ‘heroin’ ship crew

US Navy – What the Seabees are doing in Iraq.

• Knox News: Admiral: Seabees still have major role in Iraq

Background – Air War – How the US continues to close the sensor – shooter loop.

• Baltimore Sun: Strike team advances precision, pace of war

Background – Middle East Bases – The US is starting reconsider where its bases should be in the Middle East. A financial drain and Arab sensibilities are driving military cuts in the Middle East.

• New York Times: Pentagon Expects Long-Term Access to Four Key Bases in Iraq
• Los Angeles Times: Retreat Is Part of U.S. Strategy

Background – Iraq – Ralph Peters asks why shouldn’t Iraq be broken up?

• Washington Post: Must Iraq Stay Whole?

Royal New Zealand Navy – On antiterrorism patrol in the Gulf.

• Nzoom: Frigate Te Mana rescues Iranians

US Navy – The US may keep the aircraft carrier USS Constellation in commission, rathering than retiring it.

• San Diego Union Tribune: Constellation may be in service longer

Royal Navy – The Royal Navy’s nuclear attack submarines will be trimmed according to a new defense white paper.

• The Scotsman: More smart weapons as MoD plans for post Gulf war era

Background – Transformation – Thomas Ricks says the Secretary of Defense, emboldened by the swift US victory in Iraq, is ready to try to transform the military – again.

• Washington Post: Rumsfeld Stands Tall After Iraq Victory

History – A history of the end of the last Royal Yacht, HMS Britannia.

• Daily Telegraph: Queen blamed Major for royal yacht fiasco

History – A review of Operational El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.

• SeaPower: Swift and Effective Retribution

Indian Navy – India launches its first stealth warship.

• Agence France Presse:
  India launches its first indigenous stealth warship
  

US Navy – The USS Constellation and USS Kitty Hawk battlegroups leave the Gulf and sail for home.

• Associated Press: Second U.S. Aircraft Carrier Leaves Gulf

US Marines – Marines begin exercising in the Phillipines.

• The China Post: U.S. troops arrive for war games in the Philippines

Background – Unmanned Aerial Vehicles – How UAVs have been used in Iraq.

• New York Times: In the Skies Over Iraq, Silent Observers Become Futuristic Weapons

Background – Yemen and Eritrea – Robert Kaplan travels to Yemen and Eritrea, and finds that the war on terrorism is forcing U.S. involvement with the one country’s tribal turbulence and the other’s obsessive fear of chaos.

• The Atlantic: A Tale of Two Colonies

Royal Navy – The submarine HMS Turbulent returns home.

• The Guardian: Cruise missile sub back in UK

US Navy – Navy pilots complain that tanking from US Air Force tankers was not always conveniently available for them over Iraq.

• Virginian Pilot: Pilots complain of refueling delays

US Marines – With the Force Recon Marines.

• Associated Press: Secretive Marine special ops trio discuss their role in POW rescue

US Marines – 3 occupation zones are set up in Iraq, the Marines will take the south.

• Washington Post: U.S. Forces Will Redeploy Into 3 Zones

Background – Strategy – John Keegan takes a look at military rivalries and the differences and similarities between US and British forces.

• Daily Telegraph: Let the infighting begin: British and US rivalry resumes

With the fall of Tikrit, we now return you to our regularly scheduled programming???

US Navy – The first submarines return from off of Iraq.

• Associated Press: Submarines Return Home From Iraq War

US Navy – A new design for a naval unmanned aerial vehicle.

• Aviation Week: Navy Design Unveiled

US Marines – Tikrit falls to the Marines, the Pentagon says the war is essentially over.

• BBC: War ‘close to end’ after Tikrit seized

Background – Iraq – A look at how Baghdad’s collapase looked from inside Baghdad.

• The New Yorker: Letter from Baghdad – The Collapse

Indian Navy – India sets an ambitious exercise schedule for the next few months.

• Agence France-Presse:
  Indian navy to hold exercises with Oman, US, Russia: report

US Navy – More about the status of US aircraft carriers in the Gulf.

• Virginian Pilot: Some carriers may head home soon
• Washington Post: Some Ships, Planes Likely to Start Homeward

US Marines – The Marines are battling for Tikrit???

• BBC: US forces enter Tikrit
• BBC: U.S. Marines Move to Occupy Tikrit

US Marines – ???as others try to keep the peace.

• Washington Post: Marines Get Hands-On Civics Lesson

US Coast Guard – Some analysts have suggested that the increasingly
overburdened Coast Guard needs to hand off certain nonsecurity functions,
but the service’s chief officer said Tuesday that would be a mistake.

• Virginian Pilot: Coast Guard will
  rise to challenge, chief says

US Coast Guard – In some ways, what the crew members of the U.S.
Coast Guard cutter Wrangell have been doing in the Persian Gulf is similar
to the work they do at home in Maine.

• Portland Press Herald: Iraq tour tests endurance of crew on Maine cutter

Background – Strategy – Thomas Ricks and Rick Atkinson review the war to date.

• Washington Post: Confused Start, Decisive End

Background – Strategy – Colonel John Boyd’s influence on the US war plan.

• Post Gazette: How the bold run to Baghdad paid off

Background – Strategy – How the victory over Iraq empowers the transformation lobby.

• Daily Telegraph: ‘Fight light, fight fast’ theory advances

Background – Civilian Casualties – William Arkin on how the US should handle the issue of civilian casualties.

• Los Angeles Times: U.S. Should Heed the Pain of Grieving Iraqi Families

Royal Navy – The English are sending most of their naval task force in the Gulf home or to the Far East; HMS Ocean will remain on station in the Gulf.

• The Times: RAF crews are the first home, their job done

US Marines – Some Marines head toward Tikrit???

• Associated Press: U.S. Marines Move North Toward Tikrit

US Marines – ???while other Marines transition to peacekeeping.

• Washington Post: Marines Get New Mission: Restoring Law and Order

US Navy – The US prepares to rotate aircraft carriers back home.

• Associated Press: Some U.S. Carriers Set to Leave War Zone

Canadian Navy – Some of the anti-terrorism task force in the Gulf may be redeployed to the Horn of Africa.

• Canadian Press: Ships searching for terrorists in gulf could go to horn of Africa: commodore

US Navy – The Chinese continue to harass EP-3 flights off of China.

• Washington Times: Inside the Ring

Background – Strategy – John Keegan asks – why did the analysts so misanalyze this war?

• Daily Telegraph: The allies got it so right: how did the pundits get it so wrong?

Background – Strategy – Max Hasting analyses the (lack of) Iraqi strategy.

• Daily Telegraph: It was military Micawberism: Saddam simply hoped that something would turn up

Background – Axis of Evil – Who will be next on the American’s list?

• Daily Telegraph: ‘We want them to be nervous’ (That means you Ali, Bashar and Kim)

Royal Navy – While RFA Sir Galahad and RFA Sir Percivale have delivered humanitarian supplies to Umn Qasr, the port is still considered too dangerous for civilian ships.

• BBC: Port still blocked to aid ships

US Navy – The life and responsibilities of a plane captain on an aircraft carrier.

• Virginian Pilot: On carrier, some of Navy’s top-flight captains aren’t officers

Royal Marines – With the Royal Marines in Basra.

• BBC: In the palace with the marines

US Marines – With the Marines in Baghdad.

• Washington Post: Marines Battle Their Way Toward Central Baghdad
• New York Times: River Is Crossed After a Day of Fierce Fighting

US Marines – With the Marines of Task Force Tarawa far south of Baghdad.

• New York Times: Two Marine Battalions Turn to Confront the Remnants of a Lurking Iraqi Division
• New York Times: Marines Ponder Reports of Iraqis’ Premature Surrender

Background – Strategy – A nice look at the different ways to seize a city – the U.S. way and the U.K. way.

• New York Times: Five Ways to Take a City

???NOSI is taking a short break, and will next be updated on Sunday. See you then!

US Marines – With Task Force Tarawa south of Baghdad.

• Virginian Pilot: Heat, boredom are enemies of Charlie Company

US Marines – With the Marines outside Baghdad.

• Washington Post: Troops Pause After Battle in ‘Hell on Earth’

Background – Strategy – John Keegan criticises Saddam’s strategy, and describes what it should have been.

• Daily Telegraph: Saddam’s utter collapse shows this has not been a real war

US Navy – A more detailed look at how the Navy is using dolphins to clear mines at Umn Qasr.

• Washington Post: The Navy’s Dolphin-Safe Program

US Navy – Because so many amphibious ready groups and carrier battlegroups are currently forward deployed, those that deploy to relieve them will be at sea a long time to get deployment schedules back on track. Also the Navy is thinking of retaining the USS Constellation once the USS Ronal Reagan is commissioned, giving the US 13 aircraft carriers.

• Virginian Pilot: Next sailors, Marines to deploy may face longer missions

Background – Air War – William Arkin criticises the air war to date.

• Lost Angeles Times: The Price of Precision Bombing

Background – Air War – Another analysis of how successful the air war has been to date.

• Washington Post: Air War: Striking In Ways We Haven’t Seen

Background – Air War – How the air war is being conducted over Baghdad.

• Washington Post: Intense, Coordinated Air War Backs Baghdad Campaign

Background – Strategy – Thomas Ricks on how the type of war being waged is changing.

• Washington Post: Old-Style Battles Are Giving Way to ‘Checkpoint War’

US Marines – With the 7th Marine Regiment outside Baghdad.

• Washington Post: Marines Warily Hunt Unseen Enemy

US Marines – With Task Force Tarawa, covering the lines of supply.

• New York Times: Protecting the Rear in 100∞ Heat

US Marines – The Marines engage in a tense firefight on the edge of Baghdad.

• New York Times: Urban War Begins: ‘It Was Real Scary’

US Navy – How the Navy attempts to prevent fraternization at sea.

• Los Angeles Times: Sailors’ Warning: It’s the Navy, Not the ‘Love Boat’

Background – War Plan – Ralph Peters critiques the Secretary of Defense’s original war plan.

• New York Post: The Rashomon War

Background – Iraq – James F. Dunnigan lays down a scenario for how civil war may develop in Iraq in the coming days and weeks.

• StrategyPage: The Coming Iraqi Civil War

Background – Iraq – Ralph Peters nicely documents Saddam’s record of atrocities against his own people.

• New York Post: Baghdad Butcher

Background – Iraq – When did Bush decide that he had to fight Saddam?

• The New Yorker: How it came to war

US Marines – The Commander of the 1st Marine Regiment has been relieved of his command.

• Washington Post: Key Marine Commander Is Relieved

US Marines – The Marines are establishing an innovative medivac system.

• Aviation Week: In Iraq, Medics Pluck Newly Wounded By Air; Deliver Immediate Surgical Care

US Marines – With the Marines outside Baghdad.

• New York Times: Little Resistance Encountered as Troops Reach Baghdad

Royal Marines – Royal Marines are patroling the waterways of southern Iraq.

• Daily Telegraph: Britain rules the waves with goodwill

US Navy – Aboard the hospital ship USNS Comfort.

• Detroit Free Press: Medics treat allies — and enemy forces

US Navy – Aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

• Virginian Pilot: Everyone’s a night owl on Roosevelt

Background – Strategy – John Keegan again asks, what is Iraq’s strategy?

• Daily Telegraph: Where are all Iraq’s soldiers hiding?

Background – Strategy – A summary of John Keegan’s thoughts on the war to date.

• Weekly Standard: A Real War Expert

Background – Strategy – Ralph Peters comments on the successful US strategy so far.

• New York Post: On to Baghdad!

Background – Strategy – Thomas Ricks and Michael Gordon analyse the options for seizing Baghdad.

• Washington Post: Capital’s Mood, Defenses Guide Closing Moves
• New York Times: Goal of U.S.: Avoid a Siege

Background – Kurds – The mood among the Kurds is one of anticipationóand fear.

• The New Yorker: Letter from Northern Iraq – Waiting at the Front

Russian Navy – Russia will send a task force to the Indian Ocean.

• Interfax: Russia to hold naval exercises in Indian Ocean in May

Royal Australian Navy – Australia sends new mine sweeping technology urgently to Umn Qasr.

• Herald Sun: Aussie mine-clearer rushed to Iraq

US Marines – With the Marines outside Baghdad.

• BBC: US marines close on Baghdad
• Washington Post: For Marines, A Fight With A Foe That Never Arrived
• New York Times: U.S. Force Crosses Tigris, Wondering Where the Republican Guard Went

Background – Strategy – Thomas Ricks analyses the options available to the US now that it is outside Baghdad.

• Washington Post: Advance’s Dilemma: Press On, Or Wait

Background – Strategy – John Keegan asks some fascinating questions about the seeming lack of any Iraqi strategy.

• Daily Telegraph: Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Hussein?

Background – Special Forces – Ralph Peters analyses the US special forces.

• New York Post: Behind Enemy Lines

Background – Iraq – Tomahawks, bunker busters, and dust storms afflict the Iraqi capital.

• The New Yorker: Ill Winds

US Navy – With the pilots aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.

• Washington Post: One Pilot Finds Targets, Another One Hits Them
• Washington Post: Causing Death and Destruction, but Never Seeing It

US Navy – The Navy has used up two thirds of its cruise missile inventory.

• Virginian Pilot: Two-thirds of Tomahawk missiles have been used in war

US Navy – There are continued problems with the Advanced Seal Delivery System.

• Virginian Pilot: Costly mini-sub program is behind schedule

US Marines – With the First Marine Division.

• Washington Post: Marines Cross Tigris in Big Push
• New York Times: Orders in Place, Word Goes Out That ‘This Is It’
• New York Times: Onward Toward the Tigris, With Iraq’s Capital in Mind

US Marines – A review of Meals Ready to Eat, from the Marine’s perspective.

• Virginian Pilot: For hungry Marines, dining is luck of the draw

US Coast Guard – The Coast Guard’s traditional tasks are suffering since 9/11.

• Washington Post: Traditional Coast Guard Duties Suffer, Study Says

US Navy – Implementation of Sea Strike requires a longer reach for Navy ships and aircraft.

• SeaPower: Visionary Concepts & Operational Realities

Background – Information War – Iraq’s communication infrastructure is being dismantled.

• Washington Post: In Shift, Air War Targets Communications Facilities

Background – The Arab Street – Ralph Peters surveys the Arab world and finds it sadly lacking in many ways.

• New York Post: Tragedy of the Arabs

Background – The Air War – The view from the banks of the Tigris.

• The New Yorker: The Bombing of Baghdad

Canadian Navy – HMCS Iroquois arrives in the Gulf.

• Canadian Press: Canadian destroyer arrives in Gulf to take over at command-and-control base

US Navy – The US is moving more escorts from the Med to the Red Sea so their cruise missiles will not overfly Turkey or Saudia Arabia.

• Virginian Pilot: Pentagon won’t confirm ships’ move to gulf for Tomahawk

US Navy – Sorties off of carriers in the Med continue to increase.

• Virginian Pilot: Bombing runs from carrier jets in Med have doubled

US Navy – Aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.

• New York Times: Carrier in the Gulf Gets More Striking Power, and Maybe the Hint of a Return Home

US Marines – The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit hits the beach in Kuwait.

• New York Times: Troops Heading Home Redirected to Gulf

US Marines – The Marines push forward towards Baghdad.

• New York Times: Orders in Place, Word Goes Out That ‘This Is It’

US Navy – More on the Sea Power 21 vision.

• SeaPower: To Dissuade, Deter, and Defeat

Background – Strategy – John Keegan gives an insightful analysis of the war’s progress to date.

• Daily Telegraph: This is not Vietnam – the allies are well on the way to victory

Background – Secretary of Defense – Seymour Hersch on the battle between Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon.

• The New Yorker: Offense and Defense

Sri Lankan Navy – Rebels attack a Sri Lankan Navy boat.

• Associated Press: Sri Lankan Rebels Attack Navy Ship

Royal Australian Navy – Australia is scaling down its prescence in the Gulf.

• Australian Associated Press: Suicide boats ‘major threat’ to Australian ships
• Associated Press: Australia to Scale Down Presence in Gulf

US Navy – In the field with the Navy’s new forward resuscitative surgical systems.

• Associated Press: Navy Surgeons Fight For ‘Golden Hour’

Royal Marines – With the Royal Marines participating in Operation James, outside Basra.

• The Mirror: A Day in My Life With 40 Commando
• Daily Telegraph: Royal Marines storm Basra suburb
• BBC: UK marines push on Basra

US Marines – With the Marines gathering outside Baghdad.

• New York Times: Marines Move Into ‘Bad Guy’ Land

US Marines – Marine Corps gears up for 21st-century special operations missions.

• SeaPower: The USMC-SOCOM Connection