Royal Navy – Aboard a Royal Navy frigate in the Gulf, hunting Al-Qaeda.

• Daily Telegraph: The Royal Navy closes one of al-Qa’eda’s last escape routes

US Navy – Is the title of the Secretary of the Navy about to change?

• Copley News Service: Secretary of the Navy may fold the Marines into his official title

US Navy – After delays of about two years and significant cost overruns, the Navy considers the new LPD 17 amphibious transport dock ship to be on schedule now, with the first of 12 ships set for delivery early in the next fiscal year.

• Sea Power: LPD 17 Leads to Dramatic Changes In Design, Systems Integration

US Navy – The world order anchored by the U.S.-German relationship has integrated Germany into Europe without more bloodshed, brought the transformation of communist Europe, and visited prosperity on a part of the world that could easily have been embroiled in strife. That world order, however, is being severely eroded by misunderstanding and rhetoric on all sides. A statecraft is needed that comprehends the nature of military power and what a given country can and cannot do to defend itself.

• US Naval War College Review: Germany and the United States in the Age of Terror

Background – Bases – George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld have pledged to change the way America’s armed forces are distributed around the globe. What do they have in mind?

• The Economist: The next American empire