– National Interest – Arrhythmic operating patterns will help the sea services wrest the initiative from prospective foes, knocking them off-balance to American advantage.

– War Zone – Details surrounding the Navy’s Sea Dragon program remain scarce, but there are some distinct possibilities.

– Defense News – The U.S. Navy is considering extending the service life of all its ships by at least seven years, and could stretch the life of some ships by 13 years.

– Defense News – A three-month internal review conducted by senior U.S. surface fleet leaders found that nearly 85 percent of its junior officers had either some or significant concerns in ship handling and that many struggled to react decisively to extricate their ship from danger when there was an immediate risk of collision, according to an internal message obtained by Defense News.

– USNI News – The annual Baltic Operations exercise is underway for the 46th time, continuing last year’s priorities of increasing the integration of aircraft and ships and boosting the difficulty of the free-play phase that concludes the exercise.

– Reuters – The United States is considering sending a warship through the Taiwan Strait, U.S. officials say, in a move that could provoke a sharp reaction from Beijing at a time when Sino-U.S. ties are under pressure from trade disputes and the North Korean nuclear crisis.

– War Zone – We finally have high-quality images of the entire ship in its completed state.

– USNI News – The Norwegian-designed Naval Strike Missile has been officially selected to serve as the Littoral Combat Ship’s over-the-horizon anti-ship weapon.

– Breaking Defense – The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) John Richardson made a major organizational announcement with major strategic implications when he announced the Navy would re-establish the Second Fleet, which covers the Atlantic. But that would, so far, only mean adding 250 people to the command. Without making larger strategic changes, that is not enough.

– Defense News – The Tomahawk cruise missile is one of the most effective and highly utilized weapons in the U.S. arsenal – and we have decided to stop producing them.

– USNI Proceedings – A fleet is the Navy’s essential fighting element, our central contribution to the joint fight and to the nation’s defense.

– Reuters – Two U.S. Navy warships sailed near South China Sea islands claimed by China on Sunday, in a move that drew condemnation from Beijing as President Donald Trump seeks its continued cooperation on North Korea.

– USNI Proceedings – a fictional look at possible Lessons Learned from Recent Naval Actions in the Western Pacific…

– USNI Proceedings – The U.S. Third Fleet was born out of necessity, forged during the peak of the war in the Pacific. Its first commander, Admiral William “Bull” Halsey, was admired for his aggressive nature and warfighting intellect. More than 70 years after its creation, Third Fleet has returned to the forefront of Pacific warfighting. Following in Halsey’s footsteps, Vice Admiral Nora Tyson took the Third Fleet somewhere it had not been in decades—across the international dateline. Under direction from Commander Pacific Fleet, Admiral Scott Swift, this “Third Fleet Forward” concept has featured surface action groups (SAGs) under the command of Third Fleet operating in regions of the Pacific historically under the command of Seventh Fleet.

– Breaking Defense – Once touted by President Trump himself as an alternative to the F-35, the souped-up Super Hornet is now firmly established as its partner.

– Breaking Defense – Gen. Gus Perna, head of Army Materiel Command, is a brave man. He came to Pacific Command’s AOR and announced he wants the Army to stop building the transport ships and so-called watercraft that could be crucial to any conflict in the Indo-Pacific region.

– War Zone – The paper recounts a course of bizarre events that occurred near the USS Nimitz while it was sailing off the Baja Peninsula in November 2004.

– Navy Times – Yet another propulsion train problem has forced the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, back into port for “adjustments” before it can get back underway to complete what had been expected to be a long testing period.

– CIMSEC – Past examples of peacetime buildups by the British Royal Navy and U.S. Navy suggest that while getting to larger numbers of ships is possible, the costs can be prohibitive; especially in an environment of rapid, technological advancement.

– USNI Proceedings – The assumption that U.S. allies in the Pacific would join the United States in a kinetic conflict with China must be revisited.

– Breaking Defense – The incoming commander of US Pacific Fleet issues a warning about growing Chinese ambitions while taking charge of the world’s largest fleet.

– USNI Proceedings – Fielded en masse, simple naval mines present a serious anti­access threat. Commercial technology exists to provide a modicum of low-cost mine defense capabilities to any ship.

– USNI Proceedings – To better understand the environment, reduce adversary surprise, and improve performance, the Navy’s maritime operations centers need a tighter partnership between intelligence and operational analysis.

– USNI Proceedings – The Navy must revisit its surface combat rescue capability.

– USNI Proceedings – The Navy’s recent seagoing collisions resulting in the tragic loss of 17 sailors have brought into stark relief the urgent need and compelling obligation to “fix the problem.”