– FoxtrotAlpha – If you want to know just about every ship and sub in the U.S. Navy’s fleet, this graphic is your guide.

– Foxtrot Alpha – The Navy’s USS America, the first of her class, was controversially optimized to handle the F-35, leaving out the multi-purpose well deck traditionally found on ‘Gator Navy’ flattops. Now, just months after her commissioning, she already needs 40 weeks of upgrades just to handle the very aircraft she was designed for.

– USNI News – The Carl Vinson carrier strike group (CSG) has left U.S. Central Command and has passed its strike missions over Iraq and Syria to a new CSG centered on USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-73).

– BBC – The US Navy is developing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, that can be launched from a cannon and “swarm” in a co-ordinated attack.

– USNI News – The Navy’s new frigate will go through the requirements-generation and testing processes as a flight upgrade rather than a new-start program, helping save time and money and allowing the program office to focus on what will be different from the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) to the frigate upgrade.

– USNI News – The Navy is further extending the life of Landing Craft Air Cushions (LCACs) that have already gone through their Service Life Extension Programs (SLEPs), with the oldest craft set for retirement this year and the replacement not ready for its first delivery until 2017.

– Defense News – The US Navy is now building towards a fleet goal of 308 ships, according to the latest 30-year shipbuilding plan — a small evolution from the previously-cited 306-ship target. The two ships added to the fleet total are a 12th LPD 17-class amphibious transport dock and a third Afloat Forward Staging Base (AFSB).

– USNI News – The second Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) has proven so much more reliable than the first that the Navy has been able to experiment with a new expeditionary maintenance model to extend the reach of the ship.

– USNI News – The Program Executive Office for Littoral Combat Ships (PEO LCS) is working with both its shipbuilders to determine how to bring the current LCS designs into a more lethal and survivable frigate design, while it works with other Navy offices to finalize the frigate requirements.

– USNI News – The Program Executive Officer for Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) hopes to send a version of the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) mission package out to sea before officially reaching initial operational capability, as earlier testing showed “phenomenal” capability compared to current systems.

– Breaking Defense – Clearing sea mines is so murderously hard that the best defense is to sink the ships or shoot down the planes carrying them before they can be put in the water. But politics, surprise, or fear of escalation might keep the US military from stopping the minelayers “left of splash.” That means somebody had better be ready to go after the deadly explosives in their natural habitat. The great leap forward today is that “somebody” is increasingly likely to be a robot.

– Phase Zero – Everyone saw the USS Annapolis come home last year. It returned, poignantly, on Sept. 11, and there was a seriousness amid the usual dockside fanfare—sailors meeting newborn children for the first time, a school band playing “Anchors Aweigh.” But there was no mention of the boat’s secret missions.

– Real Clear Defense – Fisticuffs broke out in the Naval War College’s legendary Mahan Reading Room last Wednesday. The cause: an argument over whether history shows that aircraft carriers are survivable in combat. Base police responded. The combatants were taken to Newport Hospital for treatment of wounds and kept overnight for observation.

– Politico – While the old adage, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” is aptly applied to many of life’s problems, when it comes to modern weapons systems, sometimes it just doesn’t adequately capture the context of what is needed to safeguard our national security. A case in point today is the funding level for the Tomahawk weapons system

– National Interest – With the proliferation of A2/AD capabilities, a forward presence is becoming a liability.

– Daily Mail – These rusting ‘ghost’ ships are the last remnants of what was once the United States’ National Defense Reserve Fleet, set to protect and serve in the hour of need. The NDRF was set up in the wake of the Second World War, and at its peak in the 1950s, the fleet consisted of nearly 2,280 ships moored across the United States. But as the need for the fleet has diminished, so has the number of vessels, and today, just over 120 ships remain, posing a risk to the environment in the bays where they are moored.

– Navy Times – The Pacific may be a priority, but the Navy is waving a pretty big flag at Russia’s front door.

– Weekly Standard – In the middle of March, the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard published a revised version of their 2007 paper, A Cooperative Strategy for the 21st Century. The 2007 edition reflected the strong influence of 9/11, U.S. operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the global campaign against Islamist jihadis. It suggested broadening the reach of U.S. seapower by cooperating with other navies; helping littoral states that might fail by providing them with military training; and bolstering such traditional naval missions as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

– Real Clear Defense – Before we turn to the number of fighting ships the U.S. Navy needs in wartime, let’s close out our excursion into peacetime ship totals. The measuring stick for wartime fleets is straightforward: the doughtiest opponent they’re likely to encounter in some important theater. Easy standard to set, hard standard to meet. Likewise, the arithmetic of peacetime naval presence is “simple”—deceptively so.

– Foxtrot Alpha – In 2010, DARPA announced that it wanted to create a surface dwelling unmanned sub hunter stalker, otherwise known as the Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel, or ACTUV for short. Fast forward five years and the prototype is about to set sail. What comes next could be a revolution in naval warfare.

– The Bridge – From Operation Desert Storm to Operation Enduring Freedom, the United States Navy has enjoyed an asymmetric technological advantage over its adversaries. Uncontested command and control dominance allowed American commanders to synchronize efforts across broad theaters and deliver catastrophic effects upon the nation’s enemies. These years of uncontested command and control dominance birthed a generation of commanders who now expect accurate, timely, and actionable information. High levels of situational awareness have become the rule, not the exception. The Navy and its strike groups now stand in danger of becoming victims of their own technological success. An overreliance on highly networked command and control structures has left carrier strike groups unprepared to operate effectively against future near-peer adversaries.

– USNI News – Navy leadership is continuing to push for its preferred guided missile cruiser modernization plan — which would put 11 of the 22 CGs in reduced operating status until the other 11 near retirement — despite Congress rejecting the plan during last year’s budget negotiations.

– Breaking Defense – Only 4.7 percent of the US Navy’s 275 warships are dedicated to mine warfare. Those small numbers face Iran’s several thousand naval mines, North Korea’s 50,000, China 100,000 or so, and Russia’s estimated quarter-million. If you just count the numbers, the US seems to be at a staggering disadvantage.

Foxtrot Alpha – Electronic warfare is one of the most important yet misunderstood components of modern air combat. Today, US Navy and Marine electronic attack squadrons are the masters of this shadowy domain. One of their most experienced Electronic Warfare Officers is here to tell you about this critical mission, their new EA-18G Growler jet and future of electronic attack.

– Breaking Defense – After decades of neglect, the Navy has started taking sea mines seriously.