USNI News – A fire that burned for 12 hours aboard the amphibious warship USS New Orleans (LPD-18) off Okinawa, Japan, was declared extinguished early Thursday morning local time, U.S. 7th Fleet announced.

Navy Lookout – The US Navy’s Zumwalt-class destroyer programme appeared at one stage to be a technical over-reach leading to an expensive dead end. Instead, they are now being repurposed to carry the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic missile system. Here, we examine the progress, challenges, and strategic implications of equipping these futuristic warships with hypersonic strike capabilities.

Naval News – The US Navy has revealed the latest steps in its effort to fast-track the build of a new fleet of Medium Landing Ships (LSM) vessels based on off-the-shelf blueprints.

USNI News – The Navy is placing less weight on optionally manned surface vehicles as it refines requirements for a new type of vessel that will support the surface fleet.

The War Zone – The USX-1 Defiant is getting closer to embarking on a key long-endurance cruise that could have important ramifications for the U.S. Navy.

The War Zone – The Navy says it’s rushing to install Coyote and Roadrunner-M interceptors on some Arleigh Burke destroyers amid the growing drone threat.

Navy Lookout – On 28th July, the US Navy issued an urgent requirement to industry for a new class of modular, medium to large-sized Uncrewed Surface Vessels. This is not another experimental project but a funded, credible and determined drive to add mass and lethality to an over-stretched fleet.

The War Zone – The Navy’s plans for a family of MASC drone vessels are centered on containerized missile launchers and sensor packages.

Center for Maritime Strategy – The emergence of peer competition and the increase of adversarial capability has driven the U.S. Navy to adopt the concept of Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO) as a guiding framework for how it will fight the next high-end war at sea. DMO presents a compelling vision for building a combat-credible force capable of maintaining maritime dominance in a contested environment. However, to properly implement this concept, a more clearly defined and rigorous approach is essential. As the Navy works to modernize and operationalize DMO, it must address two critical sustainment challenges: (1) logistics and (2) munition stockpiles.

USNI News – The Navy is putting out a call for a new type of unmanned surface vessel capable of carrying large payloads — including missiles — thousands of miles in support of manned warships, according to a solicitation issued Monday.

National Interest – James Holmes says that if haste has come to be the lodestone of force design, then the Navy’s leadership is probably best off pouring its resources into the clutch of smaller naval drones optimal for sea denial.

Naval News – The U.S. Navy is looking to upgrade up to 96 Tomahawks with seekers capable of supporting anti-ship strikes in the service’s latest effort to bring Maritime Strike Tomahawks into the fleet. 

USNI News – The Defense Logistics Agency is looking to expand its maritime refueling capacity from the Philippines by contracting companies on the southern island of Mindanao to supply up to 42 million gallons of fuel a year, according to new documents.

Breaking Defense – The two senior officials overseeing the Navy’s shipyard revamp told Breaking Defense that the shipyards one day should return submarines to the fleet 90 days faster than they do today.

Naval News – The U.S. Army has deployed a logistics support vessel to the first island chain to support Indo-Pacific exercises.

The War Zone – Getting USS Connecticut, one of just three prized Seawolf class submarines, back to the fleet has been a top priority for the Navy.

Center for Maritime Security – In February 2024, the Secretary of the United States Navy, Carlos Del Toro, visited the USNS Mercy (T-AH 19), one of the Navy’s two hospital ships, and shared an inspiring message with the sailors. He addressed them directly, saying, “I believe that everyone in uniform is a hero, but you are all saints. You are saints because you heal people. You work in adverse conditions, and you train in adverse conditions, and you bring comfort to those in need.”

Naval News – A new line item in the U.S. Navy Fiscal Year 2026 budget is supporting a containerized Mark 48 Advanced Capability (ADCAP) torpedo launcher for use on unmanned surface vessels (USV) and small combatants.

War on the Rocks – America’s defense establishment is rightly excited about the potential of unmanned ships. Companies like Saronic, Havoc.ai, Saildrone, and Blue Water Autonomy are developing fast, lethal, and scalable autonomous systems that could define the Navy’s future fleet. These firms, flush with venture capital and successful demonstrations, promise to rewrite maritime supremacy. And, it should be said upfront that as a commercial real estate advisor currently focused on these issues, I have a professional stake in these issues.

That said, even if startups clear the Pentagon’s “valley of death,” the fleet could remain a paper promise. Without financing for billion-dollar shipyards to build at scale, America’s unmanned ambitions could sink.

USNI News – Austal USA delivered the final Independence-class Littoral Combat Ship to the Navy Friday, the shipbuilder announced.

Defense News – The Navy hopes its Next-Generation Attack Submarine, currently known as the SSN(X), will be a successful combination of stealth, operational life and autonomous technology — but that idea may not become reality anytime soon.

The War Zone – The Army’s top general in the Pacific recently touted how “boxes of rockets” hiding out in the open creates dilemmas for adversaries.

The War Zone – The Navy has been pushing to give its submarines new ways to hunt and gather intelligence with drones sent out and retrieved via torpedo tube.

Center for Maritime Strategy – The United States Navy, tasked with preserving global maritime dominance, faces acute pressure from concurrent crises in the Red Sea and the Western Pacific.

Naval News – A program in development by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) is rapidly moving forward into the fleet to provide much deeper magazine depth for torpedoes on Virginia-class SSNs. The effort is testing and fielding multi-packed 6.75-inch Mark 58 Compact Rapid Attack Weapon (CRAW) torpedoes or 3-inch UAVs in a single 21-inch torpedo tube.