USNI News – New robotic autonomous systems and forward-deployed forces are key to the Navy’s emerging hedge force concept the service is adopting to supplement the tasks of the existing fleet.

Navy Lookout – The US Navy says it wants to terminate the Constellation-class frigate programme after years of design instability, opting instead for the procurement of a simpler ship based on the US Coast Guard’s Legend-class cutter. Here, we consider the crisis in American naval procurement and the implications of the switch from frigate to cutter.

Breaking Defense – Tough choices about whether to put hypersonic weapons or big guns on the Navy’s latest destroyer were one of the factors that put the sea service on a path to develop a new battleship, the Navy’s director of surface warfare said today.

USNI News – To build the Navy’s planned Golden Fleet, U.S. naval shipbuilders must hire a quarter million shipbuilders over the next decade, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan said Tuesday.

War on the Rocks – Trent Hone writes that to Japanese leaders, Yamato was more than a ship. It was a symbol of national power, technological prowess, and imperial ambitions. That symbolism has returned to American politics. President Donald Trump recently announced plans for a new U.S. Navy battleship, reviving a type of warship the Navy abandoned generations ago. Evaluating that proposal requires separating two distinct questions that Yamato itself embodies: whether the battleship still makes operational sense in modern naval warfare, and whether it retains political and symbolic value even after its military utility has passed.

National Interest – James Holmes writes that naval theorist Alfred Thayer Mahan would likely be baffled by Trump’s war on drugs—but would be instantly familiar with his broader geopolitical motives in the Caribbean.

Naval News – The new dry dock, designated “Atlas” was announced as received by General Dynamics Electric Boat’s primary shipyard in Groton, Connecticut. The primary purpose of Atlas is targeted towards supporting the construction of the Columbia-class of Ballistic Missile Submarines (SSBN) currently under construction.

CIMSEC – To win the fight against a peer adversary, the navy’s surface warfare officer (SWO) community must display a level of warfighting proficiency – one of excellence – not yet seen in many years. The collisions of 2017 and continued near misses and actual mishaps since, such as the grounding of USS Howard (DDG 83) in 2023 and the Harry S. Truman (HST) Carrier Strike Group (CSG) friendly fire incident in 2024, reveal that the surface force lacks a high level of operating proficiency, in terms of both shiphandling and tactical skill. However, while sweeping reforms were swiftly implemented to increase shiphandling proficiency, the SWO community has not shown the same kind of fervor to implement the sweeping changes needed to dramatically increase tactical proficiency.

CIMSEC – While keeping the generalist approach, the surface navy should still continue to create more opportunities to specialize — to build more tactical and technical proficiency — across an officer’s career.

USNI News – Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are in U.S. custody following his capture in the capital of Caracas early Saturday morning, President Donald Trump said during a midday Saturday press conference.

ArmyRecognition – The U.S. Navy has completed a Service Life Extension Program refueling overhaul for USS Cheyenne (SSN 773) at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, marking the first submarine to undergo an SLEP overhaul. The milestone extends Cheyenne’s service life beyond 44 years and highlights the Navy’s strategy to ease attack submarine shortages by sustaining existing platforms.

(Thanks to Alain)

U.S. Congressional Research Service – Ronald O’Rourke analyses this new US Navy program.

The War Zone – With Trump class ship construction many years off, the survival of a program to build such large and expensive warships is even more questionable.

The War Zone – The USS Defiant would be the first Trump class battleship, but major questions remain about affordability and logic of such a massive design.

The War Zone – The U.S. Navy has confirmed that the armament package for its first “flight” of its new FF(X) frigates will not include a built-in Vertical Launch System (VLS). A lack of any type of VLS on the FF(X) design is a glaring omission that can only raise questions about the operational utility and flexibility of the ships. At the same time, the new frigates will be able to carry modular payloads, including containerized missile launchers, on their sterns.

The National Interest – James Holmes writes that the US Navy still needs new frigates, and is still intent on building them. But it must make basic changes to its acquisition process to avoid a second Constellation fiasco.

The War Zone – The Navy is leveraging the Coast Guard’s Legend class National Security Cutter to plug the gap left by axing the Constellation class frigate.

The War Zone – Being able to deploy LUCAS kamikaze drones from Navy ships drastically opens the aperture as to where swarms of these aircraft can emanate from.

Defense Opinion – Once again, the undersea domain is growing contested, as it was during the Cold War. Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) promise to enhance the combat reach and responsiveness of existing U.S. nuclear submarines. They remain, however, a complementary capability, and not a substitute for the irreplaceable advantages of manned nuclear submarines. The U.S. Navy should pursue the concept of teaming manned units — like attack submarines — with unmanned units as the best method to maximize combat potential.

USNI News – Two new reports on the V-22 Osprey, following a series of fatal mishaps that killed 20 people from 2022 to 2024, show years of problems, ranging from faulty parts to poorly understood maintenance procedures and a lack of communication across the services, that led to safety and reliability across the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.

The War Zone – The U.S. Navy says it is aiming to have the first of a new class of frigates based on an existing American design “in the water” by 2028. The U.S. Coast Guard’s Legend class National Security Cutter is reportedly the basis for the design in question. This all follows a decision to cancel the Constellation class frigate, a program marred by major delays and cost growth, which has now further exposed a highly concerning gap in the service’s future force structure plans.

Breaking Defense – Navy Secretary John Phelan recently told attendees at a private dinner that the new frigate would be a modified National Security Cutter.

The Guardian – US forces have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, in a major escalation of Donald Trump’s four-month pressure campaign against the South American country’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, whose government called the seizure “an act of international piracy”.

Interesting Engineering – US nuclear-powered submarines that may carry nuclear weapons could dock at Australian ports without the knowledge of the Australian public or even its government, defense officials told a Senate hearing, reigniting debate over the country’s obligations under nuclear nonproliferation treaties and the long-term risks of the AUKUS security pact.

(Thanks to Alain)