US Naval War College Review – Three ships designed in the 1930s that fought in the Pacific theater during the early months of America’s involvement in World War II represent three different ship design approaches that continue to create dissonance in the U.S. Navy’s current ship-design processes. The Navy must transition to a next-generation surface-combatant-design process to accommodate the future warfighting environment.

CIMSEC – Given that there is an EEZ/high seas corridor in the strait, U.S. ships and aircraft can, and should, do more than just “transit” continuously and expeditiously through the strait and instead should exercise high seas freedoms in the EEZ.

CIMSEC – Rep. Luria writes that the 355-ship Navy appears to be a pipe dream, as fleet size has not surpassed 300 ships since 2002 in the Bush administration. She proposes a way to stop the Navy’s hemorrhaging at an acceptable cost. But what she would prefer most is for the Navy to develop appropriate triage measures itself instead of relying on the Congressional emergency room every year.

War Zone – While not a one-to-one replacement for either of the Navy’s huge medical ships, the new vessels will go places they can’t.

Defense News – Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday mused about a day when the U.S. Navy might be able to buy a dozen or more ships each year. The Navy would be given the funding levels, and the surface ship industrial base would have grown the capacity, to support building three destroyers a year, two or three frigates a year, an amphibious transport dock every other year, and a larger number of supply ships. But as he made clear in his remarks this week, that day is not today.

USNI News – The Navy is rethinking its planned portfolio of unmanned surface vehicles following testing of a variety of USVs in the Middle East, the service’s top officer said on Thursday.

USNI News – Despite recent projections that it would eliminate strike fighter gaps in the next three years, the Navy now won’t have enough jets to train and deploy efficiently until 2031, two lawmakers said today.

War Zone – The puzzling move to shutter the EA-18G expeditionary squadrons that only fly from land may point to new capabilities waiting in the wings.

USNI News – Should Congress allow the Navy to move forward with its plan, the service would decommission 10 cruisers in two years, bringing the cruiser inventory down from 22 ships to 12 by the end of Fiscal Year 2023.

USNI News – Some Nimitz-class aircraft carriers could remain in the fleet longer than previously anticipated.

Navy Lookout – Reliable sources say that HMS Talent is being prepared for disposal with a formal decommissioning ceremony planned for sometime in May. This leaves the RN down to just 5 SSNs in service for at least the next year or more.

Breaking Defense – The Navy plans to cancel the Snakehead high-profile unmanned undersea drone research program following missteps during the design and procurement phases.

USNI News – The Department of the Navy’s first long-range shipbuilding plan in three years proposes multiple fleet procurement schemes for the Navy.

Navy Times – The Navy now has five submarines homeported in Guam — up from two the service had based there as of November 2021.

War Zone – Just days after The War Zone published a deep dive into the fascinating ship and its murky future, it has appeared executing its mission in official images.

CIMSEC – The U.S. is out of space, money, and time for the Navy’s multi-generational plans that avoid uncomfortable disagreements while awaiting tectonically slow shifts in OSD bureaucratic and strategic inertia. In a decade where China seeks ascendance with a likely vassal Russia in tow, the U.S. and its public needs a strong, forward, and mobile military to backstop American interests abroad. The military’s failure to understand its rightful place in answering both to the executive and legislative branches has impoverished the public debate on military and foreign policy matters, and weakened national security. Strong, innovative leadership comfortable with serious but professional public disagreements between OSD and other services is necessary to innovate and advocate for America’s pressing security needs. Such leadership is possible, as proven by Admiral Burke, General Shinseki, General Berger, Vice Admiral Copeman, and others who took the right risks for the right reasons. If Washington headquarters continue to fear dissenting conversations held in public more than war, our Navy – and military generally – will face brutal defeat and the ascendancy of a system determined by strategic adversaries.

USNI Proceedings – After a dozen articles on the “ends” of strategy, the project transitions to the “ways.”

War Zone – For a ghost of a special operations ship, the Carolyn Chouest has an amazing history but lack of funding may spell the end of her mission.

USNI News – Aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) is in the Sea of Japan, in time to coincide with key North Korean anniversaries like the 110th birthday of its late founding leader Kim Il-sung on April 15 and the founding anniversary of the North Korean People’s Revolutionary Army on April 25. The carrier’s recent move is the second time this year Lincoln has been employed to conduct a presence operation to deter North Korea.

War Zone – The Marines turned USS Tripoli into a ‘Lightning Carrier’ packed with over 20 F-35Bs. We were there.

Navy Times – While the U.S. Navy is steaming full speed ahead in developing unmanned surface and undersea drones to augment the fleet of the future, the information technology and artificial intelligence that will drive these platforms remains a work in progress. The sea service needs to better map out its efforts, according to a government watchdog report released this week.

Naval News – The U.S. Army’s Maneuver Support Vessel-Light (MSV-(L)) is intended to replace the Army’s Landing Craft Mechanized (LCM-8) with a new vessel that can sail at speeds much faster than the venerable LCM-8 and also carry a heavier cargo payload. The MSV(L) will be able to carry a single U.S. Army’s M1A2SEP Main Battle Tank onto the beach.

USNI News – The Marines broke a record on Sunday when they loaded the most 16 F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters ever aboard a big-deck amphibious warship.

Defense News – The upcoming National Defense Strategy will highlight “campaigning forward” as a pillar of future operations, and top naval leaders say the force is already moving in this direction.

USNI Proceedings – Naval special warfare is the nation’s naval commando force.