National Interest – James Holmes writes that the U.S. Navy can learn much from the Russo-Japanese War—and from dueling interpretations of that conflict by naval theorists Alfred Thayer Mahan and Julian S. Corbett.

Naval News – The Hypersonic Air Launched Offensive (HALO) missile in development for the U.S. Navy’s high priority Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare Increment 2 (OASuW Inc 2) program has been cancelled.

CIMSEC – The United States has a shipping problem and everybody knows it. From combatant commands to congress and maritime security outlets to the White House, everyone is talking about America’s lack of maritime capacity.  America, it seems, is waking up to its maritime problem and is ready to roll up its sleeves and start solving it in the only way it knows how—mostly alone. While there have been some nods to bilateral cooperation in shipbuilding, the United States has not made a concerted effort toward a robust, multilateral counter-China maritime strategy. That needs to change. A coordinated, multinational approach is required to counter Chinese shipping dominance. The US and its allies should form a Multilateral Maritime Alliance to secure maritime trade and create critical sealift capacity to sustain expeditionary combat operations.

Breaking Defense – Boeing’s MQ-25 tanker drone is set to make its first flight some time this year, but the head of Naval Air Systems Command warned that here is “a ton of work” to do before takeoff.

Defense News – America’s largest naval shipbuilder, HII, reached an agreement Monday to partner with South Korea’s HD Hyundai Heavy Industries to boost shipbuilding across numerous vessel classes.

Breaking Defense – President Donald Trump today signed an executive order tasking the heads of the defense, commerce, labor, transportation and homeland security departments with developing a “Maritime Action Plan” (MAP) that will invest in the shipbuilding industrial base and disentangle the government’s clumsy procurement processes.

Breaking Defense – “The question is, are we at a point where we either quickly recover and get back on track with this? … Or do you say maybe we’re too far along with this and we go in a different direction?” said Rep. Rob Wittman.

Breaking Defense – “We have everybody on board getting to know each other and working on that synchronicity that’s required, and that’s really kind of the heart of COMPTUEX. This is a rehearsal, and we’re going to get it right,” says Capt. Rick Burgess, the Ford’s commanding officer.

Jerusalem Strategic Tribune – With all that is happening in the Middle East, it is important that our allies continue to assist with burden-sharing in the Indo-Pacific. Until America rejuvenates its maritime industrial base, there are just not enough ships available to counter all the threats we currently face. Thank you to our allies and partners. Keep up the good work!