– Maritime Executive – An autonomous unmanned vessel designed to track quiet diesel-electric submarines spanning miles of ocean depths for months at a time with minimal human input is now under construction and is expected to set sail for testing in 2015.
Chinese Navy – The History of the Twenty-First Century Chinese Navy
– US Naval War College Review – China historically has been a continental rather than a maritime power, despite its more than eleven thousand miles of coastline and more than six thousand islands. It has more often viewed the sea as a potential invasion route for foreign aggressors rather than as a medium for achieving national goals, a tendency that has contributed to the weakness of the Chinese maritime tradition. This attitude had changed by the beginning of the twenty-first century. The remarkable growth of China’s economy beginning in the last two decades of the twentieth century, the broadening of Beijing’s global political and economic interests, and resolution of almost all border disputes with its many contiguous neighbors have contributed to increased attention to threats to the vital sea lines of communication (SLOCs) on which China increasingly depends.
Geopolitics / Muldova – Why Moldova Urgently Matters
– Stratfor – Robert D. Kaplan on the current state of affairs in Eastern Europe.
US Navy – Single-Purpose Warships for the Littorals
– US Naval Institute Proceedings – In this cost-constrained era, when it comes to responding to threats in dangerous coastal waters, a single-purpose ship is best suited to the task.
US Navy – Navy to Congress: We can’t guarantee a safe nuclear fleet
– Defense News – Fighting back at repeated budget cuts to its nuclear power budget requests, two of the Navy’s top leaders warned Congress on Monday that the cuts can’t go on.
US Navy – A Theory of Navy Airpower
– US Naval War College Review – The US Navy has never been comfortable with theory or doctrine at what is now known as the operational level of war. The Navy has always possessed robust ship- and formation-level doctrine—tactics—and of course has
embraced the high-level sea-power theories of both Alfred Thayer Mahan and Julian Corbett. The gap in the middle either has not been needed—as has been essentially the case for most of the Navy’s history except for World War II—or has been filled by adaptive practice in the form of specific campaign or operations plans. For the Navy, the old framework of strategy and tactics has sufficed since 1945. However, an emergent set of circumstances in the form of Chinese naval development, as well as a new generation of weapons and sensors, is driving the Navy into incorporating the operational level into its culture. Moreover, this development is bringing the Navy into competition, or perhaps conflict, with the US Air Force over which should exert operational control of aviation over the water. Whereas this task was always presumed to be the preserve of the Navy, the establishment in Hawaii of a regional air operations Center (AOC) that in theory controls all air in the theater will challenge Navy assumptions and equities. The tactics of interservice squabbling aside, the Navy will need a theory of naval airpower as a foundation for its arguments to preserve operational control of its aviation.
US Navy – The Pillars of Submarine Safety
– US Naval Institute Proceedings – The U.S. Submarine Force actively applies the knowledge gained from historic incidents such as the loss of the H. L. Hunley and the USS Thresher to inform its approach toward safety.
US Navy – Future Mine Countermeasures
– US Naval War College Review – Naval (or sea) mines are, by themselves or in combination with other weapons, a promising choice to parties pursuing antiaccess/area-denial objectives. The number of mines in the stocks of countries around the world and the ease of laying them mean that sea control is very likely to be lost again in future tension and conflict. This article is an attempt to describe the means, and to some extent the methods, under consideration to win it back if the need arises again.
US Navy – Navy Altered Destroyer Upgrades Due to Budget Pressure, Demand for Ships
– USNI News – Budget pressure and an insatiable demand for ships capable of bulls eyeing ballistic missiles drove the Navy to alter its plan to upgrade Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyers (DDG-51).
US Navy – Navy Taking a Second Look at A Five-Inch Guided Round
– USNI News – The Navy’s surface warfare community is taking a second look at a guided shell that could be fired from existing ship board guns as part of the service’s recent focus on expanding the combat power of the Navy’s surface ships.
US Marines – Bridging Our Surface-Connector Gap
– US Naval Institute Proceedings – In a new strategic environment, the Marines’ ability to expeditiously get people and equipment ashore may be more important than ever. Emerging platforms and technologies promise to be game-changers.
US Navy – The Hunt for Full-Spectrum ASW
– US Naval Institute Proceedings – An antisubmarine warfare doctrine adopted U.S. Navy-wide nearly a decade ago still applies, now more than ever.
Royal Navy – Carrier-Strike Capability Returning To U.K.
– Aviation Week – Despite delays, U.K. begins countdown toward the return of carrier strike capability.
US Navy – US Navy’s Cruiser Problem
– Defense News – The US Navy and Congress are in a sort of faceoff over the fleet’s cruiser force. To extend their service lives, the Navy is asking to take half its cruisers — CGs in Navy-speak — out of service now and gradually bring them back starting in 2019. Congress, fearful that Pentagon budget-cutters will instead decide to cut costs and reduce the force, is insisting the ships be modernized now and kept running.
US Navy – The Elements of US Maritime Strategy
– The Diplomat – An all-encompassing U.S. maritime strategy must include all the armed forces—not just the navy, coast guard and marines.
US Navy – US Surrenders Naval Logistics Supremacy
– The Diplomat – Without underway replenishment ships, America’s ability to project power in wartime will shrivel.
US Navy – Navy Cancelled New Destroyer Flight Due to Ohio Replacement Submarine Costs
– USNI News – The looming hit to the shipbuilding budget from the Navy’s plan to build 12 new nuclear ballistic missile submarines resulted in the cancellation of a fourth flight of Arleigh Burke destroyers (DDG-51) as well as the controversial plan to layup 11 Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers (CG-47).
US Marines – Marine Corps’ Monster Sea Taxi Paddles to Shore
– War is Boring – The Marines are paying a lot more attention to the Pacific as the war in Afghanistan draws to a close for American troops. That means new amphibious toys for the Marines to play with.
Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force – Japan and Australia to Cooperate on New Submarine Design
– USNI News – Japanese and Australian leaders plan to sign an agreement that would clear the way for the two countries to collaborate on a future submarine design as Japan seeks to export its military technology against the backdrop of a rising China.
US Navy – No Ship Moves to Black Sea Following Airliner Crash, Plans Could Change
– USNI News – The U.S. Navy has not yet tasked any of its surface ships to move closer to Ukraine following the suspected shoot down of Malaysian Airliners Flight 17. A collection of NATO frigates, electronic surveillance ships and mine sweepers are in the Black Sea following the conclusion of a minesweeping exercises.
US Navy – U.S. Navy Discovers That Sailors Need Sleep
– War is Boring – Undermanned and overworked crews can’t keep Littoral Combat Ships running.
US Marines – Marines Favor Wheeled Ship-to-Shore Vehicles
– National Defense – Not only does the Marine Corps plan to buy a wheeled vehicle to replace its aging ship-to-shore personnel carriers, but senior leaders are now convinced that wheels are superior to the tracked vehicle that the Corps unsuccessfully spent $3 billion over a quarter of a century to develop.
Indian Navy – Indian Prime Minister Backs $3.18 Billion Plan for Domestic Carrier
– USNI News – India’s freshly elected prime minister is backing $3.18 billion to complete the Indian Navy’s domestically built aircraft carrier after seeing one in action.
US Navy – U.S. Cruiser Leaves Black Sea, Several NATO Ships Remain
– USNI News – A U.S. guided missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf (CG-72) has left the Black Sea on Tuesday, leaving a collection of NATO ships to maintain an ongoing presence mission following Russia’s seizure of the Crimea region from Ukraine.
Chinese Navy – China thinks it can defeat America in battle
– War is Boring – The bad news first. The People’s Republic of China now believes it can successfully prevent the United States from intervening in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan or some other military assault by Beijing.Now the good news. China is wrong — and for one major reason. It apparently disregards the decisive power of America’s nuclear-powered submarines.
NOSI - Naval Open Source Intelligence™ 
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