Free Republic

The Free and Open Indo-Pacific vision, initially articulated by Prime Minister Abe Shinzō in 2016...includes capacity-building assistance aimed at strengthening governance, maritime security, and navigational safety. FOIP represented a major step forward in Japan’s strategic engagement in the Indo-Pacific region, particularly in Southeast Asia. For example, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force has conducted Indo-Pacific Deployment long-range training missions, mainly in the South China Sea, since 2017. These deployments deliberately incorporate port visits and joint exercises with regional navies, reflecting broader strategic considerations. Over the past decade, China’s maritime law-enforcement capabilities and naval power have expanded significantly, fundamentally transforming the security...

Very interesting video about the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier that sank in 1942 at the Battle of Midway.

The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its strike group have arrived in the Caribbean this week as tensions with Cuba escalate and President Trump has raised the prospect of potential military action against the island, according to initial reporting by The Hill. The Nimitz-class carrier is operating alongside its air wing — including F/A-18E Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers and C-2A Greyhounds — as well as the USS Gridley, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, and the USNS Patuxent, a Henry J. Kaiser-class replenishment oiler, according to U.S. Southern Command, which oversees military operations in the region. “USS Nimitz has proven its...

The 2025 article marks a significant evolution. It adapts Maoist strategy as a framework for far-seas operations, showing how a weaker force might offset U.S. advantages through asymmetric means. In doing so, it envisions not only countering intervention in a Taiwan conflict, but also protecting China’s global maritime interests. The application of Mao’s doctrine at sea signals ambitions well beyond regional defense—toward a PLAN capable of contesting influence across the world’s oceans.Once in place, these seemingly civilian platforms, operating in coordination with military forces, would be poised to exploit U.S. vulnerabilities in wartime. They would target critical nodes and weak...

A massive undersea firepower gap is looming, and the Navy’s aging Ohio-class submarines may be the only thing standing in its way. A routine fleet review in March 2026 surfaced a number Navy planners are still struggling to absorb. Over the next several years, four aging Ohio-class guided-missile submarines and a dozen Ticonderoga-class cruisers will reach their mandatory retirement dates. When they go, the fleet sheds 2,080 Vertical Launch System cells in one wave.

The service plans to buy 15 Trump-class battleships over 30 years while also expanding its fleet of autonomous medium unmanned surface vessels.The U.S. Navy on Monday unveiled fresh details about its future Trump-class battleship program. For the first time, officials confirmed that the large warship will use nuclear power and act as a heavily armed command ship for future naval operations.This information was included in the Navy’s new 30-year shipbuilding plan. The plan also describes major changes to the fleet, such as adding many autonomous ships, buying new submarines, and retiring older aircraft carriers and submarines.The proposed battleship is expected...

Today, the nation’s primary threat has shifted from the Soviet Union to China, which has an economy, military, and set of ambitions that make it a fundamentally different and more menacing adversary. Within that competition, China’s construction of a fleet and military designed to challenge the U.S. Navy has degraded U.S. command of the sea to its lowest point in 80 years, undermining the transoceanic Navy’s strategic concept and ability to contribute to national policy.A new doctrine is taking shape, the theory of the Panoceanic Navy, shifting away from projecting power ashore and toward reestablishing command of the sea to...

There was some action on Thursday as the U.S. hit some locations around the Strait of Hormuz, according to Fox.A U.S. strike on Iran’s Qeshm Port in the Strait of Hormuz and Bandar Abbas was reported Thursday, with U.S. officials telling Fox News National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin that this was neither a restart of the war nor an end to the ceasefire.The U.S. military also struck Iran's Bandar Kargan naval checkpoint in Minab, officials confirmed. [....]Iran’s state-run Mehr News Agency also reported attacks and exchanges of fire across Iran’s southern Hormozgan province near Bandar Abbas, Bandar Khamir, Sirik and...

Two U.S. Navy destroyers, the USS Truxtun and USS Mason, successfully fought their way through the Strait of Hormuz after repelling a massive coordinated barrage of Iranian missiles, drones, and fast-attack boats. Two U.S. Navy destroyers successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz on Monday despite coming under a heavy, coordinated Iranian assault involving small boats, missiles, and drones, CBS News reported on Tuesday. The USS Truxtun (DDG-103) and USS Mason (DDG-87) entered the Persian Gulf while facing what defense officials described as a “sustained barrage.” The ships were supported by U.S. fighter aircraft and AH-64 Apache helicopters, which helped neutralize...

The Columbia-class submarine program encountered early setbacks. The United States Navy’s effort to build its newest class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines is now expected to reach a key milestone in 2028, according to General Dynamics. The lead vessel, currently under construction, has faced schedule adjustments but is showing signs of steady progress as production challenges are gradually resolved. First submarine was planned for delivery earlier Reports revealed that the first submarine in this class was initially planned for delivery earlier, but complications during construction led to a revised target. Issues involving the supply of critical components, along with delays...

Countries from all over the World, almost all of which are not involved in the Middle Eastern dispute going on so visibly, and violently, for all to see, have asked the United States if we could help free up their Ships, which are locked up in the Strait of Hormuz, on something which they have absolutely nothing to do with — They are merely neutral and innocent bystanders! For the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, we have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they...

Trump appeared to hint at a potential military operation in Cuba after US forces “finish the job” in Iran. The comments come as Washington announced a set of new sanctions targeting the island nation on Friday, which Havana slammed as a form of collective punishment. US President Donald Trump joked on Friday that his country’s Navy would take on Cuba on the way home from Iran. His comments came as he addressed attendees of an event at the non-profit Forum Club of the Palm Beaches, where he was invited as a keynote speaker.

A British diving team located the wreck of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tampa, which was sunk by a German submarine in 1918 with 131 people aboard, officials said. The British diving team Gasperados discovered the wreck about 50 miles from Newquay, a town on the north coast of Cornwall in the United Kingdom, the Coast Guard said in a press release. The ship participated in Allied Powers operations during World War I before she was lost over a century ago. Diving team leader Steve Mortimer said the discovery is “the result of three years of research and exploration” in...

Britain has agreed to create a unified naval force with nine European countries to deter future Russian threats from the “open sea border” to the north, the head of the Royal Navy has announced. Gen Sir Gwyn Jenkins said that despite the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, where the strait of Hormuz remains closed after the US-Israeli war in Iran, “Russia remains the gravest threat to our security”. In a speech, the first sea lord said the 10 members of the Joint Expeditionary Force (Jef), had signed last week a statement of intent to create a “multinational maritime force”...

Our own commercial shipbuilding industry has a lot of catching up to do. We should pass the SHIPS for America Act to support it as soon as possible. Last month an eye-popping headline came out of the Chinese shipping and logistics industry: Cosco, a state-owned shipping conglomerate based in Shanghai, had struck a deal with another state-owned firm – China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) – for 87 new vessels across all segments of its fleet. Maritime Executive said the order includes “ultra-large container ships, ultra-large bulk carriers, ultra-large oil tankers, grain transport ships, multi-purpose heavy lift vessels, MR tankers, ro-ro...

A former U.S. military vessel built during World War II is now anchored in Costa Rica’s South Pacific, where it has taken on a very different mission: helping protect marine life from illegal fishing.The MODOC, a 1944 vessel originally built for the United States Navy at Levingston Shipyard in Orange, Texas, is now used as a floating operations center by Earthrace Conservation. The organization purchased the former Navy and U.S. Coast Guard ship in 2019 and converted it into a conservation vessel for patrols, surveillance and support work in protected areas. Today, the ship remains based in the waters of...

Within the last two years, Washington and Canberra have locked onto Damen’s LST-100 designs to meet their demand for littoral maneuvers assets to ferry specialized ground formations to the various archipelagic areas of the Indo-Pacific during a conflict with China, according to separate announcements from the defense contractor. While smaller than the traditional large deck amphibious vessels deployed by both nations, these landing ship transports will allow American and Australian forces to disperse their new littoral formations equipped to counter China’s naval forces with mobile infantry and area denial assets.Known as the McClung-class Landing Ship Mediums in American service, the...

The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, will be heading home following a record-setting deployment of more than 300 days that included participating in the war against Iran and capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, two US officials said Wednesday. The Ford will be leaving the Middle East in the coming days and returning to its home port in Virginia in mid-May, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to detail sensitive military movements. The Washington Post reported the development earlier. The arrival of the USS George HW Bush to the region last week...

USS-Scorpion: Two Nuclear Torpedoes Still Sit 3,000 Meters Down — And Nobody Can Retrieve Them In May 1968, USS Scorpion vanished without warning in the Atlantic Ocean — taking 99 men and two nuclear torpedoes to the bottom. Found months later at 3,000 meters depth, the wreck has never been touched. Decades later, the cause of her sinking remains officially unsolved, and those warheads still sit on the ocean floor today. 40 Minute Video at link..................

In 1963, USS Thresher imploded at test depth killing all 129 aboard—the Navy blamed a "piping failure" and closed the case. But declassified documents from the 2000s revealed the submarine had over 800 documented defects before diving, whistleblower testimony proved inspectors were pressured to approve faulty welds, and acoustic analysis of the final moments shows the crew knew they were dying for nearly 5 minutes as water flooded in. The Navy knew Thresher wasn't safe, sent her down anyway, then spent 60 years hiding that 129 men died from institutional negligence, not accident. 26 Minute VIDEO AT LINK...............