Free Republic

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The murder of Tina Heins has been solved after more than three decades, State Attorney Melissa Nelson announced Thursday. Michael Shane Ziegler, a close friend of Heins’ Navy sailor husband, is now charged with the sexual assault and murder of the 20-year-old, who was four months pregnant when she was stabbed 27 times in her Mayport apartment in 1994. Nelson said Ziegler evaded justice for more than three decades -- allowing another man to be wrongfully imprisoned for the crime for nearly 14 years. ...

Construction of new battleships ceased almost immediately post World War II—the last launched was HMS Vanguard, completed in 1946. Their heavy armor and guns diminished even further in relevance with the evolution of anti-ship missiles, which have a longer range and hit hard enough to negatively tilt the cost-benefit tradeoffs of heavy armor. Missile defense became a better use of tonnage than steel plates.

China’s scripted coast-guard incursions around the Senkaku Islands aim to normalize control through mass and proximity. But Japan has reorganized for rapid joint action, dispersing long-range anti-ship missiles across the Ryukyus, expanding fifth-gen air and AEW, and adding Tomahawks to create a lethal denial web. The U.S.–Japan alliance now signals unambiguous coverage, with carrier, Marine Littoral Regiment, and ISR/long-range fires ready to stiffen defense. Who would win a fight?

So, if war broke out today, who “wins”? A cautious judgment: China could win early episodes—sinking ships, mauling an airbase, or imposing a brief local exclusion near a contested feature—because interior lines and magazine depth pay dividends on day one. But carried beyond the first salvos, the balance bends toward an ugly allied denial. With coastal fires in Japan and the Philippines, coalition patrols normalized inside Manila’s EEZ, and Fujian not yet truly operational, Beijing’s odds of converting tactical gains into a durable political victory are low—unless allied kill chains break or magazines run dry.

The conflict itself would likely play out in several phases. The opening week would be defined by missile barrages aimed at Taiwan’s defenses and US forward bases, along with cyber and space attacks to blind command networks. Taiwan’s dispersal plans and mobile launchers would mitigate, but not eliminate, the damage. The next phase would be the battle for sea denial. Submarines, mines, and long-range anti-ship weapons would be hurled against convoys carrying PLA troops and supplies across the Strait. Geography favors the defenders, but China’s proximity and numerical advantage mean some ships would get through. The outcome of this battle...

The US Navy wanted the F-14 Tomcat for long-range fleet defense against Soviet bomber threats, requiring a large radar, powerful air-to-air missiles, and the ability to operate across a wide range of airspeeds to carry heavy ordnance and maintain maneuverability. The variable-sweep wing design, combined with advanced fire-control systems and the AIM-54 Phoenix missile, made the F-14 capable of engaging multiple targets at long distances while still being able to perform close-in combat and dogfighting.

SSN(X) is the Navy’s planned successor to Virginia: a larger, stealthier, longer-legged attack submarine that teams with UUVs, carries more weapons, and is designed for higher availability. Costs will dwarf current boats, and industrial bottlenecks—from single-source suppliers to overloaded yards—are real. Budget trade-offs and shipyard realities have pushed the first procurement to around FY-2040, delaying entry to the fleet.

The U.S. Navy faces a dangerous shortage of attack submarines, leaving it stretched too thin to meet global demands. While the fleet is already below its 66-boat goal, the reality is worse: about one-third of subs are non-deployable at any time due to massive maintenance backlogs and crew shortages.

To see the F-14 Tomcat for myself, I ventured out to the Air and Space Museum near Dulles International Airport in the Washington, DC, metro area. The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Manassas, Virginia, has every airplane and spacecraft that you can imagine. I was fortunate to interview an F-14 pilot who actually flew the Tomcat that is on display at the Air and Space Museum in Virginia.

The Ohio-class’s carrying capacity is about 50 percent of the entire supply of the U.S. Navy’s Tomahawk missiles. And since these SSGNs have been used recently to great effect, why take them away now? Some experts even argue that there is a strong case for attempting a refit of at least some of these powerful missile submarines until more Virginia-class boats equipped with cruise missiles can replace them.

On Sept 3, Beijing hosted one of its biggest military parades in years. Xi Jinping watched from Tiananmen Square as long-range missiles, hypersonic weapons, and unmanned systems rolled past in a choreographed display of force, accompanied by Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un. The message was unmistakable: China is positioning itself to shift the global balance of power in its favor — and has the will and means to field a military that can deliver not just quantitative, but qualitative, superiority over the United States.

The Caribbean has become a “powder keg” as U.S. warships steam off the coast of Venezuela, sparking a tense standoff. While Washington frames the deployment as a counter-narcotics operation, it’s a clear strategic signal to President Maduro, whose own provocations against Guyana and alignment with China and Russia have raised alarms.

China is not planning to launch one or two missiles at an aircraft carrier; it is planning to launch dozens, if not hundreds. The PLARF possesses the largest and most diverse missile arsenal in the world, with thousands of launchers. In a conflict, they would unleash a massive, coordinated salvo attack designed to overwhelm any defense.

U.S. naval buildup framed as anti-smuggling push, but invasion rumors swirl. Venezuelans struggle to keep daily life steady amid fear and uncertainty. Venezuelan president rallies militias and denounced Washington’s “imperialist” threats. CARACAS, Venezuela — U.S. warships steam toward the southern Caribbean. The Trump administration denounces embattled “narco-president” Nicolás Maduro and doubles a bounty on his head to $50 million. Rumors of an invasion, coup or other form of U.S. intervention flood social media. For the beleaguered people of Venezuela, mired in more than a decade of crisis — hyperinflation, food shortages, authoritarian rule and rigged elections — a new phase...

The U.S. Navy’s F/A-XX sixth-generation fighter program, once nearly dead and starved of funds in favor of the Air Force’s F-47, has been potentially resurrected. A surprise move by the Senate Appropriations Committee restored over $1.4 billion to the program. Although it is far from being passed, it prompted top Navy officials to signal that they are now ready to select a prime contractor. This sudden reversal has breathed new life into the critical effort to replace the aging F/A-18 fleet.

A single DF-21D warhead striking a carrier’s flight deck would be a mission-kill. It wouldn’t sink the ship, but it would crack the deck, making it impossible to launch or recover aircraft. The carrier, for all intents and purposes, would be out of the fight. Several successful hits could very well sink the vessel, resulting in the tragic loss of over 5,000 American sailors and a $13 billion national asset. It would be a Pearl Harbor-level catastrophe, a blow from which American prestige might never recover.

BREAKING: President Trump and SecDef Pete Hegseth just sent out 3 United States Navy destroyers, joined by an attack submarine, near Venezuela to crack down on the cartels. The gloves are finally coming off.

American and Chinese naval vessels clashed near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on Wednesday, escalating tensions in the disputed waters, a Navy spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation. China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) accused the USS Higgins, a guided missile destroyer, of encroaching on its waters surrounding Scarborough Reef, while the Navy called the claim false and vowed to operate wherever international law allows. The U.S. warships were deployed for a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) following a Monday confrontation between Chinese vessels and the Philippine coast guard in the South China Sea.

Key Points and Summary – The Pentagon’s decision to defund the Navy’s F/A-XX sixth-generation fighter program is a catastrophic mistake that threatens to render the new $13 billion Ford-class aircraft carriers strategically irrelevant.

The U.S. Navy and the Pentagon are locked in a public struggle over the F/A-XX sixth-generation fighter, a program the DoD moved to defund in favor of the Air Force's F-47. The Navy argues the F/A-XX is essential to overcome the critical range limitations of its current F/A-18 and F-35 air wing, keeping its aircraft carriers viable against long-range Chinese "carrier killer" missiles.