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Bill Whittle and his compatriots discuss a highly disturbing incident aboard the USS Manchester (a Littoral Combat Ship, LCS) that I found very difficult to swallow. LINK: "Petty Officers" (18 min)Bill Whittle, Scott Ott, and Steve Green discuss this issue, and Bill Whittle's summary characterizes it this way: "...The experienced, practical, level-headed, down-to-earth, non-commissioned officer has been the backbone of both the army and the navy since time immemorial. Not the kind of people one would expect to find scurrying up the rigging of a US warship operating in hostile waters in order to install their own, Petty Officers Only,...

Direct evidence linking DEI to declining recruitment is hard to come by, though whistleblower complaints and polling make a connection hard to dismiss. DEI was quietly introduced government-wide by executive order in 2011, but only after the military explicitly embraced DEI in the wake of the BLM riots and presidential elections of 2020 did recruitment collapse—at least for the services that most visibly embraced it. The Marine Corps, which did not aggressively push DEI, has not suffered the same steep drop in recruitment as the other services. The results? After persistent recruiting challenges since 2020, the Coast Guard—which is facing...

The commander of U.S. Navy destroyer USS John McCain has been relieved of his duties months after the service branch faced ridicule on social media for posting a photo of him firing a rifle with its scope mounted backward. Cmdr. Cameron Yaste was recently let go from his position "due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command the guided-missile destroyer," the Navy announced in a statement, without elaborating. In April, the Navy posted an image of Yaste aiming the rifle with a backwards scope on its Instagram account with the caption, "From engaging in practice gun shoots,...

First, the President of the United States left California on Sunday after a week of vacation time near Santa Barbara, and returned to… yes, his beach house in Delaware, where the NOTAMs suggest that he plans to spend nine days. His last trip to the beach house in Delaware? Two weeks ago. Taking bets on how many days Joe Biden sleeps in the White House between now and January 20. “The President of the United States.” Second, here’s a headline in a British newspaper that makes a disturbingly plausible argument: Read this well-written opinion piece, which carefully lays out the...

You may be familiar with the debate about aircraft carriers – that they are too expensive to buy and maintain. Perhaps the aircraft carrier is obsolete, and the Navy should focus on building more frigates and destroyers. Yet another debate is brewing up involving the DDG(X) program, in which the Navy wants to build a new class of guided missile destroyers by the 2030s. And, sadly for the Navy, this new warship class is getting its share of bad press and doubtful commentary.

You can be the best shot in the world, but your expertise won’t count for much if you run out of bullets. The same principle holds true for a country’s armed forces. Just ask the U.S. Navy. It’s getting low on munitions—yet the Pentagon is refusing to ask for sufficient supplies to replace them.

A powerful United States Navy nuclear submarine, armed with conventional long-range missiles, returned home on Wednesday following a 727-day round-the-world deployment during which it conducted missions countering threats posed by Russia, China and Iran.

The Constellation-class frigate seemed like a safe bet for a service desperate for a procurement win. Wanting a frigate after the failure of the Littoral Combat Ship and the retirement of the last ships of the Oliver Hazard Perry (OHP) class, the U.S. Navy decided to hedge its bets by going with a proven design, the European Multipurpose Frigate (FREMM) proposed by Fincantieri Marine Group and operated by both France and Italy. The ‘Connies’ were supposed to be an easy win, but unfortunately, the program has strayed into the kind of trouble that seems to follow the U.S. Navy wherever...

The F/A-XX program is intended to develop a carrier-based sixth-generation fighter that can conduct the same missions as the Super Hornet but that also enjoys supercruise, stealth characteristics and that can operate as the communications hub of a system of manned and unmanned systems. The F/A-XX is a conceptual cousin of the NGAD program, but the projects have been kept at arm’s length, probably because of concerns over a replay of the F-35 program. Although the F-35 program eventually produced variants for the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marine Corps, the pursuit of commonality resulted in much confusion and...

The US Navy surface fleet continues to shrink. And every surface hull commissioned after the Arleigh Burke class in 1991 has been a failure. The Chinese Navy exceeds the US Navy in total warships deployed. What makes this even more astonishing is that the Chinese maintain a regional naval power with optional blue water projection capabilities (mind you, untested) while the US maintains the fiction of a global capability. The current U.S. fleet is smaller, with more than 280 vessels. The Secretary of the Navy expects that strength to reach 300 in the early 2030s which is a pipe dream...

The U.S. Navy prepared for decades to potentially fight the Soviet Union, then later Russia and China, on the world's waterways. But instead of a global power, the Navy finds itself locked in combat with a shadowy, Iran-backed rebel group based in Yemen. The U.S.-led campaign against the Houthi rebels, overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, has turned into the most intense running sea battle the Navy has faced since World War II, its leaders and experts told The Associated Press. The combat pits the Navy's mission to keep international waterways open against a group whose former...

The decommissioning schedule for the U.S. Navy’s remaining 13 Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers has been set. Next to leave service will be the Vicksburg (CG 69) in June 2024, followed by the Cowpens (CG 63) in August, Antietam (CG 54) and Leyte Gulf (CG 55) in September. Overall, the last two cruisers will likely be Chosin (CG 65) and Cape St. George (CG 71), both to be decommissioned in fiscal 2027. The close of their careers will bring an end to the service life of the class, the world’s first to be equipped with the Aegis combat system.

A drone boat destroyed in Sevastopol, Russia... The commander of a US naval vessel relieved of command... Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach arrested and charged in a sexual assault investigation... Houthi authorities in Yemen detaining at least 11 United Nations personnel. Three employees of the US funded... US Central Command says four missiles were launched from Yemen... "America is not only trying to suppress us. They believe that, as it seems to me, this is the best historical moment to get rid of us" Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov... Joe Biden making another "defending democracy" speech in Normandy on the same spot...

We’ve been saying it for months. For those paying attention to the southern border crisis, this isn’t going to come as a shock: non-citizens are trying to infiltrate US military bases on the regular. The Navy is seeing unauthorized individuals trying to sneak onto Naval bases two to three times every week. Admiral Daryl Caudle went on Fox News to discuss this glaring national security issue: CLICK ABOVE ARTICLE LINK FOR THE VIDEO Fox reported last week about a bizarre shooting near Fort Liberty, formerly known as Fort Bragg, where two Chechens were arrested near the residence of a US...

The final resting place of an iconic U.S. Navy submarine that was sunk 80 years ago during World War II was located 3,000 feet below the ocean's surface, the Naval History and Heritage Command said Thursday. The USS Harder – which earned the nickname "Hit 'em HARDER" – was found off the Philippine island of Luzon, sitting upright and "relatively intact" except for damage behind its conning tower from a Japanese depth charge, the command said. The sub was discovered using data collected by Tim Taylor, CEO of the Lost 52 Project, which works to locate the 52 submarines sunk...

Plagued by delays in ship repairs and outdated design practices, the US Navy faces mounting challenges in maintaining readiness and keeping pace with China’s rapid shipbuilding advancements. This month, USNI News reported that the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed that fewer than 40% of US Navy ships had completed repairs on time, despite the availability of shipyard space. The GAO ranked shipyard conditions second only to F-35 Lightning II air fighter sustainment costs as the most problematic readiness issue facing the US armed services.

The two dry docks large enough to accommodate a big deck amphibious warship in San Diego, Calif., are currently occupied, complicating the repairs of USS Boxer (LHD-4), USNI News has learned. Boxer came back into port last week with one of its rudders damaged after leaving earlier this month on deployment. As of Friday, the Navy was assessing how to repair the rudder to allow the 45,000-ton capital ship to return to sea, a service official told USNI News. The service would prefer to fix the rudder underwater with the understanding that the replacement repair could take up to two...

That’s taking time when they go in for their upgrades, and that’s taking a little bit longer than expected.. We have been documenting the U.S. Navy’s troubles with one of its premier amphibious assault ships, USS Boxer (LHD-4). This Wasp-Class ship, per the Navy’s description, is “[t]he largest of all amphibious warfare ships [and] resembles a small aircraft carrier.” It is capable of Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing (V/STOL) fighter jet operations, meaning that because Boxer does not have launch catapults, it can’t launch classic aircraft carrier fighter jets like the F/A-18, but it can launch the venerable Harrier jump jet...

Amid concerns about American shipbuilding, the US Navy's top civilian official said this week that he was "floored" by a Pacific ally's capabilities in this space. The Navy secretary's comments came on the heels of an internal review that discovered that most of the Navy's top programs, including high-priority submarines, a first-in-class guided-missile frigate, and the third Ford-class aircraft carrier, are severely delayed by years, fueling worries from US officials about the ability to maintain our pace against great power rivals. During his keynote speech at the Navy League's Sea Air Space conference this week, Secretary of the Navy Carlos...

A United Airlines Boeing 737-800 flight landing safety...missing external panel... The US Navy announcing an 18-month delay in delivery of the "USS Enterprise" aircraft carrier... "I could not be the man I am and abandon the fight at this point" Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowing to stay on even as his Liberal Party trails badly... In France a 15-year-old student taken into custody after threatening the principal of his middle school with a knife... Five wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's... North Korean ruler Kim Jong-Un overseeing air warfare drills today urging more... "no new guns" Those...