The Pentagon is sending the USS John S McCain (DDG-56) and the oil-derrick size radar, SBX-1 closer to North Korea, according to several news reports. Read More 
The following is a paper from the NATO Defense College Rome, published in March, 2013.
From the report:
In case you did not know, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has an Alliance Maritime Strategy (AMS). The document, approved on 05 January 2011, was the first of its kind in over a quarter of a century. In spite of this post-Cold War milestone, however, the strategy was endor- sed by the member states with little fanfare. Since its declassification in March of the same year, it has been quietly buried in the NATO official website, largely out of sight from the popular media and (by extension) from the European and North American populace whose security and prosperity it is ostensibly designed to safeguard.2 The average person on the street (or, perhaps more aptly expressed in this context, on the sea- front) should therefore be forgiven if he or she has never heard of, let alone read, a dedicated maritime strategy for the Atlantic Alliance in the 21st century. But exist it does. Read More
USS Abraham Lincoln towed to Newport News Shipbuilding on March, 28 2013. HII Photo
Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) has won a $2.6 billion contract for the refueling and complex overhaul of the nuclear aircraft carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), according to a Friday release from the Pentagon. Read More
US Navy contracted crane vessel M/V Jascon 25 removes the stern section on March, 30 2013 from the mine countermeasure ship Ex-Guardian (MCM 5). US Navy Photo
The Navy has completed the removal of the mine sweeping ship caught on a reef in the Sulu Sea on Saturday, according to the U.S. 7th Fleet. Read More
scientists and engineers recover a deployed Remote Minehunting System (RMS) during developmental testing of the Littoral Combat Ship’s mine warfare mission module package on Jan. 7, 2012. US Navy Photo
The way the U.S. Navy is buying the mission modules planned for the Littoral Combat Ship could lead to cost increases, according to a Government Accountability Office report released on Thursday. Read More
Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Jonathan Greenert testifies before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies about the devastating affects of the continuing resolution and sequestration on military readiness. US Navy Photo
A group of ten Congress members are urging the Navy not to defer maintenance of surface ships as part of the service’s plan to find money to cover mandatory budget cuts. Read More
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) arrives at Newport News Shipbuilding for its 44-month refueling complex overhaul (RCOH) on March 28, 2013. HII Photo
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) has arrived at Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding facility to begin its mid-life refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH), Naval Sea Systems Command officials told USNI News on Thursday. Read More
US Navy contracted crane vessel M/V Jascon 25 removes the bow of the mine countermeasure ship Ex-Guardian (MCM 5) on March, 26 2013. US Navy Photo
Philippines officials are estimating the remains of the former USS Guardian (MCM-5) will be clear of the Tubbataha Reef by next week, according to a Wednesday statement from the Tubbataha Management Office. Read More
Sailors’ vehicles are parked on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) on March, 13 2013. US Navy Photo
When in doubt about grave questions, reach for the classics. What would the likes of Alfred Thayer Mahan or Julian Corbett say about the fate of the big-deck aircraft carrier or nuclear carrier (CVN)? I suspect their ghosts would voice skepticism. Read More
From the March Congressional Budget Office report on Pentagon spending cuts: In 2013, the Department of Defense (DoD) faces an 11 percent reduction (after adjusting for inflation) in its base budget from the amount it received in 2012. (The base budget funds the department’s normal activi- ties but excludes overseas military operations like those in Afghanistan.) Under current law, the department’s bud- gets will increase by a cumulative total of 2 percent more than inflation between 2013 and 2021, still well below its funding in 2012 in real (inflation-adjusted) terms. Those limits are mandated by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA), which capped annual funding for defense and nondefense agencies during that period. Read More
