The following is a March 26, 2021 letter from Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) to President Joe Biden calling for a maritime-focused national defense strategy. Luria is a former surface warfare officer and is currently the vice-chair of the House Armed Services Committee. Read More
The portside anchor of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) is lowered into a dry dock for maintenance. GHWB is currently in Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Va. US Navy Photo
The Navy is evaluating how it can speed up the timeline for its initiative to renovate aging public shipyards amid concern from lawmakers that the current 20-year timeframe is too long. Read More
Maintainers from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 1 (VX-1) analyze diagnostics from the MQ-8C Fire Scout on the flight deck of the Independence variant littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS 4) on June 21, 2018. US Navy photo.
When the Navy moved from a conventionally powered fleet to a nuclear one, Adm. Hyman Rickover oversaw the transitions for decades, remaining in uniform until the age of 82 as the “Father of the Nuclear Navy” to ensure the sea service adopted the new technology in a precise and controlled way. Read More
Boatswain’s Mate 3rd Class Logan Brown, from Joplin, Montana, scans the horizon from the bridge wing aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell (DDG-85) while underway conducting operations in the Taiwan Strait in March 2020. US Navy Photo
The Navy isn’t doing a great job of arguing for the service to expand to face the growing maritime threat from China, two members of the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee said on Thursday. Read More
NASA Photo
A debate between lawmakers over defense spending is brewing, as a group of progressive House members push for cuts to the defense budget while others argue for a boost to shipbuilding. Read More
Guided-missile cruiser USS Port Royal (CG-73) transits the Strait of Hormuz, Feb. 8, 2021. US Marine Corps Photo
Decommissioning ships that have viable service life at a faster rate than industry can build new ones is not how the Navy should grow the fleet, the vice chairwoman of the House Armed Services Committee said Monday. Read More
Sailors aboard Chinese missile destroyer Xi’an during the military parade marking Russia’s Navy Day on the sea near Kronshtadt islet off the shore of St. Petersburg, Russia on July 28, 2019. Xinhua Photo
China is not only a pacing threat to the U.S. naval fleet but also to the American shipbuilding industry and supply chain, Navy leaders and lawmakers said today during a Senate Armed Services seapower subcommittee hearing. Read More
Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas B. Modly, center, receives a briefing on the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) on Jan. 31, 2020. US Navy Photo
The Navy could build a 355-ship fleet by 2030, but paying for such a force will require adding between $120 billion and $130 billion to the service’s funding over the next decade, Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly told lawmakers Thursday.
By agreeing to a second short-term spending bill early in Fiscal Year 2020, Congress and President Donald Trump will keep government agencies open for another month, a move the defense industry says is better than the alternative, but not a great long-term strategy. Read More
USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) steams toward the Atlantic Ocean. USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-72) USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) and USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) on Oct. 25 after a 15-month post shakedown yard period. USNI Photo by Mark D. Faram
Aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) is underway for sea trials after more than a year pier-side during an extended repair period, ship spotters in Norfolk, Va., confirmed to USNI News. Read More
