The following is the Feb. 4, DoD Inspector General report, Evaluation of the Navy’s Plans and Response to the Coronavirus Disease-2019 Onboard Navy Warships and Submarines. The report was released on Feb. 8. Read More
Tag Archives: Thomas Modly
Acting SECNAV Harker’s First Message to the Fleet
The following is the text from the Jan. 20, 2021 message from Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Harker sent to the Department of the Navy. Read More
Department of Navy Comptroller Harker to Serve as Acting SECNAV
This post has been updated to clarify that Thomas Harker was performing the duties of the undersecretary of defense and comptroller.
Thomas Harker, who for the last few years has served as the Department of the Navy’s chief civilian financial official, will assume the role of acting Navy secretary once President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in, a Navy official confirmed to USNI News. Read More
Top Stories 2020: COVID-19 Pandemic
Sailors prepare to man the rails as the Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), returns to Yokosuka, Japan following a six-month underway period. US Navy Photo
This post is part of a series of stories looking back at the top naval news from 2020.
The coronavirus pandemic affected almost everything the Navy did in 2020, from the way the service deploys forces, to the way its contractors built ships and weapons, to the way sailors and officers were educated and trained. Read More
Top Stories 2020: U.S. Navy Acquisition
Attack boat Vermont (SSN-792) float-off on March 29, 2019. General Dynamics Electric Boats Photo
This post is part of a series of stories looking back at the top naval news from 2020.
2020 may be among the most consequential years for Navy acquisition in recent memory, with the service making big moves in support of its Distributed Maritime Operations operating concept. Read More
USS Gerald R. Ford Making Steady Progress Ahead of Deployment
USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN-78) island on Oct. 22, 2020. US Navy Photo
ABOARD AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS GERALD R. FORD – USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) has been in and out of port for more than a year as the Navy continues to wring out the bugs from the new technologies on the next-generation carrier. While progress is steady, the program still has several milestones to achieve before it’s ready for its inaugural deployment. Read More
After 9 Months of Study, Pentagon’s Fleet Architecture Similar to Original Navy Plan
Defense Secretary Mark Esper tours the avenger class minesweeper USS Devastator, docked at Naval Support Activity Bahrain on Oct. 28, 2020. DoD Photo
At the beginning of the year, the Navy and Marine Corps sent a new fleet plan to Pentagon leaders that called for relying on smaller ships and unmanned vessels to meet future missions and defeat future adversaries. The Pentagon rejected the plan.
Nine-months later, Pentagon leaders reached the same conclusion: the Navy needed to be more distributed and weighted towards small combatants and unmanned craft.
What did that additional effort really get the sea services? Not much, according to some officials involved in both processes.
SECNAV Braithwaite Calls for Light Carrier, ‘Joint Strike Frigate’ ; Sounds Alarm Over Chinese Naval Expansion
Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braithwaite speaks with U.S. sailors and Marines while visiting HMS Queen Elizabeth at sea off the coast of Flamborough, United Kingdom on Oct. 1, 2020. UK Royal Navy Photo
Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite made a full-throated call for U.S. naval expansion, citing the growing Chinese Navy as the prime driver of the need for a larger fleet. Read More
SECNAV Braithwaite Names First FFG(X) USS Constellation
USS Constellation (FFG-62). Fincantieri Image
BALTIMORE, Md. – The Navy will name the first of its new class of frigates USS Constellation (FFG-62), in a nod to one of the original six frigates the Navy bought just after the Revolutionary War. Read More
Complete Command Probe into USS Theodore Roosevelt COVID-19 Outbreak
Capt. Brett Crozier
The following is the complete June 19, 2020 command investigation and appendices into the chain of command response to the COVID-19 outbreak aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt. Read More
