USNI News polled its writers, naval analysts and service members on what they consider the most important military and maritime stories in 2015. Read More

USNI News polled its writers, naval analysts and service members on what they consider the most important military and maritime stories in 2015. Read More
A naval soldier of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) views through a pair of binoculars onboard China’s first aircraft carrier Liaoning as it visits a military harbour on the South China Sea. Xinhua Photo
The coral reefs on which China is building airstrips are “not just a bunch of rocks, ”but the transit point for about half of the world’s maritime containerized cargo,” Michael Green, vice president for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Monday. Read More
The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee has asked Secretary of Defense Ash Carter for more details on last month’s U.S. freedom of navigation (FON) mission in the South China Sea, according to a Monday letter obtained by USNI News. Read More
The following is a Nov. 9, 2015 letter from Senate Armed Services Committee chair Sen. John McCain to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter asking for more information on the U.S. Oct. 27 freedom of navigation mission in the South China Sea. Read More
The following is the Sept. 18, 2015 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, Maritime Territorial and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) Disputes Involving China: Issues for Congress. Read More
Last week the United States sent a guided missile destroyer past a Chinese artificial island to challenge questionable claims in the South China Sea, but confusion still reigns from Washington, D.C., to the Western Pacific as to exactly what message was supposed to be transmitted. Read More
Hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) sits at anchor upon its arrival off the coast of Da Nang, Vietnam on Aug. 17, 2015. US Marine Corps Photo
The San Diego-based hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) and the Joint High Speed Vessel USNS Millinocket (JHSV-3) are in Da Nang, Vietnam this week as part of a humanitarian aid and disaster relief (HADR) exercises. Read More
The following is the Aug. 7, 2015 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, Maritime Territorial and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) Disputes Involving China: Issues for Congress. Read More
A People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) amphibious warship allegedly rammed two Vietnamese fishing vessels operating near the disputed Spratly Islands in July, according to local press cited in an Office of Naval Intelligence threat to shipping report. Read More
An undated satellite image shows a Chinese land reclamation project in the South China Sea. Xinhua Photo
China is claiming its massive engineering efforts to reclaim some land in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea is nearing an end ahead of a larger construction effort, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Tuesday. Read More