Meanwhile in the November USNI Proceedings:

November 8, 2010

USNI author Captain Stephen J. Coughlin, who, as of January 2010, was commander of Patrol Coastal Squadron One, offers a very kind review of my October 2010 Proceedings essay, “Running on empty” in the current November issue of Proceedings. As a former commanding officer of the USS Bainbridge (DDG-96), veteran of the Academy, the Naval […]

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Loren Thompson slaps J. Michael Gilmore:

November 6, 2010

Loren Thompson, the erstwhile employee of Lockheed Martin, slaps the Pentagon’s testing community, dismissing J. Michael Gilmore’s testing and evaluation community as a tribal manifestation of bureaucratic bloat.  In Loren’s latest missive, he claims that the F-35 delay will be… “…caused by the desire of the Pentagon’s testing community to conduct a vast array of […]

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LPD-17 and the rage of J. Michael Gilmore

October 28, 2010

J. Michael Gilmore, the Defense Department’s director of Operational Test and Evaluation, has the most thankless job in the Pentagon. This guy, more than anybody else, knows where the bodies are buried on various platforms–and nobody listens to him. As a weapons tester and evaluator, he is hated by program managers, dismissed as a cantankerous, […]

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Virginia-class Sub Managers have a truth problem:

October 26, 2010

The Virginia Program Office (PMS-450) has been lying for months and nobody–not anybody–is holding the program managers accountable. Want to know how bad it is? Take this “correction” from the current–October 22–issue of Inside the Navy (behind a subscription wall, sorry). The Program manager cannot bring himself to tell the public–even his own sailors–just how […]

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Is something shaking up the peacetime-oriented MSC?

October 19, 2010

As I wrote in the October issue of USNI’s Proceedings, the 30-31 ships of the Combat Logistics Force (CLF) are some of the most important and highly utilized vessels of the Fleet (article .pdf here: Hooper Oct 10). Sink our underway replenishment ships, and our local combatants run out of gas, ammo, food or all […]

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Cutting cake with Vice-Admiral Richard W. Hunt:

October 19, 2010

generic cialis The Commander of the Third Fleet–and the tireless ringmaster of San Francisco Fleet Week ceremonies–Vice Admiral Richard W. Hunt, cuts the Navy Birthday cake with the youngest sailor and Marine aboard the USS Makin Island–in front of a hanger-deck packed full of San Francisco citizens. This Admiral–along with the help of a great […]

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In Press: Talking memorials in the Florida Times-Union

October 17, 2010

In the crowded world of floating naval memorials, hope springs eternal. In Jacksonville, an effort by the Jacksonville Historic Naval Ship Association to save an elegant former destroyer, the Charles F. Adams (DDG 2), moved ahead, getting support from the Jacksonville City Council. (The picture with the post is the ship as of 2002…a pity, […]

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Battleship Admirals love the CNA “Tipping Point” Report

October 15, 2010

The much ballyhooed Center For Naval Analysis (CNA) report, “The Navy at a Tipping Point: Maritime Dominance at Stake” is not a document that should guide high-level naval decision-makers. As I have written before, the policy suggestions are based on some really questionable assumptions and the report is inattentive to detail. OPNAV NOOX could have […]

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NextNavy surrenders….

October 14, 2010

Yep. The guy who hates social media is, after much urging, joining Twitter. Please follow along!

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Air Force cedes the Green lead–and the lede–to Navy

October 12, 2010

After experiencing the 2010 San Francisco Fleet Week and observing the “Green Machine” that is the USS Makin Island, I had to wonder just what the heck happened to the Air Force? That military branch was, back in 2006, surfing the leading edge of the Green Wave. But today, the Air Force has entirely lost […]

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