In Press: Discussing the small boat menace and the illicit international arms trade on the BBC

July 16, 2010

File on 4, an award-winning news show on the BBC , sat down with me last week to discuss illegal arms traffic.  Part of the conversation turned to Iran’s appetite for high-performance boats, and that’s the piece that made it into this week’s File on 4 documentary. Allan Urry and the rest of the BBC […]

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In Press: Proceedings article explaining the Olympia (C-6) debacle

July 16, 2010

In America’s constellation of troubled maritime memorials, none are more threatened than the Protected Cruiser Olympia (C-6). This humble ship is, in itself, an American treasure of unmatched historical, technical and symbolic value (In response to Robert Farley’s twitter yesterday, I’d trade an Iowa Class Battleship for the Olympia–in a heartbeat!). Everybody is eager to […]

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In Press: Quoted In the Des Moines Register on ex-USS IOWA (BB-61)

July 14, 2010

Last week I had a great chat with Des Moines Register columnist Marc Hansen about the ex-USS Iowa (BB-61).  In the resulting July 10 article in the Des Moines Register, I was somewhat blunt about the poor performance of the nonprofit Historic Ships Memorial at Pacific Square, the organization currently designated as the future recipient […]

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On spying and premature gloating:

July 13, 2010

In light of the long-pursued “Illegals” spy case with Russia, every commentator under the sun has taken it upon themselves to mock Russia’s spycraft.  And why not?  The idea that Russia would maintain such a sad “odd lot” of characters is, on the surface, laughable. But resist the urge to snicker. There’s probably more to […]

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Prompt Global Strike will transform U.S. Naval Power:

July 8, 2010

As many of you know, I’m occasionally contributing to the military.com universe as their resident Naval Analyst.  In today’s post, I wonder what will happen if, over the next two years, the 7,804 Vertical Launch System (VLS) cells in the surface fleet suddenly acquired a Prompt Global Strike capability? It’s just a DARPA project now, […]

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Virginia Class Subs: A rosy shipbuilding story…or was is all a dream?

July 7, 2010

For years, the Virginia Class has been portrayed as a shipbuilding success story. The subs have been, for years, touted as a model program–one that got the “Submarine Production Procurement Price” down and delivered needed boats to the fleet, are the efficiency chickens coming home to roost? A June 30 memo from J. Michael Gilmore, […]

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China’s upcoming exercises: Or why Andrew Erickson needs to calm down

June 30, 2010

So China announces, in advance, that a set of naval exercises will take place from June 30 to July 5.  And as expected, China fear-monger Andrew Erickson and the rest of America’s China “threat technicians” are freaking out. And why shouldn’t they?  The idea of China launching an “anti-access exercise” over America’s 4th of July […]

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Military training and energy infrastructure don’t mix:

June 30, 2010

In early 2010, an organization called Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE), deployed a “study” on Eastern Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Exploration and Military Readiness.  SAFE’s report–sanctioned by a rogues gallery of retired Admirals and Generals–said this: “…it is our conclusion that opening further portions of the Gulf of Mexico east of the Military […]

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NextNavy aboard the RFS Varyag (011):

June 22, 2010

I spent much of yesterday aboard Russia’s “Carrier Killer”, the Pacific Fleet’s Flagship RFS Varyag (011).  The Varyag’s captain, Captain Eduard V. Moskalenko, was kind enough to give a few of us a personal tour of the vessel.  It was great. We’ll talk more about this unprecedented Port Call later (the first Russian warship to […]

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In Press: NextNavy talks Rank Inflation

June 22, 2010

Andrew Tilghman, reporting in the June 28 Navy Times, talked to NextNavy.com about a story coming out (sorry no link available) on the Navy’s problems with rank inflation: Since 2003, the Navy’s active-duty end strength has dropped from about 380,000 to about 330,000, a reduction of about 15 percent. And yet, the size of the […]

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