by admin on March 21, 2014
In a paroxysm of hand-wringing and rending of garments, the U.S. Navy changed the way it counts the battle fleet, growing the active fleet a bit, to 290. Most observers were outraged, sensing the Navy was using an accounting gimmick to grow the fleet. But…I wasn’t too upset. Like most of my readers, I am […]
by admin on September 15, 2013
What happens when U.S. Navy priorities, Department of Defense priorities and and the Obama Administration’s National Interests are misaligned? And what are the implications when the differing priorities each suggest a very, very different future for the Navy? There is a dilemma afoot here. Think back to why the Navy lost the fight to keep […]
by admin on August 27, 2013
Want to know why Tesla is trading at over 160 dollars a share? It’s because Tesla’s boss, Elon Musk, fought for it. He took on critics. In public. Back in February 2013, when the New York Times came out with a negative “company-killing hit-piece” on Tesla’s new car, Musk went on a very, very high-profile offensive, forcing […]
by Craig Hooper on February 12, 2011
Over the next year, the Navy is gonna learn that a depression makes a bad time to party. Today, as the U.S. Navy prepares to kick-off the ceremony-laden, flyby bedecked Centennial of Naval Aviation with a massive flyby in San Diego, the nation’s “Austerity-First” budget-trimmers are sharpening their pencils, ready pillory the Navy for each […]
by Craig Hooper on January 27, 2011
With all the excitement over the East Coast snowstorm, the President’s State of the Union and AFCEA’s WEST 2011, Navy-types may have missed an interesting bit of DC bureaucratic theater–RAND’s preemptive strike at the DOD’s aggressive adoption/promotion of renewable energy–in a report released early in the week. I strongly suspect the perfectly-timed media coverage of […]
by Craig Hooper on 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, […]
by Craig Hooper on 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, […]
by Craig Hooper on August 17, 2010
Just a wild and unsupported guess, but you heard it here first…Should Gates leave office to run for the presidency or something, the next SECDEF will be Ray Mabus. Seriously, If SECNAV Mabus were a stock, I’d buy, buy, buy… (And as an extra bonus, here’s a neat picture of the next SECDEF chatting with […]
by Craig Hooper on July 21, 2010
by Craig Hooper on 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 […]