by admin on June 16, 2014
David Larter over at Navy Times has an interesting story up, detailing the average time Navy combatants have spent at sea over the past three years. Go take a look. The data, apparently acquired from the Center for Naval Analyses, is good stuff–you can break it down to the individual ship level for almost every […]
In a rare–and long overdue–victory for strategic realists, the normally business-first Military Sealift Command (MSC) has abruptly cancelled plans for the JHSV fleet to be operated by civilian contractors. The Green-Eyeshade crowd–the annoying folks who think that war should be run like a modern, “lean” and “just-in-time” business–lost big today. I couldn’t be happier. What’s […]
In the game of “annual” Navy conferences, it seems every naval “Community”, no matter how small, has a conference of their own. Sail on surface ships as a Line Officer? Go to the Surface Navy Association meeting. Special Operators have their convo. Submariners have theirs. Marines have a few. Aviators have whatever they are calling Tailhook […]
by admin on January 13, 2014
After Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Greenert has spent a year giving stump speeches that, in large part, highlighted the future contributions of civilian-manned ships operated by the Military Sealift Command (MSC) (the AFSB, MLP and JHSV), one might think that the Surface Navy Association (SNA) would get the message and give the humble ‘ole […]
by Craig Hooper on January 17, 2011
Had a nice chat about the T-AO(X) program with the Mobile Press-Register’s Jeff Amy last week, and the story dropped yesterday. Read it here. It’s a good article–making the best of a tough editorial assignment. Basically, the reporter was put to work assembling this story because some Gulf Coast folks hope that the money saved […]
by Craig Hooper on November 9, 2010
After calling for the recapitalization of our aging MSC oiler fleet, it is great to see the T-AO(X) program move ahead. I do like what I see, but….the pre-solicitation notice is missing a few things–and that means the Navy is missing an opportunity to get good ideas from industry for free. Here’s what I see: […]
by Craig Hooper on 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 […]
by Craig Hooper on October 4, 2010
Just a quick shill alert! My oiler article, “Running on empty” which has been floating around various viagra sales places in DC since February–has finally been published in the U.S. Naval Institute. Here’s the intro: Pressed by a brutal operations tempo, evolving strategic challenges, and a shifting Fleet structure, the Navy’s aging oilers can no […]
by Craig Hooper on September 21, 2010
I joined the President of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, C. Michael Petters and Dave Heebner, the executive vice-president of General Dynamics Marine Systems, in a NDIA post on recent shipbuilding developments (i.e. the T-AO(X) acceleration). Here’s what Sandra Erwin, the Editor of their flagship National Defense Magazine, included of my interview: Lumping the T-AO(X) acceleration with […]
by Craig Hooper on September 16, 2010
I am not funded by any shipyard, but, for the past several months–on my own swiftly depleting savings, so to speak–I have been pressing for the next-generation, double-hulled T-AO(X) program. Tomorrow, if the early reports are valid, the SECNAV will formally announce the acceleration of the T-AO(X) program–starting procurement of the first hull in 2014 […]