All articles tagged with #navy
A routine fleet-planning review reveals a shortfall of 2,080 vertical launch system cells as four aging Ohio-class SSGNs and a cadre of cruisers retire, leaving the Navy with a significant conventional strike gap. Even with Virginia- and Columbia-class replacements, shipyard labor shortages, backlogs, and aging hulls mean the gap will persist, complicating deterring and sustaining long-range operations.”
The U.S. Navy's dive medical recovery team from EODGRU-1 is aboard USS John P. Murtha to support NASA's Artemis II, retrieving the crew and Orion after their Pacific splashdown following a lunar flyby, as Artemis II becomes the first deep-space mission in more than five decades.
The Navy decided to inactivate the Los Angeles-class submarine USS Boise after a stalled overhaul that’s only 22% complete; about $800 million has been spent with a projected total cost of up to $3 billion. The decision reallocates funds and skilled labor to new Virginia and Columbia-class submarines, amid long-running maintenance backlogs and limited U.S. shipyard capacity. Boise hasn’t sailed since 2015 and lost dive certification in 2017, illustrating broader challenges facing naval readiness and shipbuilding.
Four Artemis II astronauts are expected to splash down in the Pacific off San Diego, where the Navy’s 684-foot amphibious ship USS John P. Murtha will recover the capsule, stabilize it with airbags, and ferry the crew by helicopter to Naval Air Station North Island before their flight to Houston for a post-mission briefing.
Striking workers outside Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, have approved a new contract, ending the labor action and paving the way for resumed operations at the Navy shipyard.
Two humanitarian sailboats carrying aid from Isla Mujeres, Mexico, arrived in Havana after the Mexican navy located the missing vessels amid bad weather. About eight people were aboard; organizers said the crew is safe and the convoy will continue delivering aid to Cubans, underscoring solidarity across borders as aid flows increase despite longstanding U.S. tensions and Cuba’s power crisis.
The U.S. Navy is replacing its earlier MASC plan with a marketplace approach to acquire Medium Unmanned Surface Vessels (MUSV) as a Family of Systems, leveraging private investment, open architectures, and multiple ownership models to speed fielding. The program seeks long-range, high-speed USVs capable of carrying containerized payloads, autonomous operation, COLREG compliance, RF-emission control, and onboard health reporting, with production or lease options and a goal of delivering five to ten vessels by FY2027. This effort builds on existing Sea Hunter/Seahawk tests and NOMARS concepts, aiming to skip extensive prototyping and move quickly to on-water testing and production.)
Israel’s navy and naval intelligence say they are striking Iranian targets as part of Operation Roaring Lion to degrade Tehran’s naval capabilities, including the reported assassination of Iranian Naval Chief Alireza Tangsiri and strikes on cruise‑missile production sites and a submarine development center, aiming to reduce Iran’s ability to threaten shipping through the Strait of Hormuz while boosting Israel’s deterrence and support for other operations against Hezbollah.
A strike near Bandar Abbas killed IRGC Navy head Alireza Tangsiri and several top aides, with Israeli sources saying the IDF carried out the attack; Tangsiri had threatened to strike US targets, and Washington has stressed degrading Iran's naval capabilities, marking a major escalation in Gulf tensions.
The March 23, 2026 USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker shows U.S. carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups spread across the globe, with notable activity including USS George Washington in Yokosuka; the Tripoli and Iwo Jima ARGs en route to the Middle East and the Caribbean respectively; USS Ford in Souda Bay for repairs after a laundry fire; USS Abraham Lincoln operating in the Arabian Sea; USS Nimitz in the Eastern Pacific on a path to decommission after a 10‑month life extension to 2027; USS Boxer’s ARG active in the 3rd Fleet; and multiple destroyers/cruisers deployed in the Mediterranean, Red Sea and adjacent waters. Polar Star has arrived in Wellington, NZ for Operation Deep Freeze, and Mount Whitney sits pierside in Gaeta, Italy, with other fleet elements continuing operations around the globe."
An opinion piece mocks Donald Trump’s Iran strategy, arguing that proposing to mine the Strait of Hormuz would be a catastrophic misstep, especially given that the Navy has recently decommissioned its four Avenger-class minesweepers, undermining readiness and exposing gaps in war planning.
Two US Littoral Combat Ships, Tulsa and Santa Barbara, assigned to mine-countermeasure missions in the Persian Gulf, vanished from the Strait of Hormuz amid rising tensions with Iran and were later photographed docked at the North Butterworth Container Terminal in Penang, Malaysia. The Navy said the ships were on brief logistical stops, raising questions about whether they will return to the Gulf as the third LCS, Canberra, remains unlocated. The episode underscores debates over the effectiveness of mine-countermeasures and Navy readiness in a critical waterway.
The March 13, 2026 contracts release from the U.S. Department of Defense details a wide array of awards across the Army, Navy, Air Force, and support agencies, led by a $20 billion firm-fixed-price contract to Anduril Industries to consolidate AI-enabled Lattice capabilities into Army operations. The package also includes multiple $249.5 million order-dependent architect-engineering design contracts across Army regional offices, plus additional awards for Boeing, Kongsberg, Raytheon and others covering logistics, missile systems, shipyard work, and enterprise design services.
France has mounted an unprecedented naval deployment to the Eastern Mediterranean, moving about half its major surface ships—including the carrier Charles de Gaulle, eight frigates, and two helicopter carriers—to protect shipping, French citizens, and regional partners as Iran targets the region and the Strait of Hormuz remains tense. Macron says the move demonstrates France’s reliability and Europe’s willingness to share security burdens, a stance analysts say could reshape Gulf security ties as Gulf states question U.S. commitment. The operation boosts EU deterrence and could aid evacuations, but it also risks entanglement if the conflict widens, with France also backing EU missions to secure Red Sea shipping and support reopening Hormuz.
The energy secretary’s deleted post claimed the Navy escorted a tanker through the Strait of Hormuz, but White House officials and the DOE said no escort has occurred yet and the post was miscaptioned; officials say the Navy could be used if needed, as markets reacted to the conflicting claims.