USN in General

[Brian James]

Ford Class Carrier USS John F. Kennedy pictured at Newport News Shipbuilding Yards dry dock on October 29th 2019.

[Pelican]

Creating the Uncrewed-Centric Navy of the Mid-21st Century

The U.S. Navy needs to intensively shift towards uncrewed platforms if it is to remain the world's premier maritime force. Over the last two centuries, like other navies and air forces, it has increasingly concentrated combat power in ever fewer, more-capable, more-expensive assets. This trend cannot continue: the Navy's main assets have become not only scarce, but also too valuable—in human, operational, and financial terms—to put at substantial risk. This problem is exacerbated by high sensitivity to mass casualties and rapidly escalating costs for acquisition and maintenance. Moreover, experiences of naval combat over the last few decades demonstrate that high casualty rates are the norm, as they often are for air and ground forces. The environment is becoming more lethal due to the proliferation of discerning sensors and effective long-range weapons. While deception, defenses, and damage control can mitigate the threat, the Navy's ships and aircraft must be numerous if they are subjected to rates of attrition that otherwise preclude mission success.

Key leaders within the U.S. Navy have recognized this issue, pursuing “distributed lethality” to help reverse this trend. A way of achieving this aim and reducing vulnerability is by centering much of the future Navy around uncrewed aircraft and vessels. The long transition towards an uncrewed-centric navy will result in far-greater numbers of platforms, as well as a greater ability to put them in harm's way. It will depend on advances in fields such as uncrewed vehicle design, information technology, materials science, and energy storage, all of which will enable the Navy to have the numbers of assets and the risk tolerance that it needs.

To determine how best to design, integrate, and use uncrewed assets, the Navy needs to think about its missions at a fundamental level. Naval strategists, naturally, have described missions in different terms, and have often disagreed about the relative value of different approaches to fulfilling them. However, drawing on the collective works of great thinkers over the last century and a half, three primary sets of mission categories emerge:

Securing civilian and military use of the sea (including the airspace above it), while denying it to the enemy
Conducting operations against land areas and their airspace, while countering the enemy's ability to do so
Deterring conflict by demonstrating the ability to do both of the above.

Continues at - https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/20 ... -21st.html - LFT

[Pelican]

The USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group (with HS Navarinon) sail in formation in the Mediterranean Sea on Dec 31st.

The Ford CSG is heading home while the Bataan ARG will act as the replacement in theatre.

Photos at - https://twitter.com/NavyLookout/status/ ... 8568038406

[Pelican]

The USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group (with HS Navarinon) sail in formation in the Mediterranean Sea on Dec 31st.

The Ford CSG is heading home while the Bataan ARG will act as the replacement in theatre.

Photos at - https://twitter.com/NavyLookout/status/ ... 8568038406

Exclusive: US to bring back aircraft carrier from eastern Mediterranean
The USS Gerald R. Ford will leave "in coming days," two U.S. officials say.
See - https://abcnews.go.com/International/ex ... =106021259

[Pelican]

Hypnotic Process of Launching New US Navy Billion $ Ships

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mPlww2msVs - LFT

[Pelican]

U.S. Navy Year in Photos (2023)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ9ORvEJIp4 - LFT

[Pelican]

US & UK Navies Suffer Sailor Shortage, Cutting Crews on Carriers & Laying Up Frigates

This year, the US and Royal navies have fallen short of meeting their recruiting goals, leaving both navies with more ships’ billets than they have personnel to fill them.

In 2023, the US Navy missed its goal of recruiting 37,700 active-duty enlisted sailors by over 7,000, almost 20% short of its target. It also recruited 2,080 officers, almost 18% short of its 2,532 officer goal. It also missed its reserve goals by a wide margin, hitting 3,000 enlisted reservists, or almost 45% short of the 5,390 it wanted. Reserve officers also fell short by 40% hitting 1,167 of the 1,940 goal.

The impact of the recruiting shortfall has been immediate. Forbes reports that in the face of a massive shortage of Navy sailors, America’s newest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), has downsized, cutting the crew aboard by hundreds of sailors.

Further extract:
The situation is no better on the other side of the pond where the Royal Navy’s recruiting dropped by 22.1% in the 12 months to March 2023. The Drive reports that the UK Royal Navy is so short on sailors that it is reportedly having to decommission two Type 23 class frigates in order to staff its new class of frigates. If this comes to pass, it would reduce the service’s current fleet of 11 Type 23s to nine. That the frigates may be decommissioned comes at a time when the Royal Navy’s major surface combatants are in high demand, including in the Red Sea.

Full article at - https://www.oldsaltblog.com/2024/01/us- ... more-61196

[Brian James]

Post war to present USN Carrier evolution.

[Pelican]

How US Navy Tests its Super Advanced Billion $ Rail Gun Systems

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuDIxoUSrXo- LFT

[Brian James]

Naval Base San Diego.....January 4th, 2024.