Commentary

All the female officers on board the USS Michigan (SSGN-727) at the commanding officer’s change of command in July 2023.

Women Want to Serve. The Navy Should Fight for Them.

The tenacity of female sailors has opened countless doors in recent decades. The Navy can keep those open and break down more through rewrites, research, and representation.

Lieutenant Alana Davis, U.S. Navy

April 2025

The warning painted on the superstructure of every aircraft carrier and amphibious assault ship above the flight deck—one of the most unforgiving working environments in the world.

Increase Flight Deck Hazardous Duty Pay

A more competitive FDHDIP rate would help increase the accession and retention of sailors in these ratings and morale within air departments across the fleet.

March 2025

The Navy’s next surface ship needs to be the foundation for a family of combatants.

Warship Construction Is a Critical and Urgent Challenge

The next surface ship needs to be the foundation for a family of combatants that will have the watch for decades to come.

Vice Admiral Phil Balisle, U.S. Navy (Retired)

February 2025

A seven-and-a-half-year gap between the build of the Doris Miller (CVN-81) and that of the first carrier of the next proposed dual buy would negate the economic and shipbuilding experience advantages of a dual buy.

Don’t Delay the Next Dual Buy of Carriers

A seven-and-a-half-year gap negates the advantages of a dual buy.

Captain Tal Manvel, U.S. Navy (Retired)

February 2025

Marine Corps Brigadier General Trevor Hall and Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) Major General Hajime Kitajima tour bilateral field training during Iron Fist 24. Flag and general officer relationships will be critical in a future fight, and exercises provide opportunities to discuss conceptions of the mission, capability overlap, and how each partner will employ its forces.

Partnering Will Determine the First Days of Conflict in the Western Pacific

Partnerships will be integral to how the naval services will engage in a conflict in the western Pacific.

Major Benjamin Van Horrick, U.S. Marine Corps

December 2024

A Ruthless Focus on Building More Nuclear Submarines

Too many unworkable solutions are proposed to fix the problems in U.S. nuclear submarine construction. The root causes of the issue are simple.

November 2024

The USNS dry cargo ships Richard E. Byrd (T-AKE-4) and Washington Chambers (T-AKE-11) at a Unithai facility in Thailand. Unithai holds one of the 46 master ship repair agreements issued in the western Pacific that allow private shipyards to perform work on U.S. Military Sealift Command ships—but not commissioned U.S. warships.

Fat Leonard Still Weighs on WestPac Logistics

The scandal known by the name of its infamous protagonist—“Fat Leonard”—continues to exact a toll on the Navy.

November 2024

Foreign Shipyards Can Help the U.S. Navy Build Its Fleet

The U.S. Navy is not on pace to build the ships it needs. Washington must consider turning to the capable shipbuilders of allies and partners.

By Midshipman Fourth Class Brian T. Di Mascio

October 2024

Cold, But Not War: How the U.S. and NATO Can Anchor the Arctic

The U.S. and NATO can win competition in the High North by heeding classic strategies for building naval power in peacetime.

October 2024

Will-Based Options for Deterring an Invasion of Taiwan

Deterrence measures aimed at breaking China's expansionist will are relatively cheap and degrade Beijing's ability to marshal its people for invasion.

October 2024

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