"Accordingly, the next Navy secretary and undersecretary should undertake a series of one-on-one interviews of current three- and fourstar admirals to determine their potential as wartime commanders and their readiness to execute an aggressive program of national maritime rejuvenation. If some are found wanting, they should be offered reassignment or retirement in grade without prejudice. Simultaneously, the five assistant secretaries of the Navy should survey the warfighting character of the Navy’s current two- or one-star admirals, as well as its senior captains, with an eye toward their potential for promotion to senior roles. When, in 1955, Secretary of the Navy Charles Thomas found Admiral Robert “Mick” Carney lacking in support for innovation and modernization, Thomas forced him into early retirement and selected Rear Admiral Arleigh Burke for promotion to admiral, naming him chief of naval operations (CNO) over the heads of 100 more-senior admirals. Burke ended up serving six years as CNO and was instrumental in helping the Eisenhower administration ready the Navy for a long-haul Cold War."
This is key. I've read that Trump, JD, Elon and a select few others (Don T. Jr., Erik Prince, Mike Waltz, Tom Cotton, etc.) have a plan to ruthlessly interview all FOGO's to ensure that the are not DEI/Woke infected or actively supported DEI/Woke directives, and for suitability to support Trumps plans (We do not yet know specifics of what those plans are). Those FOGO's not meeting the test are to be fired or retired.
While I don't disagree, I couldn't help but think about how that plan would be spun by the mainstream press (read: MiniTru), if it were more widely known, as Trump demanding personal loyalty from the brass.
Because apparently driving out officers from before the Obama administration in favor of indoctrinated servants of leftism didn't happen. *eyeroll*
Exactly, it all depended on whose ox was being gored. America needs the military to be professional and to obey all lawful orders from their chain of command- many current FOGO's are neither.
The key would be pointing out that there are multiple precedents for this. General Marshall's cleanout of the Army's General Officer ranks before World War II. The Burke promotion. Hell, the attempt to make Col. Lee commander-in-chief of the Federal Army in 1861.
Military organizations in peacetime promote officers who look good in uniform, have charming wives, and are good with paperwork. In wartime...they send for the nasty people.
Apparently there are some circumstances where a FOGO cannot be summarily fired. If that is so (I'm not a SME and do not know the answer), then reassign the FOGO's that should be fired, but cannot be, to a position where they can do no harm to America, until they can be fired or forced to resign.
I just hope that he can find a SecDef, SecNav (actually all of them), and senior FOGO's who won't do their very best to "Queeg" him like McRaven, Kelly, Milley, et al, have done their level best to do.
Doubt there's time between all the PostColonial, Gender-Intersectional-Queer studies that are much more helpful in training future Admirals to win a war at sea...)
This is what I think of the TDS NatSec Swamp Critters...
I wonder if Admiral Bill Moran would be willing to come back as SecNav or CNO? How about Captain Christopher “Chowdah” Hill? Others that might be on the short list are Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Mike Pompeo, Robert O’Brien and Reps. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) and Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.). I would like to see O'Brien as SecState.
Finding the civilian side is easy. Grab Sal and the Back Porch.
Yes, I'm serious. There are a hell of a lot of very capable people who were retired out at the O-5/GS-14 level because they were focused on the mission, not growing a bureaucratic empire. Turn them loose with a mandate for reform, and you'll get results.
All good ideas. Like many others here these last few decades I have watched this car wreck in slow motion. We need to mobilize our navy as if we are going to war, because we are. We need a robust effort.
As stated in other posts here and there and everywhere:
1. Stop decommissioning ships.
2. Finish maintenance and triage the CASREPS on the fleet. Priority is subsurface even if that means sending other yard workers TAD to eliminate backlogs. Work the priority while training new workers.
3. Recruit for shipyard ratings. Make them easily accessible and promise location and stability for these rating. (No sea duty). This is the seed corn for our ship yard repair.
4. Create a shipyard ship building incentive. Raid the colleges and universities and offer debt forgiveness for a long term contract in the trades we need. Offer this immediately.
5. Reopen Mare Island, Long Beach, Philly and Charleston. No sacred cows and no excuses. Take the land back. Offer the latte drinkers a trade course to keep them in the areas. Think CCC on steroids with a trade instead of planting trees.
6. Source the raw materials and make them a priority over civilian production.
7. Reduce the flag billets. Fire every 3-4 that isn’t playing ball. As already stated above and echoed and repeated from other front porch posts
8. Bring back every vessel that was decommissioned in the last 5 years. Use the platforms for training for the trades and maintenance while building a fleet training center of gravity and a small reserve force when needed.
9. We must have round the clock production of all VLS munitions. No excuses.
Of course these are all knowable things and have been discussed for years. It really is that simple to fix with a will.
For number 3, we have a program on the reserve side that recruits for shipyard ratings. It's called SURGEMAIN, and it sends a large number of sailors in engineering rates to those locations. On the Reserve side, there's no real stigma to staying with a program for years, especially at smaller NRC's. It's pretty strong at NRC Kitsap from what I've heard.
Long Beach can't be recovered. The dry docks have all been filled in and taking out the container port facility which replaced the naval shipyard is a complete political non-starter. I'm not familiar enough with the other three to comment on how practical it would be to recover them, but suspect that Charleston and Mare Island are better candidates than Philadelphia.
Yes, you shouldn't let your two-year-old run about without supervision and put things in their mouth. But it isn't so contaminated that it can't be used as an industrial site.
Air bases tend to not have drydocks. Alameda is not an exception.
Philly just drydocked BB-62 earlier this year, so it might not be as dead as you think. The drydock works, how much repair workshops etc can be reconstituted?
I wonder how many of the critical smaller Navy & USCG hulls could be built in the Great Lakes to free up shipyards on the coasts to build the biggest ships? Can we farm out a surge of construction to South Korea and other friends, if not for warships, then for our USNS fleet?
I was looking at Google Maps a few weeks ago and noticed that Long Beach Naval Station bears little resemblance to when I was stationed there, 1982-86. It has been gutted and remade. I think the old proposed Frigate port in Pascagoula is recoverable. It is close to yards there and in Mobile.
That's such a shame too...I spent my early kid hood running about LBNS. Weekends on the mole when dad worked on the base commanders boat, checking out the 50ft Titanic model used in Raise the Titanic, crawling around the drydocks as dad failed most of the new Spruance sonar domes during acceptance trials, going to sea on O'Brien for days at 7... good memories that ended in 1980 when dad retired. LBNS was certainly the yard that should've been kept. The only one operating in the green at the time. Not nuclear capable, but it had capacity (and location) we need desperately now.
Our FFG had work done at LBNS. It was sure convenient since we were homeported in Long Beach. It knocked about a half a mile off my daily commute. They did decent work for us, though the night shift seemed to be slackers, was prone to sleeping and kind of attitudinal when I woke them up during my rounds as CDO. Long Beach was the best stateside navy base I was ever stationed at. Was sad to see it BRACked and turned over to the Chinese.
WRT 4 "Raid the colleges and universities and offer debt forgiveness for a long term contract in the trades we need. Offer this immediately." If we pay off some debt we should consider commissioning them as EDO or similar with a 4-5 year commitment
On Day 1 at 12:01 Mark Milley should be recalled to active duty and indicted for high treason for conspiring with China in 2020. At 12:02 all the DEI CRT PC SES and flag officers beginning with the CNO and USNA superintendent should be relieved of duty and told to submit their retirement papers. At 12:03 all CSA names and monuments should be restored.
I am collecting a very nice check for my many years of service. However, if President Trump calls me up on 11/5/24 and say he needs me on his team I would say: When do you want me to start, sir? I would add that CDR Sal would make a great SECNAV.
“…As is often said, personnel is policy: Without the right people, good ideas remain just ideas.
It isn’t just having bodies on a list. The people you bring into leadership and staff positions need to be already known quantities. They don’t just need to know which hymnal higher direction and guidance is bringing to the revival, they already know the greatest hits by heart. They won’t need constant supervision and a kick in the tail to execute priorities, but if you’re lucky, they’ll have to be held back by their belt.”
Well put and another reason a Trump second term scares the hell out of me. Look at who he had in senior positions at the beginning of his first term and who he had around him at its end. The overall quality level was on a downward trend. Now look at those close to him — the starting point of a second term. Just saying.
"...regardless of who wins in November..." I think it is not unreasonable to ask if there is one political party/movement that actually doesn't want America and the west to succeed. I tend to believe people when they say stuff like "fundamental transformation."
You make a huge error in thinking that the Democratic Party is a unified party. That's the Republican Party. The Democratic party is a loose amalgamation of all kinds of different movements barely held together. The progressives can barely sit in the same room with the liberals.
There are many Democrats that served in our Armed Forces. There are many Democrats who believe in a strong national defense. The insinuation that that Democrats don't "want America and the west to succeed," is just a parroting of propaganda and lies. Of course we want America to succeed; we live here too.
In an evenly divided nation, it takes folks from both sides to make things happen. There are liberal arguments, strong liberal arguments, in favor of a strong U.S. Navy. Maybe you should be thinking about advancing those arguments instead of following the easy Trumpian path of calling your neighbors the enemy within.
Also the party of FDR that got Republicans out of their isolationist shell and got ready for a war. Pretty sure Trotsky was busy getting killed about then.
You mean the same FDR who stole our gold, tried to pack the Supreme Court, handed Eastern Europe to Stalin and rounded up Japanese Americans and put them in concentration camps?
"You make a huge error in thinking that the Democratic Party is a unified party. That's the Republican Party."
The Cheneys are yours now Tom, along with Romney and Kinzinger. We''ll keep RFK Jr. and Gabbard:)
All kidding aside, I think you are exactly wrong. The Republican Party under Trump is now the "big tent" party where it is OK to disagree with other people about some policies. The Democrats require lockstep obedience on the trans agenda, DEI politics, and social programs
You have to admire the Democrats. They are not disciplined that the Communist Party. See what happens to anyone like Eric Adams who steps out of line. All of a sudden the DOJ discovers he takes gifts.
Assemble a random group of Democrats and another of Republicans. Put them on the grinder, play some Souza marching music on the loudspeaker and see which group goes lock-step and starts goosestepping first. The losers in that lopsided contest will be the stumble bums who personify "white men got no rhythm" (can't dance either....think Mitch McConnell). Shucks, Tom, I think Oyster is on point, his post a pearl.
The Russians have struggled in Ukraine far more than they anticipated; I rather doubt they are preparing plans to land in California, New Jersey, or Texas. Army has a tough case to make there:)
"The day after winning the election, the next president should begin building a national-security team supportive of his or her overall policy goals, possessed of the knowledge and experience to drive required changes through, and able to be confirmed by the Senate. A second priority during the transition should be to review all the Biden executive orders to ascertain whether they impeded the operational or material readiness of the fleet."
I actually disagree with this one, in the sense that I personally maintain that all serious presidential candidates really ought to be expected, if not required, to submit a list of all major nominations, and backups, to the general public, as a condition of being permitted to run for office at all.
I think it's insane that we routinely vote for presidents in primaries and general elections without already knowing who their SecDef, NSA, SecNavy, Chief of Staff, and other major policy heads are going to be. In a perfect world, both major candidates would also have their top 100 subordinate slots pre-confirmed or pre-rejected by the senate prior to election day. We could do it in pairs. "Is it the opinion of the Senate that both of the proposed SecDefs, or else neither of them, shall be pre-confirmed....."
Kamala Harris has already done this, but informally. In line with the idea that personnel is policy, she will be keeping all the people who are currently in charge, replacing them only as normal attrition requires. This will be true in all departments of the Executive Branch.
The federal government is on autopilot following a course which was dialed in with the installation of Joe Biden as president in January 2021.
And so it is not accurate for anyone of either party to claim that Kamala Harris doesn't have a plan. She does have one. Her plan is simply to leave the federal government on autopilot using the policy course which has been followed for the last four years.
It will be more of the same with little or no change in the lower level details of the hows and the whys of what policies are currently being followed.
That's not a bad plan. "Steady as she goes," ought to be words dear to a navalist's heart.
Biden's cabinet has not been wracked by scandal and confusion as was the other guys. Employment is high, inflation has been tamed, and the economy is roaring. We avoided recession. If the former guy was not working behind the scenes to keep the unpopular Bibi in office, Biden would have wrapped up this middle eastern problem six months ago.
One big problem is age. We don't need a man in his late 70's as President. Who wants a fellow who, if he wins, will be the oldest president sworn into office in the history of the US?
Tom. You are losing it. This cabinet is a synonym for mediocrity. Inflation has been tamed. How did it get there? Afghanistan. Gaza pier? October 7? Ukraine? Blinked playing the guitar in Kiev? Mayor Pete and East Palestine Ohio or Hawaii or the hurricane. Have you seen the border? Biden and Harris are taking this ship to Niagara. All engines ahead full.
This a very good plan, and vitally importantly get the senior leadership class in place that are war fighters, not beltway cocktail party gadflies. Clean up the Marine Corps General Officer ranks as well, starting with the current Commandant. This may be a little controversial, but if Jim Webb is around bring him back in to raise Hell just for the fun it. Sorry, but we need some of the best brass knuckle fighters to pull this fix off and can't think of anyone tougher or sometimes crazier and that is meant as a compliment. What about the merchant side of American shipping? While war fighting capability of the subsurface, surface and naval aviation and Marine Corps are key it seems that we need a revitalized surface merchant fleet. Don't know enough to be helpful, but why are there so few American flagged merchant vessels? (taxes regulations??) Whomever is Secretary of Navy going forward, needs to be tough and mean as a torqued off rattlesnake. If you plant a tree today, it takes a couple of years to take root and start growing, but now is better than tomorrow.
“This next step is where some might be concerned: the selection of your General and Flag Officers (GOFO). I’m sorry, but what we are doing now is not working, and the selection process is not producing the right people in the right place at the right time.” 🎯💯
The people in charge own the process. If they don't like a highly qualified candidate for a flag rank slot, they will find a way to put someone else in that slot who may not be as well qualified by 'reasonable and defensible' criteria.
Let's recognize that eighty-four years ago, on the eve of World War II, things were different from today in that finding the best man for the job at hand was more important than filling a slot with a sychophant.
For one prominent example, Admiral Ernest J. King was widely despised by the top leadership of the Roosevelt Administration, both the military and the civilian. But they knew Ernest J. King was clearly the best man for the job. Which is why King was chosen and why he eventually became one of the principal architects of allied victory in World War II.
Likewise, FDR told the Navy Secretary to get Nimitz out to Pearl "and don't come back until the war is won."
Nimitz and Marshall were both very valuable as they had deep knowledge of their fellow officers, GOFO and field grade, and could select the right personnel for the right roles. The recent new histories of Nimitz are worth a read, I think.
Last fall I heard from a Master Chief who sat the FY24 Reserve CPO board that summer. CNP gave them the directive to select wartime Chiefs. I'm not sure exactly what that means in practice, but it sounds like good guidance for officers as well.
Look for @$$h013s who will perform in any circumstance, and start promoting. Who gets ships operating effectively. Perhaps we start from there. But how do we minimize ducks picking ducks in Millington?
First get rid of the requirement that there must be a woman and a minority on the board. I served as an assistant recorder and witnessed a female O6 browbeat a male O9 into promoting a not very qualified female O5.
I would like to add one more category - Training. The Navy schools used to be first rate. That is no longer true. This has to be fixed. OJT works for normal duty, what it does not teach is dealing with emergencies. CBT has its place, but again, it cannot replace actual troubleshooting and repair/replacement. At this point, there are not enough sailors left who can actually fix broken gear.
Twenty years ago, the damage control classes had become a joke. Firefighting with no smoke, no JP5 fires, just pretty natural gas flames. CBR training without bothering with even pepper spray, let alone anything harsher to demonstrate why a 10% leak in your mask is a bad thing. Cutting the time spent to half in order to get the same numbers through those classes after base closures. I'm told that it has only gotten worse, not better.
The Navy needs more ships, but right now it doesn't even have enough sailors to man the ships it has, and these sailors have not been given the training they will need when trouble happens, let alone fighting. It would also help recruitment. Right now, the Air Force gets the poor smart kids, not the Navy. Give our sailors, current and future, the knowledge and skills they need. They will come, and more will stay.
I keep pounding the drum of retention. We need good shore duty for sailors. A school is exactly the kind of soft, but meaningful, shore duty that we should have for our sailors.
There is no sense ranting about a 600 ship Navy when we only have the crew for 200 of them.
I can understand why folks in the sway of The Donald would think that the United States is not a nation worth fighting for, but, they are fools. We don't need to "make America great, again." It was great when that fat bastard rode down the golden escalator, and it remains, for all of her flaws, the greatest nation in the history of the world.
One problem with the current Navy is that we ride our sailors too hard. Currently, sea duty is punishing. There is too much of it, and they have cut out all the fun parts like port visits.
A boot kid of 17 is fine living in the berthing compartment, but, a 21 year-old Petty Officer needs a home, and a 25 year-old is looking for a spouse and a family. The Navy is different from the Army and the Corps in that we need seasoned sailors; technical subject matter experts. The Army needs young kids, full of piss and vinegar; the Navy needs crusty old salts.
To keep good sailors we need cushy shore duty. Meaningful work, but work that allows a sailor to be home with his, or her, spouse and children. Shipyards used to be a place where sailors could serve shore duty, pick up skills useful at sea, but, still have time for family.
Not only do we need jobs, but, we need housing. Safe, clean, free on-base housing that the family can stay in when the service member shifts to sea duty.
“ I can understand why folks in the sway of The Donald”. Dude, you support pediatric genital mutilation. You’re a boarding school, gated community, leftist assklown. The regular Thursday feature could be renamed “Tommy Thursday” as the bullshit that is covered is courtesy of your kind.
A 'good plan' that just needs to be well executed. Sacred cows must be skewered/gored/filleted and blood will run down the Puzzle Palace hallways.
We all know "money will be an issue (and a large one at that)" but just say it ain't so Joe. With just 2 executive orders we could fully fund any needed expansion: first. a shutdown of the border, and zero support dollars for EBIT/cell phones/motel rooms/meals/travel fares late at night and we garner about $150 billion a year. Second, shutting down the student loan forgiveness fiasco saves about $460 Billion over the next 10 years according to Wharton. Eliminating those 2 alone would generate more revenue than required.
I look forward to seeing the implementations of the plan by one candidate, and if the other candidate wins (who can't spell "Navy") I will quickly buy a lifetime membership in Babbel for $299 before the price increase due to the surge in Chinese language learning.
The government should get out of the student loan business and just sell those loans.
Anyone coming through the border should be met with a retinal scan, fingerprinted and DNA sampled, then quickly repatriated, never ever to be allowed back in. Anyone their country won't take back gets dumped back in Mexico, let them deal with it.
Repeat and loop back. Be not tired. 👍🇺🇸
"Accordingly, the next Navy secretary and undersecretary should undertake a series of one-on-one interviews of current three- and fourstar admirals to determine their potential as wartime commanders and their readiness to execute an aggressive program of national maritime rejuvenation. If some are found wanting, they should be offered reassignment or retirement in grade without prejudice. Simultaneously, the five assistant secretaries of the Navy should survey the warfighting character of the Navy’s current two- or one-star admirals, as well as its senior captains, with an eye toward their potential for promotion to senior roles. When, in 1955, Secretary of the Navy Charles Thomas found Admiral Robert “Mick” Carney lacking in support for innovation and modernization, Thomas forced him into early retirement and selected Rear Admiral Arleigh Burke for promotion to admiral, naming him chief of naval operations (CNO) over the heads of 100 more-senior admirals. Burke ended up serving six years as CNO and was instrumental in helping the Eisenhower administration ready the Navy for a long-haul Cold War."
This is key. I've read that Trump, JD, Elon and a select few others (Don T. Jr., Erik Prince, Mike Waltz, Tom Cotton, etc.) have a plan to ruthlessly interview all FOGO's to ensure that the are not DEI/Woke infected or actively supported DEI/Woke directives, and for suitability to support Trumps plans (We do not yet know specifics of what those plans are). Those FOGO's not meeting the test are to be fired or retired.
While I don't disagree, I couldn't help but think about how that plan would be spun by the mainstream press (read: MiniTru), if it were more widely known, as Trump demanding personal loyalty from the brass.
Because apparently driving out officers from before the Obama administration in favor of indoctrinated servants of leftism didn't happen. *eyeroll*
Exactly, it all depended on whose ox was being gored. America needs the military to be professional and to obey all lawful orders from their chain of command- many current FOGO's are neither.
Does it matter anymore what the MSM says? Who outside the bubble is listening?
A lot of people, if not as many as there used to be.
Not out of strong ideological agreement, but because many of them haven't the time or ambition to dive down the rabbit hole and see where it goes.
It matters not to those who never stood a watch or sailed and flew aboard a Navy ship.
For those of us who have, it means a lot due to the lies and foolishness'.
The key would be pointing out that there are multiple precedents for this. General Marshall's cleanout of the Army's General Officer ranks before World War II. The Burke promotion. Hell, the attempt to make Col. Lee commander-in-chief of the Federal Army in 1861.
Military organizations in peacetime promote officers who look good in uniform, have charming wives, and are good with paperwork. In wartime...they send for the nasty people.
I have to disagree with reassignment, as it would leave the cancer in the Navy body, just in a different place.
Apparently there are some circumstances where a FOGO cannot be summarily fired. If that is so (I'm not a SME and do not know the answer), then reassign the FOGO's that should be fired, but cannot be, to a position where they can do no harm to America, until they can be fired or forced to resign.
Do they still send people to a weather station in Alaska? CPT Stillman could use the company.
Yes, or Minot in a pinch.
Revive the old RN custom of promoting "without designation of squadron"...AKA "Yellowing". Go play golf...somewhere else.
Treat those cancers on the Navy body as melanoma. Remove it with a red hot ice cream scoop because Mohs surgery just will not do.
Adm Byng anyone?
Trump's plan is not equal to preparing for war abroad.
How do you know what his plan will actually be?
**IF** he wins...
I just hope that he can find a SecDef, SecNav (actually all of them), and senior FOGO's who won't do their very best to "Queeg" him like McRaven, Kelly, Milley, et al, have done their level best to do.
(BTW, are Herman Wouk's works studied at USNA?
https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8077&context=nwc-review
The Naval Officer in an Age of Revolution
Doubt there's time between all the PostColonial, Gender-Intersectional-Queer studies that are much more helpful in training future Admirals to win a war at sea...)
This is what I think of the TDS NatSec Swamp Critters...
A bunch of lousy Keefers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw6gwGawbXA&t=127s
Keeper would be CNO in today’s navy. What was Gilday but a Keefer?
I wonder if Admiral Bill Moran would be willing to come back as SecNav or CNO? How about Captain Christopher “Chowdah” Hill? Others that might be on the short list are Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Mike Pompeo, Robert O’Brien and Reps. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) and Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.). I would like to see O'Brien as SecState.
Finding the civilian side is easy. Grab Sal and the Back Porch.
Yes, I'm serious. There are a hell of a lot of very capable people who were retired out at the O-5/GS-14 level because they were focused on the mission, not growing a bureaucratic empire. Turn them loose with a mandate for reform, and you'll get results.
Would you share with us what Trump's plan is? Is CNO's plan equal to the task?
All good ideas. Like many others here these last few decades I have watched this car wreck in slow motion. We need to mobilize our navy as if we are going to war, because we are. We need a robust effort.
As stated in other posts here and there and everywhere:
1. Stop decommissioning ships.
2. Finish maintenance and triage the CASREPS on the fleet. Priority is subsurface even if that means sending other yard workers TAD to eliminate backlogs. Work the priority while training new workers.
3. Recruit for shipyard ratings. Make them easily accessible and promise location and stability for these rating. (No sea duty). This is the seed corn for our ship yard repair.
4. Create a shipyard ship building incentive. Raid the colleges and universities and offer debt forgiveness for a long term contract in the trades we need. Offer this immediately.
5. Reopen Mare Island, Long Beach, Philly and Charleston. No sacred cows and no excuses. Take the land back. Offer the latte drinkers a trade course to keep them in the areas. Think CCC on steroids with a trade instead of planting trees.
6. Source the raw materials and make them a priority over civilian production.
7. Reduce the flag billets. Fire every 3-4 that isn’t playing ball. As already stated above and echoed and repeated from other front porch posts
8. Bring back every vessel that was decommissioned in the last 5 years. Use the platforms for training for the trades and maintenance while building a fleet training center of gravity and a small reserve force when needed.
9. We must have round the clock production of all VLS munitions. No excuses.
Of course these are all knowable things and have been discussed for years. It really is that simple to fix with a will.
For number 3, we have a program on the reserve side that recruits for shipyard ratings. It's called SURGEMAIN, and it sends a large number of sailors in engineering rates to those locations. On the Reserve side, there's no real stigma to staying with a program for years, especially at smaller NRC's. It's pretty strong at NRC Kitsap from what I've heard.
Long Beach can't be recovered. The dry docks have all been filled in and taking out the container port facility which replaced the naval shipyard is a complete political non-starter. I'm not familiar enough with the other three to comment on how practical it would be to recover them, but suspect that Charleston and Mare Island are better candidates than Philadelphia.
Charleston harbor has seen a massive boom. Cranes all over the place. Fort Sumter seems so insignificant.
Mare island is recoverable. So is Hunters Point, but it will be a fight.
Hunter's point has contamination. Its also getting crowded out. Proceedings talked about grabbing the abandoned air base over in Alameda. Also grow Philly, and build new over Sparrow's Point. https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2024/september/case-fifth-naval-shipyard
Yes, you shouldn't let your two-year-old run about without supervision and put things in their mouth. But it isn't so contaminated that it can't be used as an industrial site.
Air bases tend to not have drydocks. Alameda is not an exception.
Alameda does have ample land in a good harbor and that is even more rare.
Philly just drydocked BB-62 earlier this year, so it might not be as dead as you think. The drydock works, how much repair workshops etc can be reconstituted?
It must have been awesome sight to see the four screws of the New Jersey. Such precision without computers.
The museum has a YouTube channel, well worth going and taking a look!
I wonder how many of the critical smaller Navy & USCG hulls could be built in the Great Lakes to free up shipyards on the coasts to build the biggest ships? Can we farm out a surge of construction to South Korea and other friends, if not for warships, then for our USNS fleet?
There is no Long Beach shipyard. DNE.
I was looking at Google Maps a few weeks ago and noticed that Long Beach Naval Station bears little resemblance to when I was stationed there, 1982-86. It has been gutted and remade. I think the old proposed Frigate port in Pascagoula is recoverable. It is close to yards there and in Mobile.
That's such a shame too...I spent my early kid hood running about LBNS. Weekends on the mole when dad worked on the base commanders boat, checking out the 50ft Titanic model used in Raise the Titanic, crawling around the drydocks as dad failed most of the new Spruance sonar domes during acceptance trials, going to sea on O'Brien for days at 7... good memories that ended in 1980 when dad retired. LBNS was certainly the yard that should've been kept. The only one operating in the green at the time. Not nuclear capable, but it had capacity (and location) we need desperately now.
Our FFG had work done at LBNS. It was sure convenient since we were homeported in Long Beach. It knocked about a half a mile off my daily commute. They did decent work for us, though the night shift seemed to be slackers, was prone to sleeping and kind of attitudinal when I woke them up during my rounds as CDO. Long Beach was the best stateside navy base I was ever stationed at. Was sad to see it BRACked and turned over to the Chinese.
Agree with stopping further decomms...EXCEPT LCS. I'd dump all of them ASAP. Those crews are more useful elsewhere.
I like the idea of shipyard ratings!!
WRT 4 "Raid the colleges and universities and offer debt forgiveness for a long term contract in the trades we need. Offer this immediately." If we pay off some debt we should consider commissioning them as EDO or similar with a 4-5 year commitment
On Day 1 at 12:01 Mark Milley should be recalled to active duty and indicted for high treason for conspiring with China in 2020. At 12:02 all the DEI CRT PC SES and flag officers beginning with the CNO and USNA superintendent should be relieved of duty and told to submit their retirement papers. At 12:03 all CSA names and monuments should be restored.
I’d be content with just taking away his security clearance.
You are so much nicer than me, Sal.
If you get recalled to active duty, Pete, I'll donate you a Halligan tool and keep you supplied with Alka Selzer and Ibuprofen.
I am collecting a very nice check for my many years of service. However, if President Trump calls me up on 11/5/24 and say he needs me on his team I would say: When do you want me to start, sir? I would add that CDR Sal would make a great SECNAV.
It would be too obvious if they all took the James Cutter route, but I can dream.
“…As is often said, personnel is policy: Without the right people, good ideas remain just ideas.
It isn’t just having bodies on a list. The people you bring into leadership and staff positions need to be already known quantities. They don’t just need to know which hymnal higher direction and guidance is bringing to the revival, they already know the greatest hits by heart. They won’t need constant supervision and a kick in the tail to execute priorities, but if you’re lucky, they’ll have to be held back by their belt.”
Well put and another reason a Trump second term scares the hell out of me. Look at who he had in senior positions at the beginning of his first term and who he had around him at its end. The overall quality level was on a downward trend. Now look at those close to him — the starting point of a second term. Just saying.
I can assure you that Trump would never appoint someone like Racheal Levine as surgeon general.
All the people he started with were snakes. See Kelly, who keeps telling stories everyone else who was in the room said never happened.
He was surrounded by snakes the first time, and hopefully has learned a lesson.
Kamala will be surrounded by DEI Communists. It is impossible for Trump to be a worse President.
"...regardless of who wins in November..." I think it is not unreasonable to ask if there is one political party/movement that actually doesn't want America and the west to succeed. I tend to believe people when they say stuff like "fundamental transformation."
You make a huge error in thinking that the Democratic Party is a unified party. That's the Republican Party. The Democratic party is a loose amalgamation of all kinds of different movements barely held together. The progressives can barely sit in the same room with the liberals.
There are many Democrats that served in our Armed Forces. There are many Democrats who believe in a strong national defense. The insinuation that that Democrats don't "want America and the west to succeed," is just a parroting of propaganda and lies. Of course we want America to succeed; we live here too.
In an evenly divided nation, it takes folks from both sides to make things happen. There are liberal arguments, strong liberal arguments, in favor of a strong U.S. Navy. Maybe you should be thinking about advancing those arguments instead of following the easy Trumpian path of calling your neighbors the enemy within.
The Democrat Party is the party of Leon Trotsky.
Also the party of FDR that got Republicans out of their isolationist shell and got ready for a war. Pretty sure Trotsky was busy getting killed about then.
You mean the same FDR who stole our gold, tried to pack the Supreme Court, handed Eastern Europe to Stalin and rounded up Japanese Americans and put them in concentration camps?
"You make a huge error in thinking that the Democratic Party is a unified party. That's the Republican Party."
The Cheneys are yours now Tom, along with Romney and Kinzinger. We''ll keep RFK Jr. and Gabbard:)
All kidding aside, I think you are exactly wrong. The Republican Party under Trump is now the "big tent" party where it is OK to disagree with other people about some policies. The Democrats require lockstep obedience on the trans agenda, DEI politics, and social programs
You have to admire the Democrats. They are not disciplined that the Communist Party. See what happens to anyone like Eric Adams who steps out of line. All of a sudden the DOJ discovers he takes gifts.
Assemble a random group of Democrats and another of Republicans. Put them on the grinder, play some Souza marching music on the loudspeaker and see which group goes lock-step and starts goosestepping first. The losers in that lopsided contest will be the stumble bums who personify "white men got no rhythm" (can't dance either....think Mitch McConnell). Shucks, Tom, I think Oyster is on point, his post a pearl.
Or, put them in a gun range with some tannerite, steel targets 25 meters away and high powered rifles. See which one gets a reporter first.
"You make a huge error in thinking that the Democratic Party is a unified party. That's the Republican Party."
Indeed. You have the P Diddy Democrats and the Jeffrey Epstein Democrats. No unity there.😂
“Trumpian path of calling your neighbors the enemy within.”
Didn’t your hero PedoJoe just call half of America “garbage”?
The problem Sal is the Cult Of The Army will point and sputter at Saint Vladimir, Sacred Defender of the Army Budget, as why we can't do this.
The Russians have struggled in Ukraine far more than they anticipated; I rather doubt they are preparing plans to land in California, New Jersey, or Texas. Army has a tough case to make there:)
They got North Korean reinforcements now. They'll be in Lisbon by Christmas.
/s
"The day after winning the election, the next president should begin building a national-security team supportive of his or her overall policy goals, possessed of the knowledge and experience to drive required changes through, and able to be confirmed by the Senate. A second priority during the transition should be to review all the Biden executive orders to ascertain whether they impeded the operational or material readiness of the fleet."
I actually disagree with this one, in the sense that I personally maintain that all serious presidential candidates really ought to be expected, if not required, to submit a list of all major nominations, and backups, to the general public, as a condition of being permitted to run for office at all.
I think it's insane that we routinely vote for presidents in primaries and general elections without already knowing who their SecDef, NSA, SecNavy, Chief of Staff, and other major policy heads are going to be. In a perfect world, both major candidates would also have their top 100 subordinate slots pre-confirmed or pre-rejected by the senate prior to election day. We could do it in pairs. "Is it the opinion of the Senate that both of the proposed SecDefs, or else neither of them, shall be pre-confirmed....."
Kamala Harris has already done this, but informally. In line with the idea that personnel is policy, she will be keeping all the people who are currently in charge, replacing them only as normal attrition requires. This will be true in all departments of the Executive Branch.
The federal government is on autopilot following a course which was dialed in with the installation of Joe Biden as president in January 2021.
And so it is not accurate for anyone of either party to claim that Kamala Harris doesn't have a plan. She does have one. Her plan is simply to leave the federal government on autopilot using the policy course which has been followed for the last four years.
It will be more of the same with little or no change in the lower level details of the hows and the whys of what policies are currently being followed.
Did she actually SAY that was going to be her policy? it's pretty normal for even second-term presidents to do big change-up's of their own cabinets.
That's not a bad plan. "Steady as she goes," ought to be words dear to a navalist's heart.
Biden's cabinet has not been wracked by scandal and confusion as was the other guys. Employment is high, inflation has been tamed, and the economy is roaring. We avoided recession. If the former guy was not working behind the scenes to keep the unpopular Bibi in office, Biden would have wrapped up this middle eastern problem six months ago.
One big problem is age. We don't need a man in his late 70's as President. Who wants a fellow who, if he wins, will be the oldest president sworn into office in the history of the US?
Tom. You are losing it. This cabinet is a synonym for mediocrity. Inflation has been tamed. How did it get there? Afghanistan. Gaza pier? October 7? Ukraine? Blinked playing the guitar in Kiev? Mayor Pete and East Palestine Ohio or Hawaii or the hurricane. Have you seen the border? Biden and Harris are taking this ship to Niagara. All engines ahead full.
Many of those positions, like SECDEF, need to be eliminated.
Bipartisanship is when Democrats push hard from one side and the Republicans stand by and cheer.
Uniparty. Trump shed sunlight on the dismal swamp.
Pete: Indeed.
Turns out the Democrats and RINOs were all owned by George Soros and his ilk.
An oft misused word, but appropriate here:"Magisterial". BZ and may it be so.
Can't agree more about the "selection committee." Add to the selection factors ability to deselect DEI and ability to prevail in combat
This a very good plan, and vitally importantly get the senior leadership class in place that are war fighters, not beltway cocktail party gadflies. Clean up the Marine Corps General Officer ranks as well, starting with the current Commandant. This may be a little controversial, but if Jim Webb is around bring him back in to raise Hell just for the fun it. Sorry, but we need some of the best brass knuckle fighters to pull this fix off and can't think of anyone tougher or sometimes crazier and that is meant as a compliment. What about the merchant side of American shipping? While war fighting capability of the subsurface, surface and naval aviation and Marine Corps are key it seems that we need a revitalized surface merchant fleet. Don't know enough to be helpful, but why are there so few American flagged merchant vessels? (taxes regulations??) Whomever is Secretary of Navy going forward, needs to be tough and mean as a torqued off rattlesnake. If you plant a tree today, it takes a couple of years to take root and start growing, but now is better than tomorrow.
“This next step is where some might be concerned: the selection of your General and Flag Officers (GOFO). I’m sorry, but what we are doing now is not working, and the selection process is not producing the right people in the right place at the right time.” 🎯💯
The people in charge own the process. If they don't like a highly qualified candidate for a flag rank slot, they will find a way to put someone else in that slot who may not be as well qualified by 'reasonable and defensible' criteria.
Let's recognize that eighty-four years ago, on the eve of World War II, things were different from today in that finding the best man for the job at hand was more important than filling a slot with a sychophant.
For one prominent example, Admiral Ernest J. King was widely despised by the top leadership of the Roosevelt Administration, both the military and the civilian. But they knew Ernest J. King was clearly the best man for the job. Which is why King was chosen and why he eventually became one of the principal architects of allied victory in World War II.
Likewise, FDR told the Navy Secretary to get Nimitz out to Pearl "and don't come back until the war is won."
Nimitz and Marshall were both very valuable as they had deep knowledge of their fellow officers, GOFO and field grade, and could select the right personnel for the right roles. The recent new histories of Nimitz are worth a read, I think.
Last fall I heard from a Master Chief who sat the FY24 Reserve CPO board that summer. CNP gave them the directive to select wartime Chiefs. I'm not sure exactly what that means in practice, but it sounds like good guidance for officers as well.
Look for @$$h013s who will perform in any circumstance, and start promoting. Who gets ships operating effectively. Perhaps we start from there. But how do we minimize ducks picking ducks in Millington?
First get rid of the requirement that there must be a woman and a minority on the board. I served as an assistant recorder and witnessed a female O6 browbeat a male O9 into promoting a not very qualified female O5.
WTF do these "Master Chiefs" know about wartime Chiefs. Ducks have been picking ducks far to long now.
I would like to add one more category - Training. The Navy schools used to be first rate. That is no longer true. This has to be fixed. OJT works for normal duty, what it does not teach is dealing with emergencies. CBT has its place, but again, it cannot replace actual troubleshooting and repair/replacement. At this point, there are not enough sailors left who can actually fix broken gear.
Twenty years ago, the damage control classes had become a joke. Firefighting with no smoke, no JP5 fires, just pretty natural gas flames. CBR training without bothering with even pepper spray, let alone anything harsher to demonstrate why a 10% leak in your mask is a bad thing. Cutting the time spent to half in order to get the same numbers through those classes after base closures. I'm told that it has only gotten worse, not better.
The Navy needs more ships, but right now it doesn't even have enough sailors to man the ships it has, and these sailors have not been given the training they will need when trouble happens, let alone fighting. It would also help recruitment. Right now, the Air Force gets the poor smart kids, not the Navy. Give our sailors, current and future, the knowledge and skills they need. They will come, and more will stay.
I keep pounding the drum of retention. We need good shore duty for sailors. A school is exactly the kind of soft, but meaningful, shore duty that we should have for our sailors.
There is no sense ranting about a 600 ship Navy when we only have the crew for 200 of them.
Retention will sky rocket when sailors believe we have a country worth fighting for.
I can understand why folks in the sway of The Donald would think that the United States is not a nation worth fighting for, but, they are fools. We don't need to "make America great, again." It was great when that fat bastard rode down the golden escalator, and it remains, for all of her flaws, the greatest nation in the history of the world.
One problem with the current Navy is that we ride our sailors too hard. Currently, sea duty is punishing. There is too much of it, and they have cut out all the fun parts like port visits.
A boot kid of 17 is fine living in the berthing compartment, but, a 21 year-old Petty Officer needs a home, and a 25 year-old is looking for a spouse and a family. The Navy is different from the Army and the Corps in that we need seasoned sailors; technical subject matter experts. The Army needs young kids, full of piss and vinegar; the Navy needs crusty old salts.
To keep good sailors we need cushy shore duty. Meaningful work, but work that allows a sailor to be home with his, or her, spouse and children. Shipyards used to be a place where sailors could serve shore duty, pick up skills useful at sea, but, still have time for family.
Not only do we need jobs, but, we need housing. Safe, clean, free on-base housing that the family can stay in when the service member shifts to sea duty.
Tom you need to chill. You are so full of liberal hate and rage.
If you’ve been reading this blog for the last three years you would see how badly our armed forces have declined since the coup of 2020.
Attempted coup.
You are not being very "inclusive" Tom.
Also, you have used triggering speech.
Tom is guilty of attacking people for their age and weight. He may not be invited back to the Hamptons or a cocktail party in Georgetown.
“ I can understand why folks in the sway of The Donald”. Dude, you support pediatric genital mutilation. You’re a boarding school, gated community, leftist assklown. The regular Thursday feature could be renamed “Tommy Thursday” as the bullshit that is covered is courtesy of your kind.
You know little about the issue to which you speak.
Educate me.
...and the worthy leadership.
A 'good plan' that just needs to be well executed. Sacred cows must be skewered/gored/filleted and blood will run down the Puzzle Palace hallways.
We all know "money will be an issue (and a large one at that)" but just say it ain't so Joe. With just 2 executive orders we could fully fund any needed expansion: first. a shutdown of the border, and zero support dollars for EBIT/cell phones/motel rooms/meals/travel fares late at night and we garner about $150 billion a year. Second, shutting down the student loan forgiveness fiasco saves about $460 Billion over the next 10 years according to Wharton. Eliminating those 2 alone would generate more revenue than required.
I look forward to seeing the implementations of the plan by one candidate, and if the other candidate wins (who can't spell "Navy") I will quickly buy a lifetime membership in Babbel for $299 before the price increase due to the surge in Chinese language learning.
The government should get out of the student loan business and just sell those loans.
Anyone coming through the border should be met with a retinal scan, fingerprinted and DNA sampled, then quickly repatriated, never ever to be allowed back in. Anyone their country won't take back gets dumped back in Mexico, let them deal with it.