The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Demystified
What the treaty actually says about territorial waters, exclusive economic zones, and straits used by navies.
Submarine Fleets Compared: Diesel-Electric vs Nuclear Boats
Diesel-electric and nuclear submarines compared in plain words: how each type works, what it does well, and why only a few navies run nuclear boats.
Amphibious Ready Groups Explained: Ships, Marines, Missions
What sails in a US amphibious ready group: the three ship types, the Marines and aircraft aboard, and the missions from disaster relief to major war.
Naval
What Navy Ranks Mean: A Plain-English Explainer
A plain-English guide to navy ranks: what the insignia on a sleeve mean, how rank sets pay and duty, and why every fleet still runs on a ladder of command.
Naval Academy, ROTC, OCS: Choosing a Navy Officer Path
Three routes lead to the same commission. The differences are cost, time, and when the Navy takes control of a candidate's life.
USS Jack H. Lucas, First Flight III Destroyer, Commissioned
The Navy commissioned its first Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer at Tampa, Florida, on October 7, 2023.
Virginia-Class Attack Submarines: The Navy's Fast-Attack Fleet, As of 2026
The Virginia-class is a class of nuclear-powered fast-attack submarines built for the U.
Policy
Defense Budgets 101: How Naval Funding Gets Decided
From service requests to appropriated shipbuilding dollars: the annual process, in plain English.
Guide: How U.S. Freedom of Navigation Operations Work
The Freedom of Navigation Program is a Department of Defense initiative, in place since 1979, that uses U.
The Jones Act and the U.S. Naval Shipbuilding Base, Explained
The century-old cabotage law sets three conditions for domestic shipping and has become a fixture in debates over the health of the shipyards the Navy depends on.
How the Navy Holds People Accountable for Collisions: The 2017 Precedents
The Navy's accountability system reaches from deckplates to fleet command: the 2017 Pacific Fleet collisions produced relief of commanding officers, a fleet commander, and staff admirals, alongside nonjudicial punishment for dozens of sailors.
Prize Law Explained: When and How a Navy May Seize Ships at Sea in War
The law of naval warfare has governed the capture of merchant ships for centuries, and its machinery of prizes, prize courts, and prize money is dormant in American practice but never repealed in principle.
Sealift and Merchant Marine Readiness: How America Moves a War Through Commercial Ships
Nearly all U.S. military equipment moves to a contested theater by sea, and the policy architecture that makes that possible rests on a shrinking commercial fleet, a government surge fleet, and a mariner workforce that watchdogs say is too small.
Shipbuilding
Ship Lifecycle Cost: Why a Hull Costs More Than Its Price
The purchase price is the smallest line in a ship's ledger. Support, upgrades and disposal follow for decades.
Shipbuilding Welding Explained: Why Hull Welds Matter
Every seam in a steel hull carries load, seals the sea out, and is inspected before a ship ever floats.
Shipbuilding Jobs Guide: Trades, Apprenticeships and Career Ladders
What the work actually is, how people train into it, and where the yards are hiring.
Primer: How a Navy Ship Moves From Keel to Commissioning
A US Navy warship passes through five documented milestones between first construction and active service, each marked by an official event.
Maritime News
Piracy Today: Where the Risk Sits and How Shipping Responds
A dated guide to the waters where attacks still happen, what drives them, and the defenses crews and owners now rely on.
How to Read Maritime News Like an Industry Analyst
A guide to the sources, indices, and indicators professionals actually watch.
How U.S. Navy Ships Move From Keel to Commissioning
A guide to the four documented milestones that turn a hull under construction into a commissioned warship, drawn from Naval History and Heritage Command and Naval Sea Systems Command records.
Dhow Hijackings Kept Somali Piracy Active Through 2025 as Global Incidents Rose
The ICC International Maritime Bureau logged 45 incidents worldwide in the first quarter of 2025, and dhows and fishing vessels were hijacked off Somalia and the Gulf of Aden through the year.
Government News
How to Read a Shipyard's Order Book: Backlog, Slots, and Signals
Backlog value, delivery slots, and order-to-delivery timelines say more about a shipbuilder's health than any single contract award.
How Fixed-Price Incentive Contracts Shape Navy Shipbuilding
An explainer on the contract type behind most U.S. Navy warship programs, why the Navy prefers it, and what recent oversight findings say about how well it works.
Navy Recruiting Turnaround: 44,096 Accessions Against a 40,600 Goal in Fiscal 2025
The Navy ended fiscal year 2025 with 44,096 enlisted accessions against a goal of 40,600, roughly 108.6 percent of target, in what the Defense Department described as the military's best recruiting year in 15 years.
GAO Finds Navy's Billions in Shipyard Investment Lack a Fully Developed Strategy
A Government Accountability Office report published on February 27, 2025 concluded that despite billions invested in private shipbuilders and repair yards, the Navy lacks a strategy for deciding where ship industrial base money goes.