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.
James WellingtonNaval
Naval covers combatant vessels system by system: hull form, propulsion, sonar and radar fit, missiles, guns and combat management software. Entries compare classes on published figures and mark disputed numbers as disputed. Written for officers, engineers, defense analysts and readers wanting warships explained well beyond the silhouette.
Warship and submarine classes broken down by hull, propulsion, sensors and armament, with displacement, range and combat figures given their sources.
Virginia-Class Attack Submarines: The Navy's Fast-Attack Fleet, As of 2026
James WellingtonHow U.S. Navy Ships Get Their Names
The Secretary of the Navy makes the final choice, working from recommendations staffed by the Naval History and Heritage Command, under a naming authority that federal law barely defines.
James WellingtonWhat Replaces the Constellation-Class Frigate Program
James WellingtonThe Navy Railgun Explained: Two Decades of Development and Why the Program Stalled
The electromagnetic railgun promised Mach 6 projectiles at projectile-only cost, reached full-scale tests at Dahlgren, and was quietly shelved as hypersonic missiles took its budget.
James WellingtonNaval Unmanned Surface Vessels Explained: Sea Hunter, Ghost Fleet, and the Road to LUSV
From a diesel trimaran that once sailed itself from Hawaii to California to missile-firing Ghost Fleet hulls, unmanned surface vessels have moved from DARPA experiment to fleet program in a decade.
James WellingtonHull Coatings and Antifouling Technology Explained: The Science Below the Waterline
Barnacles and slime cost navies measurable speed and fuel; the answer is a layered regime of antifouling paints, foul-release silicones, and disciplined dry-dock cycles.
James WellingtonCooperative Engagement Capability Explained: How Warships Fire Using Another Ship's Radar
CEC merges the radar tracks of an entire force into one fire-control-quality picture, and with NIFC-CA it lets a destroyer engage an over-the-horizon target it never saw itself.
James WellingtonNaval Mine Countermeasures Explained: From Minesweepers to Underwater Drones
Countering sea mines once meant manned ships sweeping exposed water; the U.S. Navy now hunts them with sonar-carrying underwater vehicles and neutralizes them from helicopters.
James WellingtonThe Tomahawk Cruise Missile Explained: Variants, Launchers, and the Block V Era
Five decades after its first flight, Tomahawk remains the U.S. Navy's long-range land-attack standard, now upgraded as Block V with new seeker options and growing export demand.
James Wellington