Sam LaGrone

Three new shipyards have been tapped to construct seven Landing Craft Utility landing vessels as part of an overall $280 million deal

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The ongoing U.S. conflict with Iran is morphing how the Navy fixes and supplies ships operating thousands of miles from logistics hubs as extended time at sea and the prospect of an extended naval commitment in the Middle East are creating a maintenance wave back home, service officials said this week. As of Monday, there were more than a dozen guided-missile destroyers supporting carriers USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) and USS George Washington (CVN-73) and the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, according to Monday’s USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Not quite two months on the job, a submariner turned head of the Navy’s vast maintenance operation promised his office would create a more nimble organization that would better balance risk to speed ships back to the fleet. Program Acquisition Executive for Industrial Operations Rear Adm. Todd Weeks told a crowd of ship maintainers the service wants to reduce the barriers to get ships out of maintenance on time. “We absolutely need to change, and we’re not getting it done. We just aren’t,” Weeks said Thursday while speaking at the American Society of Naval Engineers Fleet

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Both U.S. and foreign designs for the next small-surface combatant are under consideration after the cancellation of the Constellation-class guided-missile frigate, the new head of the Navy’s shipbuilding enterprise said this week. A foreign design study is running in parallel with the development of HII Ingalls’ FF(X) Flight I patrol frigate, which was announced late last year following the Constellation cancellation, Portfolio Acquisition Executive Rear Adm. Casey Moton told an audience on Thursday at the American Society of Naval Engineers Fleet Maintenance and Modernization Symposium. Moton confirmed that the HII frigate had passed its critical design

This post will be updated as new information becomes available. Four personnel were injured in a landing mishap aboard USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) on Monday, USNI News has learned. The crew of the unspecified two-seat aircraft assigned to Carrier Air Wing 3 was safely recovered after ejecting from the aircraft, the Navy said in a statement provided to USNI News. “At approximately 6:18 p.m. EDT on Sept. 28, a mishap occurred during aircraft recovery operations aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) off the coast of Virginia,” reads the statement. “Both aviators were safely returned

Boeing will build the Navy’s next-generation fighter after decades of indecision on the future of the carrier air wing, according to a Tuesday Pentagon announcement. “The contract is valued at more than $20B for the full-scale development phase. The contract procures multiple test aircraft for ground, airworthiness, systems, and weapons integration testing,” reads the announcement. The new tactical aircraft is set to enter the fleet as the first Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets leave the fleet in the 2030s. A primary mission for the new fighter will be to extend the effective strike range of the U.S. carrier air wing that

Aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) is returning to Naval Station Norfolk, Va., after a Sept. 28 incident that injured four sailors and resulted in the loss of a EA-18G Growler, USNI News has learned. The return to port will, “allow for a comprehensive assessment of the ship’s aircraft launch and recovery equipment following the Sept. 28 aviation mishap,” reads an early Saturday morning statement from Naval Air Force Atlantic. “The decision reflects the Navy’s deliberate approach to flight safety and readiness. While the cause of the mishap remains under investigation, Navy technical experts will conduct a thorough assessment

MOBILE, Ala. —Three decks high and shrouded in a plastic, air-conditioned barrier, some of the most important spaces of a pair of Virginia-class attack boats are taking shape on the shores of the Mobile River — 1,200 miles from the rest of the submarine. Already painted in the Navy’s calming shade of seafoam green, the control room modules are being outfitted with hatches, chairs, terminals, doors, desks, screens, outlets, fixtures, lightbulbs and a chart table before getting shrink-wrapped and barged up the East Coast to General Dynamics Electric Boat’s facility in Rhode Island. Then, the modules will be slid into

The Pentagon announced Monday the Virginia-class submarine that will be the lead nuclear attack boat in western Australia. USS Colorado (SSN-788) will be assigned to Submarine Rotational Force-West, which will be based HMAS Stirling outside of Perth starting in 2027. “The selection of USS Colorado as the first submarine assigned to SRF-West in 2027 marks a significant milestone for AUKUS Pillar I and is a decisive step in strengthening collective deterrence in the Pacific,” reads a Monday statement from the Australian Government and Pentagon leadership. The deployment of Colorado is one of the early steps of the AUKUS Pillar I

Five are dead after U.S. forces struck a suspected narco boat in the Eastern Pacific, U.S. Southern Command announced on Tuesday. “On Oct. 27, under the direction of #SOUTHCOM, Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere executed a lethal, kinetic strike on a go-fast vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific,” reads a statement on X. According to SOUTHCOM, unspecified intelligence indicated those operating the boat were trafficking drugs and referred to the individuals killed as “narco-terrorists.” A total of 243 people have been killed as part of the Southern Command strikes, based on USNI News tabulation. While the