The Naval Brief: 500-ship Navy? Messaging choke point; Ship repairs; and more...

Welcome to The Naval Brief, a weekly look at the news and ideas shaping the sea services’ future. 

Future fleet plan. CNO Adm. Mike Gilday says experiments and analysis suggest that the Navy’s next fleet plan will call for about 500 vessels, including 12 carriers and some 150 unmanned craft. He laid out more figures at last week’s WEST 2022 conference in San Diego; read about them here.

Messaging choke point: Gilday has been working to win more trust for his service from Congress and the American people, and the poll that the Navy takes a few times a year suggests he’s having some success. But others—including Congresspeople—say the service has a long way to go. Bradley Peniston has that report, here.

Reports of interest: Here’s the GAO’s latest on the littoral combat ship and ship repairs and CRS on Navy ship names.

Sign up to get The Naval Brief every Thursday from Caitlin M. Kenney, Defense One’s military services reporter. On February 23, 1945, Marines raised the American flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima during World War II. The second flag-raising on the island was famously captured by Joe Rosenthal. 

From Defense One

Expect a Navy Fleet Plan of 500 Ships, CNO Says // Bradley Peniston: Adm. Gilday says recent exercises and several years of analysis are helping the service converge on numbers for its long-range shipbuilding plan.

The Navy’s Messaging Choke Point // Bradley Peniston: Some say the service needs to stop using jargon like “littoral operations” and “sea denial” if it wants to connect with more Americans.