Marcus Faulkner

MoD to unify all intelligence units under single command The overhaul comes as the minister for armed forces warns "the shadow of war is knocking on Europe's door".

On the whole a good idea.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

The war gets more serious, intelligence particularly op intel gets more important as a means of using resources more efficiently and effectively against a growing Axis military potential and in 1942 it becomes evident through Ultra how badly British communications security has been compromised.

So detailed work on linking sigint products, Ultra specifically, to operational decisions is virtually non-existent. E.g. when flag officers are indoctrinated. There are examples, but nothing systematically drawn together. 41- into 42 is though the moment where an overall policy crystallises out.

At this point it is still very much a learning process.

I would very much agree.

UK and Norway to operate together to counter Russian undersea threat through major new defence agreement Combined fleet of at least 13 warships, bolstered by autonomous systems, will hunt Russian submarines and protect critical infrastructure in the North Atlantic as part of new agreement.

🇬🇧🇳🇴Lunna House Agreement on improving maritime domain awareness and dealing with subsurface threats. Also a P8 and Type 26 owners club. Plug in 🇩🇪 in due course and maybe 🇨🇦 as 212 operators and get some communality in uncrewed systems and this becomes a good foundation.

www.gov.uk/government/n...

Uncrewed and Under the Radar: How AUVs Transform Drug Smuggling Drug traffickers are constantly innovating to increase profitability and lower operational risk. Their experimentation with uncrewed semi-submersible technology presents a predicament for counternarco...

Interesting on growing use of submarines by drug traffickers. 'semi-submersibles have significantly reduced their physical, thermal and acoustic signature' www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/uncrewed-and-under-radar-how-auvs-transform-drug-smuggling

Inside Project Azorian The last surviving participant serves up a firsthand account of the CIA mission to retrieve a sunken Soviet submarine in the 1970s.

www.usni.org/magazines/na...

‘A step-change’: tech firms battle for undersea dominance with submarine drones As navies seek to counter submarines and protect cables, startups and big defence companies fight to lead market

Subsurface and seabed warfare is en vogue these days. Uncrewed, autonomy and services are going to be more centre stage going forward too.

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Wow. The things you stumble upon when looking for something completely different. This picture, taken during Operation Pedestal, shows HMS Nelson or Rodney using 16in guns with HE shells timed to explode in front of approaching torpedo bombers! IWM A11205 #RoyalNavy #WW2 #NavalHistory

Well 6-months earlier for the Bismarck sortie light flak from al over the place was scrounged together to make that happen. Yes production was increasing but the demand was insatiable so these would have come from somewhere where they were also needed.

What would be interesting is where these AA actually came from, and thus were else they did not go. 6 months earlier light AA was an absolute Mangelware across the Wehrmacht and the navy in particular. The main units of the surface fleet were not fully equipped and I doubt production was up a lot

More frigates for the Baltic, and the largest ones 🇸🇪 has operated to date might not quite be the top priority for the theatre.

A good read, thank you for putting this together.

Navy Cancels Constellation-class Frigate Program - USNI News This post has been updated with a statement from Fincantieri The Navy is walking away from the Constellation-class frigate program to focus on new classes of warships the service can build faster, Sec...

This end to the Constellation-class underlines the real problem the USN has in being able to conceive, design and build smaller, more limited role warships. A proven design was chosen to over come one set of issues only to require a redesign creating others.

news.usni.org/2025/11/25/n...

Latest news commentary:

Carrier Strike – just how full is Full Operating Capability?

www.navylookout.com/carrier-stri...

Suspected Russian sonobuoy discovered off Pembrokeshire coast A submarine expert says he is "confident" the recovered object is an imploded Russian sonobuoy.

🔱 Catch of the Day:

„A team of 🇬🇧litter-picking scuba divers have recovered what is believed to be a 🇷🇺Russian tracking device off the Welsh coast.

An independent defence analyst said he was "confident" the recovered object was an imploded Russian RGB-1A sonobuoy.”

Thank you kindly. Though this time I did not have much to do with the process though I did spend a couple of days in the summer correcting things. These projects are an endless time sink.

When the Navy Flew to the Moon | Naval History Magazine - December 2023, Volume 37, Number 6 Apollo 12 featured the only all Navy crew of the Apollo program.

#OTD in 1969: HS-4 from the USS Hornet (CV-12) recovered Apollo 12’s all-Navy crew after their Moon mission—Gordon, Conrad, and Bean. More on the Navy’s Apollo role:
usni.org/magazines/n...

Looks great like this. Well done on this line as I know it's been a huge amount of work for you guys to get this going.

Now available in Japanese. 13 years after it was first published the Second World War naval atlas now has another language edition - very telling also of how maritime affairs have come to the forefront in parts of the world today. This version is also ever so slightly updated.

Rereading U331's diary now, just because it is so conveniently linked in the piece, is interesting. I have to look at this again, because despite the CO registering "hits" and probable sinking, then having radio issues, the KM doesn't actually know of the loss until days later via human sources.

A washout year on a 6-7 year part-time process is not the end of the world, all the more so if you have a break to see how the next year works out with schedules, headspace, motivation and excitement. I'd see where things are mid-2026.

YouTube video by Bundeswehr Nachgefragt: Kapitän Ottmüller über das neue Flugzeug der Deutschen Marine | Bundeswehr

Quite a substantive interview on the introduction of the P-8 into the German navy:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K7N...

Most losses will come from catastrophic single ship incidents rather than being aggregated across the fleet and time. Their point about the disproportionate impact on naval base areas and communities is something I had not thought about directly, but one can see how this would be an issue.

Preparing for Mass Casualties at Sea For the first time in more than 80 years, the U.S. Navy could face one or more peer competitors who seek the destruction of U.S. maritime forces.

A short, though important piece because the dynamics of naval losses aren't examined or discussed much.

"information today is instantly disseminated; the loss of a ship could quickly sway international and domestic opinion."

www.usni.org/magazines/pr...

Are we discriminating against Motor Launches here!

Pink Lists yes. Though if we are only talking down to destroyer or escort level it might well be that the numbers are in the official campaign write up. I don't have my copy here so can't check that.

bsky.app/profile/cong...

UK defence secretary sends warning to Putin over submarines John Healey says the UK is hunting Russian submarines as BBC News joins him on board a new RAF aircraft.

"30% rise in Russian vessels threatening UK waters"

The what, how and timeframes are vague, but its clear incursions are up. The 🇬🇧🇳🇴🇩🇪 P8 cooperation, well its shaping up to be more than that and there is a direction of travel towards close integration, is good.

www.bbc.com/news/article...