B. A. Friedman
@bafriedman.bsky.social
Amphibious Warfare, Strategy, and Clausewitz.
CLE expat. Malevelon Creek veteran. Substack: https://bafriedman.substack.com/
CLE expat. Malevelon Creek veteran. Substack: https://bafriedman.substack.com/
Reposted by B. A. Friedman
My 15 minute collapse as I discussed U.S. Shipbuilding this Thanksgiving.
It is not pretty...but then again, so is U.S. government shipbuilding.
It is not pretty...but then again, so is U.S. government shipbuilding.
November 27, 2025 at 5:20 PM
My 15 minute collapse as I discussed U.S. Shipbuilding this Thanksgiving.
It is not pretty...but then again, so is U.S. government shipbuilding.
It is not pretty...but then again, so is U.S. government shipbuilding.
The Navy is just going to go all in on buying unmanned surface vessels for the next few years, realize they have no way to deploy or sustain them, and then realize that amphibs can already do that and come crawling.
November 27, 2025 at 12:52 AM
The Navy is just going to go all in on buying unmanned surface vessels for the next few years, realize they have no way to deploy or sustain them, and then realize that amphibs can already do that and come crawling.
We are a great country that can do great things like fight a war and invent a banger steak sauce simultaneously.
November 27, 2025 at 12:40 AM
We are a great country that can do great things like fight a war and invent a banger steak sauce simultaneously.
So much commentary on the Constellation cancelation is just “The FREMM isn’t up to US standards.”
My brother in Neptune the U.S. maritime industrial base isn’t up to U.S. Navy standards. No one is. THAT’S the problem.
My brother in Neptune the U.S. maritime industrial base isn’t up to U.S. Navy standards. No one is. THAT’S the problem.
November 26, 2025 at 1:35 AM
So much commentary on the Constellation cancelation is just “The FREMM isn’t up to US standards.”
My brother in Neptune the U.S. maritime industrial base isn’t up to U.S. Navy standards. No one is. THAT’S the problem.
My brother in Neptune the U.S. maritime industrial base isn’t up to U.S. Navy standards. No one is. THAT’S the problem.
If you think this is bad now, just wait for the Golden Fleet to really get going.
November 25, 2025 at 11:15 PM
If you think this is bad now, just wait for the Golden Fleet to really get going.
I applaud the Navy for innovatively streamlining their cancellation of boondoggles sooner in their lifecycle. Much improved over the LCS.
BREAKING: Navy Cancels Constellation-class Frigate Program, Considering New Small Surface Combatants — USNI News
news.usni.org/2025/11/25/n...
news.usni.org/2025/11/25/n...
Navy Cancels Constellation-class Frigate Program - USNI News
The Navy is walking away from the Constellation-class frigate program to focus on new classes of warships the service can build faster, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan announced Tuesday on social me...
news.usni.org
November 25, 2025 at 8:11 PM
I applaud the Navy for innovatively streamlining their cancellation of boondoggles sooner in their lifecycle. Much improved over the LCS.
Should have gone with the trebuchet model.
Mine clearance in the littoral. This brief video clip demonstrates the USMC Catapult Launched Fuel Air Explosive (CATFAE)
November 25, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Should have gone with the trebuchet model.
Threatening someone with a uniform inspection is the most POG shit I've ever heard in my life.
November 25, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Threatening someone with a uniform inspection is the most POG shit I've ever heard in my life.
Or it's that Congress has passed aid to Israel in appropriations acts for decades whereas support to Ukraine is mostly tied to presidential authorities, making it both more episodic and easier for the executive to change.
November 24, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Or it's that Congress has passed aid to Israel in appropriations acts for decades whereas support to Ukraine is mostly tied to presidential authorities, making it both more episodic and easier for the executive to change.
He wants an app that can make fun of other people like other people make fun of him because he thinks they do that because they're smart but actually it's because he's a dork.
Everything about this might be the saddest thing I’ve ever seen
November 24, 2025 at 4:38 PM
He wants an app that can make fun of other people like other people make fun of him because he thinks they do that because they're smart but actually it's because he's a dork.
If the CMC showed up to work this morning and started implementing these “ideas,” he’d be fired by noon chow.
www.defenseone.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.defenseone.com/ideas/2025/1...
More is needed to turn the Marine Corps' aspirations into reality
If the force is truly to have balanced lethality and battlefield resiliency, it will need more ships, missiles, and money.
www.defenseone.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:37 PM
If the CMC showed up to work this morning and started implementing these “ideas,” he’d be fired by noon chow.
www.defenseone.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.defenseone.com/ideas/2025/1...
“Cut my life into pieces
This is my last resort
Excommunication, no pleading
Don’t give a fuck if the Curia’s scheming”
This is my last resort
Excommunication, no pleading
Don’t give a fuck if the Curia’s scheming”
November 23, 2025 at 4:49 AM
“Cut my life into pieces
This is my last resort
Excommunication, no pleading
Don’t give a fuck if the Curia’s scheming”
This is my last resort
Excommunication, no pleading
Don’t give a fuck if the Curia’s scheming”
Reposted by B. A. Friedman
I think this new American Revolution documentary would be much better if the producers bothered to find some actual footage of the revolution instead of just reading letters and showing paintings. Just my two cents
November 22, 2025 at 6:26 PM
I think this new American Revolution documentary would be much better if the producers bothered to find some actual footage of the revolution instead of just reading letters and showing paintings. Just my two cents
She’s a looker. Weatherly, stiff and fast… very fast.
Type 076 amphibious assault carrier Sichuan has returned to builder Hudong in Shanghai today at 5 pm local time. The ship spent three days at sea on her first trial.
All images via Chinese Navy media account/X.
All images via Chinese Navy media account/X.
November 22, 2025 at 12:20 AM
She’s a looker. Weatherly, stiff and fast… very fast.
Reposted by B. A. Friedman
Amazing to look at this and realise there's 16th, 17th, 19th, 20th and now 21st century military "stuff" visible
November 21, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Amazing to look at this and realise there's 16th, 17th, 19th, 20th and now 21st century military "stuff" visible
Now that is a FITREP bullet.
OK Marines, I have to hand it to you, this is perhaps the most Marine story I have ever heard.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faustin...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faustin...
Faustin E. Wirkus - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 21, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Now that is a FITREP bullet.
Reposted by B. A. Friedman
Have you heard the story of the tyranny of Darth Pacificanus the Distant?
I thought not, it's not a story CENTCOM would tell you
I thought not, it's not a story CENTCOM would tell you
November 21, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Have you heard the story of the tyranny of Darth Pacificanus the Distant?
I thought not, it's not a story CENTCOM would tell you
I thought not, it's not a story CENTCOM would tell you
Reposted by B. A. Friedman
Nov. 21, 1925: President and Mrs. Coolidge attend a football game pitting the Marines against the Army base at Fort Benning, Ga., at Washington. The Marines win, 20-0, to capture the President’s Cup.
November 21, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Nov. 21, 1925: President and Mrs. Coolidge attend a football game pitting the Marines against the Army base at Fort Benning, Ga., at Washington. The Marines win, 20-0, to capture the President’s Cup.
I’m at my kid’s elementary school Math Fun Night and none of this is fun.
November 20, 2025 at 11:28 PM
I’m at my kid’s elementary school Math Fun Night and none of this is fun.
Wait the Coast Guard is in trouble?
November 20, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Wait the Coast Guard is in trouble?
Reposted by B. A. Friedman
excuse me only Beatrix Kiddo can do this
November 20, 2025 at 3:40 PM
excuse me only Beatrix Kiddo can do this
Preach
November 19, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Preach
I strongly agree with ol' G Dub here. The Army can't do it.
Nov. 19, 1775: Gen. Washington writes to Congress warning that their recent decision to raise two battalions of Marines will “entirely derange” his Army if the officers and men are taken from there. He urges recruitment be done in Philadelphia so as not to cannibalize his strength in Massachusetts.
November 19, 2025 at 5:19 PM
I strongly agree with ol' G Dub here. The Army can't do it.