Raw Intel

Most people do not realize that one of the largest Pacific nation, if you measure by territorial seas, is France. She has a lot to lose in a world where fleets of hundreds of Chinese fishing boats in fleet movements go from place to place, strip mining already stressed fishing resources. French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday France and South Pacific nations would launch a South Pacific coastguard network to counter "predatory" behaviour, which an adviser said was aimed at illegal fishing, as China expands its maritime reach. The United States and allies including France, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, are actively expanding their activity in the Pacific…

Midrats regulars and all sound thinking navalists rejoiced earlier this year when one of our favorites were offered the honor to serve once again - in this case one of our favorite guests and all around great guy, Mark R. Vandroff, Captain, USN Ret. Mark found himself back in the mix with his appointment as Deputy Assistant to the President, Senior Director, Defense Policy and Strategy at the National Security Council. Just in time for the holiday season, Mark will come visit us this Sunday from 5-6pm to talk about his experience so far at the NSC, the NSC in general, and other related topics that may come up in the process. A 1989 graduate of the United States Naval A…

Those who are selling a short, fast, and successful war are selling a lie. It seems every generation thinks they have found a way to fix the problem. Over and over, from Europe in 1939 to Europe again in 2022, the quick and successful war that was briefed devolved into a consuming slog. You can win a consuming slog, but you have to be able to mobilize and industrialize your way through it—and you need to start doing that years before the war starts. The fleet that showed up in 1943 did not start in 1941—it began in 1936, 1938, and 1940. A decade and a half after President Obama’s “Pacific Pivot”, we still talk a big game about being ready for the next Great Pacific War w…

I think it is more than reasonable to be mad, frustrated, angry, or sad at this sad end, at least for now, to a story no one wants to hear. Via Salvador Rizzo over at WaPo. Retired Adm. Robert P. Burke, who was convicted of corruption offenses after a four-decade military career in which he rose to become the Navy’s second-highest-ranking officer, was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison, days after the trial of the tech executives who were accused of bribing him ended with a hung jury. Burke served as vice chief of naval operations from 2019 to 2020, overseeing personnel, training and education for the branch’s nearly 400,000 uniformed members. The Portage, Michigan,…

Those who follow me on X know what is coming up. It predates by years the Russo-Ukrainian War for reasons we will dive into later. We are surrounded by error, but specifically here, the habit of NATO, Eurocrats, earnest North Americans, politicians, military personnel, media, and civilians trying to sound serious in the national security arena, constantly looking towards Russia in the east and calling it NATO’s eastern flank. I’m sorry, I don’t care how many times you say it, it simply isn’t. It is NATO’s eastern front. After an exchange earlier this month with The Economist’s (and Midrats Podcast alumnus) Defence Editor Shashank Joshi, I decided I needed to put this out…

Can two men who on one day are doing their best to kill each other also hold each other not just with respect, but to become friends? Most American students of WWII know the name Luftwaffe General-Lieutenant Adolph Galland. Though most Brits know him - for Americans, Royal Air Force Group Captain Douglas Bader may not sound all that familiar. What a remarkable story about the unexpected friendship between two remarkable men. Though you should really watch the whole thing, he was brought on to "This is Your Life" and at the 27-min mark, they brought in his friend Adolph ... which is remarkable when you consider who was brought in before him ... all getting along grandly n…

The war is only 10 months old and two months after the defeat at the Battle of Savo Island. The night action of 10-11 OCT, sometimes know as the Second Battle of Savo Island - but usually as The Battle of Cape Esperance, is an excellent example of the critical importance of training, flexibility, initiative, and aggression - combined with a measure of luck. Luck is always essential, as even the most simple plans become complicated once the battle begins. First background. DIVISION 6 of the Imperial Japanese Navy was pretty pleased with itself following its engagement with the Americans off Savo the night of August 8-9, and perhaps with reason. The Japanese felt that they …

The India/Burma theater is mostly forgotten by those who study WWII. In a quick skim, many will at least read a bit about Imphal ... but what about the Battle of Kohima? Here's just a brief taste ... read the whole thing and the links to more detail. What an incredible battle by a combined force. First posted in March of 2017. View the full article

Some days - fullbore is just staying alive. It doesn't happen by accident; it takes you knowing your equipment, your procedures - and most importantly, your ability to think and act without delay. It also takes your Shipmates - known and unknown - who know their business.One of those days for Crusader pilot Cliff Judkins. Don't stop now - read it all.Hat tip SJS. First posted in JUL 2012 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=wouIm5jLdlQ:NDgCLInmsXs:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=wouIm5jLdlQ:NDgCLInmsXs:-BTjWOF_DHI …

Thank goodness for the internet archive via Way Back Machine. The links to fleetsubmarine.com are dead today, but viw WBM, we can still get them. As such, I’m going to repost this little FbF just so everyone can get what used to be. So, like WWII submarines? This fits for a very good find from reader Steve - it’s all so Fullbore, I can’t pick just one. All the submarine reports Historic Naval Ship Association from S-11 to USS Diablo. At the end of each war patrol of WW II, submarine commanders created a report on the patrol. These reports were used as the raw material to inform intelligence, improve tactics, evaluate commanders, etc. During WW II, over 1,550 patrol rep…

What were we told in the early years by those put in leadership with responsibility for stewardship of our nation’s security? “We have to fight them over there, or we will have to fight them over here.” Even that was made a lie. This last week, the failure of our nation’s elite in leadership and vision required another child sacrifice, just as it did at Abbey Gate. You weren’t even born yet when the attacks of 9/11 took place. You weren’t even of legal driving age when your nation was defeated in Afghanistan by a loosely organized tribal society, and forced into a humiliating retreat from Kabul. You weren’t even of legal drinking age when—in the shadow of the Army & …

While following a series of posts on X by Dr. Phil Weir about the last couple of decades’ struggle in the Royal Navy’s frigate programs, I remembered a 2011 post of mine about the 2011 foolishness in Libya that, in a way, read like an OG FbF ... and figured, let's bring the story of HMS Liverpool (D92), a little more than a year before her decommissioning to the Front Porch so we can see the proper use of a main gun for all the new readers. Often here we have comments about how, "nAvAl GunZ uR oBSolEt3" ... well, of course they are not — as the recent events in the Red Sea against attack drones proved. Let's head off the coast of Libya ... and do so with a 2011 mindset; …

From 12–25 August 1920 there was one of the more important battles of modern history that is relatively unknown out of the country the battle took place in. It is a story of audacity in th eface of incredible odds by a nation only reborn less than two years earlier against an equally younger malignancy. The Battle of Warsaw; The Polish-born and much feared head of the Cheka (Bolshevik secret police), Feliks Dzierzinsky, was made head of a Polish Revolutionary Committee, which would follow the Red Army and form the new government. Lenin was absolutely confident of success. Initially all went well, and within six weeks the Red Army was at the gates of Warsaw. But as the Po…

Five years ago, an exceptional American Army NCO from WWII passed away, Technician 5th grade (E4) from the 103rd Infantry Division, awarded the Bronze Star by the USA and Légion d'honneur from France. He lived 102 years, and with him passed the last war chief of the Crow Tribe. A great American, Joe Medicine Crow; According to Crow tradition, a man must fulfill certain requirements to become chief of the tribe: command a war party successfully, enter an enemy camp at night and steal a horse, wrestle a weapon away from his enemy and touch the first enemy fallen, without killing him. Joe Medicine Crow was the last person to meet that code, though far from the windswe…

Elmer Royce Williams, Captain, USN (Ret.). Every Naval officer should know his name, but few do. He was born in 1925, and he is still with us. What a story. Imagine you are just your standard-issue U.S. Navy fleet Lieutenant in your late 20s. You missed the big war, but you are ear deep in the next one, the Korean War. You know, on paper at least, you are flying a plane outclassed by your opponent. Doesn’t matter. Then one day you find yourself facing not just a better aircraft—but outnumbered by them. To make it even worse, you find out after the merge that you are not facing the JV team, but the varsity. Before it is all said and done, you finish what has been called, "…

The Falkland Island War. 1982. HMS COVENTRY (D118) from peacetime to sinking. First things first; don't let the fact this was 43 years ago fool you. Even though it is as far away from today as the events below were to the start of WWII in Europe, from a technology standpoint, the fundamentals are the same and the challenge is greater. There are two big takeaways from this story that still require our attention today. From the outstanding Sea of Fire that you will find at the bottom of the post, this story should be seen by anyone who goes to sea. I want you to focus on two things though. Two things, IMAO, that get fairy-dusted, happy-talked, best-cased, and downright i…

In our 21st century minds, it is easy to forget that 250 years ago, residents of the 13 Colonies had only a vague concept of themselves as ‘Americans’ and of America as a nation. They were, before anything, residents of their colony/state. Indeed, in less than a century, this concept had become so strong that it was one of the issues over which we fought our Civil War. Any yet, just over a month after the 13 Colonies declared their independence, at the southern end of Long Island in New York, a few hundred men from Maryland and Delaware, part of an Army led by a Virginian fighting in a revolution started by New Englanders stood in front of a massive host of British and Ge…

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jMxlWqNjWjs/U1nIwXMMBjI/AAAAAAAAIJ4/839fmIwW8yk/s320/Galanti-portrait-Newswk-cap.jpgI bumped into a post I did over six years ago on the passing of one of our greats. Phyllis. Thought I'd repost today ... because, she deserves it. Circumstances display character. Character comes often from places least expected - unless of course you know the best of military spouses; She said in a Richmond News Leader interview in 1971 that while Galanti was a POW, she just “wanted to be a housewife.” She wanted to “sink into oblivion” when he returned. By 1969, she had become active with other POW wives. In 1970, the wives group became the National Leag…

There is no such thing as a "normal watch," especially on Nov. 22, 1975 onboard the USS BELKNAP (CG-26); We were on plane guard. They put us on a plane guard because their TACAN was down. We had been making this same maneuver to port eight or nine times a day – from the start of the turn to completion was 3600 yards. This time we made a turn to starboard. I’ve read the investigation report, so even though I was down in the fire room, I’ve since come to know what happened up on the bridge. With the lights of the carrier looking the same, there was confusion, and miscommunication, and we made a right-hand turn this time, and the arc was half of what it had been for the last…

If CWO5 Eric Slover did not not exist, I don’t know if a writer would be able to create him. At this week’s State of the Union speech, two people were awarded the Medal of Honor for actions almost 75 years apart. The first was Elmer Royce Williams, Captain, USN (Ret.)., who we covered a month ago for his actions in the Korean War that had to be kept secret for so long. The second saw a much quick turnaround for actions in the capture of Maduro in Venezuela. I don’t think I need to add more. Attention to Citation: Chief Warrant Officer Five Eric A. Slover distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity, above and beyond the call of duty, on January 3, 2026,…