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Reposted by Marcus Faulkner

Richard Dunley @redunley.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The latest episode of the #MaritimeMatters podcast is out. Jen Parker and I discuss today's news about the LHD propulsion issues, Chinese actions in the SCS, UK Aukus investment and much more. soundcloud.com/maritimematt... www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBEi...

soundcloud.com

Episode 45: LHD mechanical issues, Chinese aggression in the South China Sea, and UK Aukus investment

Maritime Matters Episode Title: LHD mechanical issues, Chinese aggression in the South China Sea, and UK Aukus investment In this episode of Maritime Matters Jennifer Parker (https://www.jennifer-par

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Mark Urban @markurban.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The USS Abraham Lincoln just arrived in Guam after more than 300 days deployed - a telling example of operational overstretch. In my latest Times Defence Decoded video I ask whether these ships have turned from a symbol of US might into one of its limitations www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTpr...

youtube.com

How America’s Aircraft Carrier Crisis Reveals A Military Decline

YouTube video by The Times

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Reposted by Marcus Faulkner

Alex Luck @alxluck.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

"...a wider 2027 defense budget proposal totaling approximately 8.07 trillion Argentine pesos (roughly $5.3 billion) (...) remains outpaced by domestic inflation recorded between budget cycles." The glass remains near empty for Argentinian defence deals. www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2...

navalnews.com

Argentina Eyes New Submarines and Frigates

Argentina plans to acquire three submarines and two frigates under its 2027 budget, aiming to rebuild critical capabilities and secure financing.

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Marcus Faulkner @marcusfaulkner.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

A very surprising and equally welcome present arrived on my desk yesterday. Getting a hardcopy of The U-Boat War in slipcase and with annexes must be one of my prized possessions now.

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Yevgeniy Golovchenko @golovchenko.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

How many shadow fleet vessels cross Denmark? We have identified *at least* 192 unique tankers in the first 3 months of 2026 in our upcoming report by Sofia Steensma Tedder, @lilleberlin.bsky.social and myself with support from @sitestockholm.bsky.social. Stay tuned for more info in the final report

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Alex Luck @alxluck.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Courtesy of a commission for the Gulf Defence Industry Initiative (GDII) I have written a brief analysis via @navalnews.com regarding Pakistan's Hangor-class submarines, and related operational and industrial implications for Islamabad. www.navalnews.com/features/202...

navalnews.com

Pakistan's Hangor-Class And Naval Strategic Sovereignty

An outline of how Pakistan's acquisition of the Chinese Hangor-class submarines will evolve operational posture and strategic sovereignty.

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The Crusader Project @crusaderproject.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

#OTD 7 Sep 1941, HM/Sub Thunderbolt kicked off a five-day killing spree resulting in three lost Axis vessels, when it sank the Italian coastal steamer SS Sirena with the loss of seven crew. Sirena carried some German air force supplies from Tripoli to Bengasi. @rjhammond215.bsky.social

Lieutenant B J Andrew, RN (centre) with the crew of HM Submarine THUNDERBOLT and their 'Jolly Roger' flag. They had just returned from the Mediterranean to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS FORTH in Holy Loch, Scotland.
Date 27 March 1942
Source
This photograph A 8456 comes from the collections of the Imperial War Museums
(collection no. 4700-01)
Author Hampton J A (Lt) Royal Navy official photographer

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Bart⚓️ @bartgonnissen.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

1/x In December 1950, an American freighter with berths for 12 passengers loaded 14,000 refugees and carried them through a minefield to safety. Nobody died. Five babies were born. It remains the largest rescue by a single ship in history, and it ended on Christmas. A small 🧵 #maritimehistory

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Sarah Kirchberger @sarahkirchberger.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

⚓️🇷🇺“Deep in Arctic waters near the remote Svalbard archipelago this spring, NATO allies caught Russian subs training to unleash a secret weapon designed to disable critical undersea cables without leaving any fingerprints.”

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Centre for Statecraft & National Security @csns-uk.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

🏴‍☠️ Prof Alessio Patalano said one factor in increasing piracy is the slow circulation of shipping around the Gulf of Aden between Yemen and Somalia, adjacent to the Bab al-Mandab route, which is being used as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.

inews.co.uk

Trump's war in Iran is driving the worst wave of pirate attacks in decades

Reduced security, new shipping routes, and desperation are fuelling a rise in attacks

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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Reviewing the copy-edits for my new book (out in March 2027) global.oup.com/academic/pro...

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Marcus Faulkner @marcusfaulkner.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

The German navy has been taking a relatively innovative, and for its regime rapid testing, approach to containerised weapon and sensor/UCS payloads for surface combatants. As far as strike goes this is a step by from RBS15s.

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Marcus Faulkner @marcusfaulkner.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

The arrival of a US carrier for a port visit making it to a 'breaking news' story (on the app) on the BBC is noteworthy. Last time might well have been the Ronald Reagan arriving in HK in Nov 2018. Sure carrier visits are reported, but don't quite get headline place www.bbc.com/news/article...

bbc.com

USS Abraham Lincoln docks at Thailand's Pattaya resort after 250 days at sea

The USS Abraham Lincoln is docking close to Pattaya, known for its raucous nightlife, and for sex tourism.

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Marcus Faulkner @marcusfaulkner.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

The flagship issue is a bit awkward no matter if moving staff and more interoperability in the wider sense is a good development. It is a mask for a lack in numbers. A neat piece though and BFBS is getting good at reporting around defence & security issues. www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2uV...

youtube.com

Meet the British Nato commander hunting Russian threats in the High North

YouTube video by BFBS Forces News

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Justin Pyke @justinpykehistory.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

My next video for @milavhis.bsky.social is finally live! The 1931 bombing of Jinzhou is an obscure but interesting episode - a rogue Kwantung Army officer, improvised bombing methods, captured Chinese aircraft, and one of the first bombings of a city since the end of WWI. youtu.be/m_9ALx9C_0I?...

youtu.be

Jinzhou 1931: 11 Japanese Bombers, Angry Leaflets and a Shocked World

YouTube video by Military Aviation History

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Andrew Livsey @andrewlivsey.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Denmark is preparing to run convoys in the Baltic. My chapter 5 in press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/9... gives the six ways of protecting shipping with convoy the best. And my article in Survival explains how many Baltic convoys would be needed in war: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/GWQYQ...

press.armywarcollege.edu

Economic Warfare: A Foundation for Twenty-First-Century Strategic Practice

For over a decade and a half, concerns and tensions between states have been arising over the use of the economic domain in the peer-to-peer competition between large powers. Through this competition,...

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RUSI @rusi.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

'The greater survivability of the Chinese nuclear arsenal also has the potential to undermine US extended nuclear deterrence' write Robert Jordan, Director of Proliferation and Nuclear Policy, and Dr Sidharth Kaushal, Senior Research Fellow, Sea Power in the latest RUSI Commentary.

rusi.org

The Maritime Leg of China's Naval Deterrent is Coming of Age

China's test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile on 6 July reveals that its drive to truly assure second-strike capability is maturing.

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Marcus Faulkner @marcusfaulkner.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

'Making distinctions among warfare types is becoming increasingly challenging and less important.' The threat to naval bases from multiple attack vectors has increased significantly with actual defences very much lagging behind. www.usni.org/magazines/pr...

usni.org

There Can Be No Sanctuary

Naval Mine Warfare Essay Contest—First Prize. Shallow-water mining could deny adversaries their staging harbors.

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Andrew Livsey @andrewlivsey.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

With economic warfare and attacks on shipping constantly in the news a new book that tackles both seems timely. Greg Kennedy, @annakbrinkman.bsky.social and Antulio Echevaria's edited Economic Warfare is now out and can be freely downloaded here: press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/9... 1/2

A book cover for Economic Warfare, with banknotes of various countries.

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Marcus Faulkner @marcusfaulkner.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Underway replenishment along with rescuing downed aircrew as firsts for uncrewed platforms in 2026.

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Sarah Kirchberger @sarahkirchberger.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

🔱🇳🇴🇩🇪🇨🇦 - Gute Darstellung der technischen und operativen Vorteile der Uboot-Kooperation von Norwegen, Deutschland und Kanada mit dem gemeinsamen Design #U212CD — MarineForum 🔗 marineforum.online/u212cd-kanad...

marineforum.online

U212CD – was Kanadas U-Boot-Entscheidung für die NATO bedeutet - marineforum

U212CD: Mit der Auswahl von ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) zum bevorzugten Bieter für das Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP) hat Ottawa eine Entscheidung getroffen, die über einen nationalen...

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Marcus Faulkner @marcusfaulkner.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Good outcome and has the potential to be very beneficial to 🇳🇴🇨🇦🇩🇪 in strategic, operational, industrial and political terms. If that is TKMS is able to get production up and if the RCN is able to bring in nearly as many boats in a generation than it has ever operated. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Canada orders 12 submarines from Germany in largest defence deal of its kind

Canada announced the multi-billion dollar deal with company TKMS just as PM Mark Carney headed to a major Nato summit.

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David @puca.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Not every day you see a photo of a Bear-F dropping a sonobuoy, while an F-35B sits off its wing. www.defenceimagery.mod.uk/fotoweb/albu...

Photo of F-35B off starboard wing of Bear-F.

A sonobuoy has just been dropped by the Bear-F and a drogue parachute is deployed from it.

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Marcus Faulkner @marcusfaulkner.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Too much remains open to say much. Bringing in more UVs is good. It depends if the Common Combat Vessels are more like FFs or Proteus. The problem with holding/scrapping a T45 successor is a gap that opens in terms of the RN having high end radar and AD/BMD at sea. www.bbc.com/news/article...

bbc.com

Frank Gardner: Navy plans reflect sea change in how wars are fought

The upcoming defence plan reflects rapid changes in drone warfare, our security correspondent writes.

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Marcus Faulkner @marcusfaulkner.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

If there is a genuine belief in a such an autonomous future then the changes would need to be far more radical than envisaged. The line between a paradigm shift in conceptualising maritime power and prevaricating on mustering the needed funding becomes porous. www.thetimes.com/article/84e1...

thetimes.com

Drones in, destroyers out of Keir Starmer’s defence investment plan

Andy Burnham has signed off on a deal that won’t replace Britain’s ageing fleet and diverts money into new tech

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Marcus Faulkner @marcusfaulkner.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Focus on the F126 end in the Rheinmetall stock decline shows limitations in how markets and media understand defence - it was the excuse not the reason. It had been overvalued for years and out of sync with what profits might be even with vastly expanded orders. www.cnbc.com/2026/06/25/r...

cnbc.com

Europe’s defense stocks are sliding again. Here’s what’s worrying investors

Rheinmetall and other European defense stocks fell for a second day, after Germany scrapped the F126 naval program, raising procurement concerns.

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Marcus Faulkner @marcusfaulkner.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Regardless of the current situation it does not take much imagination to see closing the Strait as Iran's default response to any situation in the wider region that runs counter to its interests and security concerns. This and the Red Sea experience changes maritime order in the 21st century.

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Marcus Faulkner @marcusfaulkner.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

"Frigates!" is the answer to any question. Naturally. Not just a 🇩🇰 phenomena. The acquisition plans of all Baltic navies are very top heavy and while yes there are requirements for NATO blue water escort and sub-surface contributions, of all theatres the Baltic lends itself to think creatively.

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Ryan Evans @ryanevans.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

How failures of policy, service stagnation, and readiness challenges led to the end of an empire in the crucible of war. Apropos of nothing, of course warontherocks.com/cascading-fa...

warontherocks.com

Cascading Failure: The Spanish Navy’s Reserve Squadron and the Tragedy of Unpreparedness

It is in long periods of peace that victories and defeats are prepared. Peace is the period for men of government, just as war is for men of action.

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Alex Luck @alxluck.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

We appear to have a new type of Chinese nuclear powered submarine on out hands. The most remarkable aspect about it is its construction at Jiangnan in Shanghai, in a dedicated new facility. A few additional remarks in a quick thread. www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2...

navalnews.com

New Mystery Submarine Signals China’s Rapid Undersea Expansion

China is launching submarines at a pace unmatched by any other nation. Its latest design, a distinctive and innovative vessel that dispenses with the traditional sail, marks another step in the evolut...

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Shashank Joshi @shashj.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Bored of waiting for the DIP? Try the Choose-Your-Own-DIP-Adventure simulator for UK defence spending trade-offs. An entertaining (and hopefully not too libellous) way to put Opus 4.8 through its paces. singular-faloodeh-dea45f.netlify.app

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Marcus Faulkner @marcusfaulkner.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

When is a LUCAS one way effector an aircraft, a military aircraft, a weapon or something else - all depends on which receiving terminal it has and on what price plan it is. Jokes aside an interesting glimpse at costs, buy in services and commercial actors in war. www.reuters.com/business/aer...

reuters.com

Exclusive: Pentagon spars with SpaceX over Starlink price hike during Iran war

As U.S. kamikaze drones guided by Elon Musk’s Starlink network began to make visible gains in the war against Iran, senior SpaceX officials reached a conclusion: The Pentagon should be paying more for...

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Justin Bronk @justin-br0nk.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

My latest on the UK’s purchase of GBU-53/B glide bombs for the RAF and the RN; and what it says about how best to increase effective combat mass to bolster UK and European ability to deter direct Russian aggression: www.rusi.org/explore-our-...

rusi.org

Order Missiles and Bombs to Increase European Combat Air Mass, Not Drones

The acquisition of glide bombs for the F-35B is a welcome and overdue way to efficiently increase practical UK combat air mass in a NATO context.

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Marcus Faulkner @marcusfaulkner.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

This seems like an ambitious timeframe to get a first domestic SSN into the water within a decade or less and would be outside of the prevailing experience of technology transfer and/or domestic nuclear submarine programmes. www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...

reuters.com

South Korea aims to launch first nuclear-powered submarine by the mid-2030s

South Korea will seek to launch its first nuclear-powered submarine by the mid-2030s, under a new programme aimed at countering North Korea's submarine-launched nuclear and missile threats, officials...

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