BREAKING NEWS: Massive shipbuilding changes in DC. None of them good.

@gCaptain has confirmed from a White House source that Trump has closed the shipbuilding office at the NSC.

Reuters reports that Ian Bennitt, the President’s Special Assistant for Shipbuilding at the White House, has been fired.

Favored candidates for Provost and Superintendent positions at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy have received denial notices.

At a recent USNI shipbuilding conference, it became clear: major shipbuilding primes are actively fighting plans to expand commercial shipbuilding.

Sources inside the Pentagon say Admirals and SES are digging in their heels on several key shipbuilding objectives.

Some Jones Act companies now expressing fear that building new ships could devalue their current fleets.

Congressional sources say progress on the SHIPS Act is stalling in committee.
It’s also unlikely the new Commandant will be confirmed before the August break.

We’ve confirmed that the French billionaire who offered to invest $20B in U.S. shipping sent a letter to Trump saying he’s not getting the support he needs to move forward.

The U.S. Coast Guard is slashing cutter orders left and right.

Reports from my sources in Korea say the new far-left, pro-China president is chilling U.S.-Korean shipyard cooperation.

Nobody has seen or heard from @SecDuffy’s new acting Maritime Administrator.

The plan to centralize shipbuilding under the Department of Commerce is apparently stalled or stalling.

I spoke with half a dozen senior sources in DC—every single one is frustrated.

Yes, there’s still optimism around @SECNAV’s commitment to shipbuilding but his plate is full with emerging priorities

Not a single Admiral has publicly supported the SHIPS Act or the White House’s “Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance” plan.

Deadlines are being missed or pencil-whipped on the Maritime Executive Order, and with the NSC shipbuilding office closing, no one knows how the next deadline will be met.

Zero follow-through on Trump’s State of the Union promise to open a dedicated White House shipbuilding office.

New intel confirms more Navy shipbuilding delays, including further slippage in carrier programs.

Despite Trump requesting her resignation, the rogue U.S. delegate to the @IMOHQ still attended last month’s meeting, compromising U.S. objectives. @michaelgwaltz’s confirmation as UN ambassador is still not scheduled.

A Panama Canal pilot confirms U.S. military ships are still paying for transits, and @Michael_Yon confirms that China’s bridge over the canal is still under construction.

New Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea point to a failure of massive US bombing (first revealed during signalgate) to reopen the Red Sea.

It’s been 252 days since the election, and not a single new ship has been ordered.

Still no updates on public hearings into Biden-era maritime disasters, including the Gaza Pier and Baltimore Bridge.

The Baltimore Bridge removal is delayed another 9 months, and retrofits to prevent future bridge strikes around the nation are postponed.

Still zero word from @PeteHegseth on fixing the Army Corps of Engineers, the agency responsible for inland rivers and dredging.

What am I missing? The number of panicked and/or depressed calls I’ve received from DC in the last few days is unreal.

I’m struggling to find a silver lining. For background listen to @mercoglianos and I on the @CavasShips podcast last week

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cav…

USCG hero Scott Ruskan saved 165 lives this week.

But few realize the Rescue Swimmer program that made this possible was born from tragedy, made possible by three men history has forgot.
🧵

In 1983, the WWII-era cargo ship Marine Electric sank in freezing Atlantic waters.

Of the 34 men aboard, 31 died—many seen clinging to wreckage, slowly succumbing to hypothermia as Coast Guard helicopters circled above.

They could see the men.
But they had no one trained to jump in.

The real mystery with the Mexican Navy tall ship ARM Cuauhtémoc isn’t what went wrong, we know the engine was likely stuck in reverse.

It’s why the tugboat wasn’t tied up.

I spoke with a New York Harbor pilot and a tug captain near the scene.

Here’s what we know 🧵👇

https://twitter.com/johnkonrad/status/1923947432947118436

This is important because the ship only has a small 1,125 horespower Auxiliary engine installed.

The Tugboat Charles D. McAllister is 58 years old but was repowered in 2007 with two CAT 3512 engines with 2,800 horespower.

mcallistertowing.com/our-fleet/char…

Here’s my thread on what we know so far. For notes I have been a competitive sailor and I am licensed to captain ships of any size but I have not sailed tall ships. 🧵

https://twitter.com/nova_campaigns/status/1923934572732899382

First of all this photo confirms there were Mexican Navy’s Cadets on the highest yardarms.

The incident happened at 8:30PM with current traveling upriver.

Currents aren’t strong but it’s only 1.5 hours after low tide so they were still building and hadn’t reached maximum which happens approximately 3 hours after low tide.

Average maximum current at the bridge is usually 2-3 knots.

What can you tell me about the current in the east river at nine pm may 17th based on this data

Nothing in my 18 years since founding gCaptain has caused more panic than @USTradeRep’s recent proposal to charge companies that own Chinese ships $1 million per port call in the US.

USTR held hearings on the fees and today issued major modifications. 🧵 The biggest problem was the original port fees proposed by Trump late February was there were ship size and type agnostic.

All Chinese built ships would be charged $1.5 million per port and $1 million for any ship owned by a company that operates chinese built ships.

When something goes wrong, the experts say, “Wait for the report.”

Let’s be real—you won’t remember or care in a year but… this is a teaching moment.

So here’s a 🧵 on possible causes: 👇

https://twitter.com/gcaptain/status/1899114687905878461

First we have to define what type of incident it is.

We say incident instead of accident because we can’t rule out foul play.

This is also not a collision. It’s an Allision. A collision is between two moving objects, an allision is 1 moving and 1 fixed

gcaptain.com/maritime-word-…

This post is going viral, and I’m getting a lot of questions about whether a Marine could be appointed as the next Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) and who’s actually in the running.

Could a Marine Be the Next CNO?

Here’s a 🧵 on who it might be

https://twitter.com/johnkonrad/status/1893663977130832166

General Heckl would be a great choice but a marine is highly unlikely. The CNO has always been a Navy admiral. General Karsten Heckl is retired—he could technically be called up, but it’s a long shot.

While predicting the next CNO is tricky, here are the names that keep coming up among insiders—ranked by likelihood.

Now that @shashj has blocked me, accused me of alchemy and called our VP a racists against Indians gloves are off.

Here’s 🧵with my thoughts on his “masterful” rebuttal to @JDVance Like most articles he’s written for @TheEconomist hi post is a masterclass in the kind of self-deluded, pseudo-strategic thinking that has kept Ukraine locked in an unwinnable war with dwindling resources, mounting casualties, and zero path to victory.

It cherry-picks facts, ignores strategic realities, and engages in outright fantasy when it comes to U.S. and European support.

Sad to see America’s most beautiful ship—the fastest ocean liner ever—towed to her final resting place.

But see that tall tugboat leading the way? That’s Capt. Mike Vinik, my good friend. He rescues vintage tugs 🧵

Mike is a legendary in New York Harbor—all agree he’s nicest guy you’ll meet, an unusual trait on this notorious waterfront.

A volunteer firefighter, rescue diver, & a man who put himself through New York Maritime while restoring old fire trucks. Some people just live to serve.

Charlie Kirk is on fire supporting @ElbridgeColby, and for good reason. There’s no shortage of editorials on why he matters for DoD policy and planning.

But they’re missing seven CRITICAL points🧵 This is a HUGE appointment.

Most people don’t realize just how big this is. Colby’s appointment is happening before ANY military service secretaries—right after heavyweights like Tulsi & RFK.

That tells you everything about how important this job- DoD Policy & Planning- is

This is blowing up, but most don’t get why the U.S. fell behind in shipbuilding—or the massive forces keeping it that way.

Here’s a 🧵 breaking it down. I have to tread carefully and keep this at 10,000 feet, but hopefully some flesh them out in the comments

https://twitter.com/johnkonrad/status/1891359854440157653

The first thing that must be questioned is the conventional wisdom: seablindness & apathy

J is spot on. The U.S. Navy is laying up 17 ships—not just from a manpower shortage, but from idiotic regulations that trace back to the UN

And that’s just the start.

How the UN is Sabotaging the U.S. Military’s Global Reach: 🧵

https://twitter.com/jdlbmd/status/1890730513733709875

The U.S. Navy is laying up 17 ships, and @IMOHQ is a big reason why.

Worse, the UN has crippled our ability to deliver aviation fuel—jeopardizing carrier ops and forward USAF refueling bases.

Our Achilles’ heel? Logistics. And the Navy let the UN tighten the noose.

The War is Won - Now Secure the Victory.
As we watch men battle for yards, we must remember that for decades, the Uniparty ruled unchecked, masquerading as patriots while surrendering American sovereignty piece by piece.

Here’s how 🧵 They gave us the Bushes, the Cheneys, the Clintons—families who waved the flag in public but bent the knee in private. They told you to accept managed decline. They stole from you, sent your money overseas, and lined the pockets of their friends and relatives.

Now that we’re finally allowed to talk about conspiracies and USAID—can we talk about the CIA moving gold on ships?

Can we talk about how, before WWII, nearly every village in China had a gold Buddha filled with gems, serving as the local bank?

Can we talk about how the Japanese looted them all and launched a massive sealift operation to stash them in the Philippines?

Or how a farmer found ONE of these Buddhas—only for Ferdinand Marcos to steal it?

Or how a U.S. court valued that SINGLE Buddha at $22 BILLION in 1998?

Or how, if that one Buddha had been invested in the S&P 500, the farmer would be richer than @elonmusk today?

Can we talk about how Google raided libraries and archives, scanning every book to track it down?

Can we talk about how certain tech firms used this knowledge to leverage the US Government and CIA to work for them?

Or how most of that gold is STILL buried in the Philippines—
And how Taiwan is a distraction while China builds a massive Navy to take it back?

Or how at least one of the CIA’s secret ship registries was accidentally exposed in the USAID data dump?

Or how the CIA funded a History Channel program about all this—to paint anyone searching for the truth as a nutcase?

Or how the co-founder of Jeff Bezos’ starship company wrote a bestselling “fiction” book about this gold becoming the world’s Bitcoin reserve—nine years before Satoshi Nakamoto launched Bitcoin?

Or how I know American ship captains who have moved some of this gold?

Or how there are connections I can’t talk about?

Are we allowed to talk about that yet?

🤪 And definitely don’t read these this nonfiction book

amzn.to/3Q9hOs3

I’ve seen wild things as a ship captain & maritime reporter—USAID & CIA stories that’d turn your hair white. I don’t have a death wish, so I stay quiet…

Unless it’s about USAID & Democrat graft. So, F it.

It all started with a call from a man—let’s call him Derick 🧵 Full disclosure: I’m adding fictional details. Why? Because it’s the CIA—you gotta give them an out, a way to deny involvement.

Consider this their out.

Also, this was over a decade ago, and I didn’t take notes for obvious reasons… so this is all from my faulty memory.

Wow. Wow.

Completely false narrative.

This is insane. I have been saying @ezraklein is THE most reckless journalist in THE most dangerous media organization all election. This cements it.

Here’s proof 🧵

https://twitter.com/josheakle/status/1886984147803250691

So just over 24hours ago @JDVance said the administration is going to move even faster

@JackPosobiec was the first I saw report it 23hrs ago

https://twitter.com/jackposobiec/status/1886877482491515246

Why Can’t Politico Make Payroll Without USAID?

More importantly: Could this be the start of a 2008 type collapse—not for Wall Street, but for NGOs and media organizations? 🧵

https://twitter.com/adamscrabble/status/1887001251168047458

To be clear, I don’t have insight into Politico’s financials.

But if they don’t collapse, other NGOs and grant recipients might.

Here’s why.

I opened my NYTimes app today. They’re trying, but they can’t keep up. News that broke just hours ago is already off the homepage.

THIS IS CRUCIAL

The entire liberal deep state command and control system is broken. Let me explain 🧵

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1886877482491515246

The NYTimes’ primary function isn’t journalism. It’s narrative coordination—setting the frame so the entire political-media machine knows how to think about an issue before it takes off.

Ever notice how, overnight, everyone starts saying “Biden is sharp as a tack” or “JD Vance is weird”?

It’s not random. It’s a system.

I’m friends with a military helicopter pilot who set up the rotary component of Operation Noble Eagle, (the layered air defense system to secure DC after 9/11)

I write books about transportation incidents (mostly ships)

Here’s what he told me with a breakdown for laymen 🧵 Here’s the PART 1 of his full comment to me.

(I’ll break each component in subsequent posts.)

“It's a 100' AGL hard ceiling for rotorcraft and DCA air traffic control is locked on. Extremely high levels of situational awareness in that chunk of airspace. Many swiss cheese holes have to line up for this to happen. As a former NTSB aircraft accident investigator, I am fighting an immediate bias towards likely human error. A buddy on scene reached out earlier and sounds really rough. Tragic but immediate proximity of SAR assets is about as helpful as one could hope for.

It’s a travesty that Navy Admirals ditched the wool pea coat.

Not just a blow to tradition—it’s a risky move if we expand operations in Greenland. But I think I know why.

A 🧵on why the Navy is no longer cool (or warm without its pea coats)

https://twitter.com/jimlaporta/status/1863340628563935469

When I joined the Navy in 1995, camo was banned off base and aboard ships.

That changed when the Navy shifted to supporting the Army in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now? Sailors can even wear camo aboard the historic USS Constitution.

Times change—but should traditions?

What if America is already far wealthier than you can imagine?

What if taxes aren’t the only drag on revenue?

What if bureaucracy and monetary leaks are hidden taxes?

What if bureaucracy, foreign aid, financial accounting leaks and taxes are more about control than balancing budgets?

What if $36 of debt isn’t as insurmountable as it seems?

What if, after we eliminate them 🇺🇸 becomes vastly wealthier overnight?

What if American productivity was fully unleashed?

Not saying I believe all this but it’s 💯 important to ask ‘what if’ Part 2:

https://twitter.com/johnkonrad/status/1858191051820806512