The US Coast Guard Expands
(GCaptain) In an unprecedented appeal to the private shipping sector, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) asking commercial-vessel operators to offer existing ships for lease or contract; a move aimed at rapidly expanding its fleet and asserting maritime sovereignty along America’s borders and key sea approaches.
As part of the newly published solicitation, the Coast Guard is seeking “logistics and mission support vessels” that can be integrated quickly into service to augment its current assets, particularly for command, control, and logistics support across a range of operational theaters, from the Caribbean to the Arctic.
According to David Smith, deputy program manager for in-service vessel sustainment at the Coast Guard, “the USCG [is] inviting the commercial sector to provide already built vessels that can be rapidly integrated into service. The Coast Guard is looking to augment its operational capacity with proven commercial platforms that can immediately strengthen national readiness.”
Who Cares about Tungsten?
(h/t Claudio) The Trump administration is hunting far and wide for tungsten, a vital niche mineral for the defense industry that has soared in price amid China’s intensifying export restrictions. In November, the administration signed a $1.1 billion tungsten deal with Kazakhstan, which closely followed mining company Almonty’s purchase of a large undeveloped tungsten project in Montana. Founded in Canada but relocating to the U.S.—which will ease its ability to supply the Pentagon—Almonty also owns a tungsten mine in South Korea that has attracted U.S. interest.
Despite a new U.S.-China trade truce, no tungsten or other critical minerals are flowing to the defense sector because Beijing has not lifted its 2024 ban on the export of dual-use items to U.S. military end users. “None of the November announcements altered or narrowed this prohibition, meaning that China’s military-end-use firewall remains firmly in place,” law firm Clark Hill said in a Nov. 24 research note.
Tungsten is a critical input for military-grade steel, aerospace components, munitions, and ground vehicle armor. Given its high density, the metal is used as a compact counterweight in missiles, aircraft, and helicopters, assisting stabilization and control. In the electronics of missile guidance systems, tungsten’s high-heat dissipation properties make it valuable for heat sinks. Tungsten alloys are used in projectiles to penetrate heavily fortified targets. Because of the metal’s extreme hardness and density, these projectiles can withstand the shock of high-speed impact without breaking.
By employing vertical integration at its mines, Almonty says it can strengthen the U.S. tungsten supply chain’s resilience. “We are positioning as one of the only Western-scale suppliers of tungsten,” CEO Lewis Black tells Aviation Week. “[Almonty] is on a clear path to further emerge as a trusted supplier to the U.S. defense industrial base,” he adds.
Rather than seeking government equity participation, as some mining companies have done, Almonty suggests that the Pentagon make transparent, market-based purchases of tungsten and other minerals whose prices are distorted by China’s dominant market position. “It’s not an easy problem. These niche metals are indispensable but difficult to mine and process for small markets,” Black says.
Bullet Points:
** The government has faced sharp criticism in the House of Lords after former First Sea Lord, Lord West of Spithead, warned that the Royal Navy’s attack submarine force has reached what he called “the worst state in my 60 years of service.” The debate, held on 8 December during a session on the Royal Navy Submarine Force, saw peers challenge Ministers over delays, shortages, and maintenance failures that have left the fleet struggling to meet operational commitments and to sustain the nuclear deterrent with acceptable resilience. Lord West delivered a stark assessment. He argued that years of underinvestment in dry docks, spares, engineering capacity, and recruitment had created a situation where the UK has often been able to deploy only one attack submarine at a time. “Some of the time, it has not had one at all,” he said. “That is pretty horrifying for a maritime nation of our stature.” (VM comment: What stature would that be? The Royal Navy has been relying on past glory for some time now.)
** Even a big mushroom cloud has a silver lining.
** The Florida chapter and the national headquarters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced Tuesday they plan to file a lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis. It comes one day after the governor declared CAIR a foreign terrorist organization.
** The Amish don’t need food stamps, and they have tons of children.
** VDH weighs in on smuggling, Congress, and Constitutionality.
Boat Storage Pro Tips – With EdB
Aid To Ukraine
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, there have been regular announcements of huge tranches of military aid to Ukraine. These are usually described as amounts of money sent to Kyiv. That’s not actually how this works.
Typically, since the lion’s share of this aid is coming from the United States, the actual arms and equipment come from American stockpiles and are then shipped to Ukraine. The money allotted goes to a defense contractor, which is then paid to produce new items for American inventories. The Ukrainians don’t get the money. Defense contractors right here in the United States do.
Most of the top defense contractors in the world are American. They include Lockheed, Raytheon, Northrop-Grumman, Boeing and General Dynamics. The remainder are overwhelmingly based in Western Europe. They include companies like BAE, which is actually owned by a consortium of American hedge funds.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, profits for these giant corporations have skyrocketed. Global military spending jumped 9% to a record $2.7 trillion in 2024. The world’s top 100 defense companies earned a record $679 billion in 2024, the highest level ever recorded since tracking began in 2002. The top five companies earned $214 billion, roughly one-third of which came from the top 100 arms companies.
As the conflict has dragged on, defense contractors have continued to hike the prices they charge for key weapons systems. It now costs the United States taxpayer more than $400,000 to replace each Stinger MANPAD sent to Ukraine. Not surprisingly, stocks of American arms manufacturers have surged during the conflict.
Since Russia’s invasion, the S&P Aerospace & Defence index has surged nearly 90 per cent, far outpacing the broader market’s gains. New defense-focused investment funds have mushroomed. There were only four such funds in 2022. There are now 27. Collectively, they manage assets exceeding $35 billion.
The picture gets even more disturbing when you take a look at who owns the top defense contractors. It turns out that all of them are owned principally by a handful of top U.S. capital investment firms:
- Vanguard Group, Inc.
- BlackRock, Inc.
- State Street Corporation
- Capital Research Global Investors
BlackRock’s net income for the twelve months ending September 30, 2025, was $6.096 billion.
Vanguard is a private firm and does not disclose profits publicly. Its total assets under management have increased more than tenfold in the roughly two decades since 2005. As of April 2025, they were worth $10.1 trillion. As vast as this sum is, it is still over two trillion U.S. dollars less than those held by BlackRock.
State Street’s annual revenue for 2025 is estimated at $13.86 billion.
Capital Research Global Investors is a private investment firm, so, like Vanguard, it does not disclose specific profit data. Its parent company, Capital Group, has total assets under management of $2.2 trillion.
National Suicide Spreadsheet
(h/t Ken & Claudio) China’s fertility rate isn’t just low — it has fallen off a cliff. It’s not because young Chinese “don’t love kids.” It’s because the system treats people like disposable batteries — charge them in their 20s, drain them by 35, toss them out by 40.
Welcome to China’s “35-year-old crisis.”
In today’s China, turning 35 isn’t a birthday. It’s a career death sentence. There’s a joke online: “Getting fired at 35 makes you old. Retiring at 60 makes you young.” Hit 35, and suddenly you’re “too old,” “too expensive,” “too risky.” You go from “asset” to “liability.” But the darker truth? Chinese companies don’t just fire 35-year-olds. They break them. They overload them with impossible KPIs. Exclude them from meetings. Humiliate them. Burn them out deliberately — because if you quit, they owe zero severance.
Look at Baidu. One of China’s supposed “crown jewel” tech firms just laid off 40% of an entire division. If even Baidu is discarding experienced engineers and product teams, what does that tell you? China isn’t moving up the value chain. It’s sliding down. And that’s why fertility is collapsing.
In a normal country, experience = value.
In China, experience = liability.
Corporate China wants: Low salaries, no family obligations, no complaints, no dignity, and infinite unpaid overtime. But here’s the side effect: If you fire everyone at 35, why would anyone under 35 dare get married or have kids? Mortgages cost money. Children cost money. So young people made the rational choice: Don’t marry. Don’t have kids. Marriage registrations reflect this collapse: Only 6.1 million couples married in 2024 — down 20% from 2023. That’s not a decline. That’s an implosion.
Identify the Ship:
1
Two views to aid you.
Identify the Aircraft
2
3
4
Parting Shot
My sister Catherine’s Brownie Recipe
End
1 is USS Oldendorf a Spruance-class destroyer.
1 – USS Oldendorf Spruance-class destroyer
2 – Italian Fiat G.80
3 – RAF Armstrong Whitworth Meteor NF.14 – The one pictured is the final one built
4 – RAF Lockheed Hudson
Exactly!
Parting shot; It’s great to see the legible cursive! Mrs W. Incorporated it into her H.S. curriculum back in the day. Now she’s corresponding with the GK’s through the mail.
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Recent studies show that the hand to eye coordination skill in cursive is beneficial for young boys, affecting further skills farther along.
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On the lines of the culinary arts, I’ve recently developed Chai tea in bulk. Trying to reduce coffee intake. A new friend keeps making big batches of quart sized favorites and has been loading me up each week. Chicken Green chili for starters. This week Gumbo. Im not asking what the meat is, lol.
My late sister, Catherine, would be 66 this year had she lived. She was part of a generation that could still write in cursive. I’m afraid that language expression is dying on the altar of whatever education gods (small g) wanted destroyed.
My wife wrote beautifully in cursive.
Then the brain surgery about 10 yrs ago.
She is thrilled that it has come back.
Mom wrote in beautiful cursive, Palmer method I believe she learned, as did we kids (when schools taught actual writing). I can still write it, albeit years of being from the old school of drafting and architectural printing (various styles depending), my cursive is now poor at best. But it’s like falling off a bike, just takes a little practice to regain the skill.
I tend to print because it’s more precise to me. I also type still about 70-80 wpm when I’m on it. I don’t write cursive that much either, but it does not mean that I don’t value it.
Me too, plus a little bit of flair, especially in architectural style…a certain panache not seen much these days.
I’m with you on the printing.
My dad sent me a letter in tech school and there was a funny story which I laughed at.
My roommate asked me what was funny so I passed him the letter.
After a few minutes he stopped reading and exclaimed “This isn’t typewritten!”
My dad had printed it and you’d think he used a K&E letter guide.
Geez…still have my K&E letter guide in the drafting supply box. Haven’t touched that in eons. Great story, my dad was the same, could always tell when he printed something.
Indeed. If you can’t read cursive, then you will never know if your printed copy of the U. S. Constitution is true and correct.
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Here’s just one current story.
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/education/schools/lake-worth-isd-takeover/287-2209b3fb-1cdf-4d5d-9451-5686d58ec846
Identify the Ship::
1. Spruance-class destroyer USS Oldendorf
Identify the Aircraft:
2. Fiat G.80-3
3. Night fighter variant of the Gloster Meteor
4. RAF Lockheed Hudson V
Well done Surly
“logistics and mission support vessels”
What kind of vessels would these be that are currently in commercial use?
“with a cummulative ceiling of $99,000,000.00.” They misspelled cumulative.
What does $99M get these days?
Aug 22, 2025 — The U.S. Army awarded Scale AI a $99.5 million research and development services contract that is expected to be completed in 2030.
Nov 20, 2025 — McLean, VA – Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH) today announced it was awarded a $99 million contract by the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift
I’m seeing a trend here.
I suspect that $99 million is an opener. They want these vessels to be able to ship a sea container on their decks because it contains the weapons package.
Ed is a man of integrity. I think the Coast Guard should equip his boat with a 30 caliber machine gun, and furnish ammunition. He could keep his waterways safe.
Between that and the ‘outfitted’ Hilux he’d be our go-to man on land and water. Always good to have friends with firepower…and a backhoe.
USGOV outfitted Hemingway’s fishing boat, which was named Pilar, with machine guns, gave him Thompsons and at least one BAR and ammo during WW2. It was a 38-foot customized Wheeler yacht he bought in 1934, named after the heroine in his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls and a nickname for his wife, Pauline. (don’t ask for whom the bell tolls)
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If they did it for Hemingway, they should do it for EdB (and me, of course).
And now I have a backhoe….
Shoot…shoulda bought that property next store instead…always a plus to have neighbors with heavy equipment.
ah…word sub…’next door’
I think they are looking for deep sea tugs and oil field support vessels,
but that’s just a guess. It’s the sort of stuff I’d be looking for if I were the
Coasties, with all of my professional expertise as a school bus driver…
– Kle.
Ocean going tugs are an excellent option, Kle. They tend to be spoken for regularly, and you don’t see them idling.
Leasing or modifying an offshore-oil rig support vessel is actually a really brilliant idea, truly thinking outside the box.
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Why?
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The hulls are designed for rough seas, to shed water, to put critical components way above the sea-surface.
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They are built to handle heavy helicopters, like the S-92 and others in that class, so flying Blackhawk variants or helos in that class will be easy (though have to carry it externally, no hangar space.
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They are equipped with cranes to unload supplies up to and including whole shipping containers.
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They are equipped already to handle a variety of small craft, from the universal RHIBs to fully enclosed lifeboats.
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They are also usually equipped to handle some sorts of underwater support, so they can function as buoy tenders or other such operations.
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They have large clear deck spaces for cargo or modular support systems, already, no, seriously, backup gen-sets in containers, whole air-pressure systems in containers and such, so containerized weapon systems isn’t that farfetched.
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The hull is built to heavy standards so minimal modifications would be needed to mount light weapons, up to 20mm systems. Lighter weapons like .50BMGs and some sort of 7.62mm guns, not a problem. Some hull designs are strong enough to serve as light ice-breakers.
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And they are very crew comfortable, and can carry passengers, too.
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Best yet, they are already designed for long-endurance voyages, and with the ability to transfer fuel.
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Gee, short of a heavy gun system, they already meet the requirements for a heavy USCG cutter. A bit slower, but much more stable and cheaper.
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Come to think of it, why isn’t the USN looking at this class of vessel? Much more capable than the LCS classes, while able to fulfill more duties than the LCS classes. Yes, a bigger target, a bit slower, but for COIN support and long term loitering, a much better fit.
They don’t meet battle damage standards, watertight compartments and shock standards, USUALLY. Neither are they burning Navy Distillate (fuel), and I expect that UNREP could be a problem.
Those support vessels do have lots of watertight compartments as they are designed to survive in the North Sea and other arctic areas where gas and oil exploration and recover is going on. Maybe not as many watertight compartments as an equivalent tonnage naval vessel, but they are tough hombres.
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The point about fuel is true, but if the support vessel is supporting smaller vessels like patrol boats, then the issue isn’t an issue. They make far more sense for low-level campaigns than the LCS classes.
Could the $99mm (mm-old school for million) be the max. level permitted by law for the position issuing the request for quote? Any roq for values above the $99mm would require a higher level of spending authority(ies).
MAkes sense.
I think that’s likely correct, Cletus.
Vanguard Group, Inc.
BlackRock, Inc.
State Street Corporation
Capital Research Global Investors
There is a guy on the internet who tracks ownership of almost everything. Seems these four companies (is ‘companies’ the right word for them??) own/control most everything!
https://www.youtube.com/@Iancarrollshow is the guy, I usually see a short of his now & then.
Yes, they own almost everything.
China’s 35-year-old crisis has been happening on this side of our western pond for quite some time, albeit at a somewhat older age. I myself got shafted thusly last year. Ageism, and all that. The kewl kidz think they know it all and for their purposes, it turns out that they’re right. Until things have to be made to actually work, then not so much. My nemesis recently got hisself caught with his pants down around his ankles, professionally speaking, and was escorted out of the building. Loss of pay, company car, and other emoluments. Possible revocation of library card. Unfortunately for him, old guys keep their contacts and hear things, and that started the cookie-crumbling. Oooopsie! Oh, well. Now there’s some talk of my rehabilitation. Not sure I want to at this point, but we’ll give it a listen.
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The moral of the story is, don’t be stepping over dollars to pick up dimes and always, always-always-always be networking.
X2
X3
Making things work. Quite. When I’m asked if I have my data backed up, I reply, “Yes, and I can read it with a candle”.
I worked for a battery manufacturer and watched the business shoot itself in the neck due to firing older workers ‘because they cost too much.’ How’s that working for you, Eveready? Gee, how’s the rechargeable battery business working for you, Eveready? How’s that manufacturing plant in Alachua County doing for you, Eveready? (Hint: Not good at all, they killed the business and the plant closed back in the late 1990s.)
Sometimes ‘cheap’ can be very expensive. I’m chasing some work in Latin America right now, and that is part of my pitch.
“…by a handful of top U.S. capital investment firms”: Uh, yeah, the exact reason why K-Street needs to be turned into a public park, get these bums off the government teat. Thinking these ‘firms’ are somewhere on PDJT’s “DOGE” list…which means it’ll get rough for him in the remaining term years…multiple impeachment attempts, going after family, etc. He will remain unfazed.
***
CAIR Lawsuit: Good luck with that, people (well, rational people) have ZERO sympathy for those types taking over wherever they land, hence why Denmark said “Not happening anymore, assimilate or leave”. You know DeSantis is spot on when the crybabies start whining…they know they are running an infiltration grift, and they know he knows, hence the hue and cry when called out for their locust behavior. Texas has something like 46 mosques built in the last few years, DeSantis is trying to get in front the swarm.
***
Pasted and copied the brownie/topping recipe cards…looks amazing…and has actual instructions, not “add ‘x’ “to handle”, whatever that means.
My sister is dead, so I can’t ask her what x is. Ok, I can “ask” but don’t expect an immediate answer.
MrsPaulM can decipher anything not quite specific that my engineer brain requires to do stuff.
Texas also declared them a terrorist organization.
Excellent, ‘pile on’ I say.
You can usually figure out what “add X” or (smudged instruction here) are by cross-referencing the hand-written instructions with ones found in a good cookbook or online.
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My go-to for translation services is either Allrecipes.com or my copy of the “Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook, 1956 edition.”
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Find a recipe equal to or close to, and it’s basically like debugging a program, go line-by-line and you can usually figure it out.
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I do new recipes the same way. See something interesting and if it’s not in the cookbook, go to the interwebs. Look at allrecipes and foodnetwork and a couple, get a variation of ingredients from simple to complex, and pick-n-choose what you want to do. I now have a killer chicken tetrazzini recipe that uses bottled alfredo sauce as the base. The addition of a bag of shredded mozzarella on top to brown kicks it over the edge.
My wife’s on Allrecipes more than in her Betty Crocker.
I used to write a very (if I have to say so myself) in beautiful cursive (trained by my Dad who felt that handwriting always displayed the character of the person).
Then, when I began to write my first scripts after opening my own office in Manhattan in ’70, I found myself getting phone calls from the various pharmacies to make sure that it was a/the doctor who was writing the scripts (primarily the Percodan scripts).
Far better I should scribble, though how they read it, I’ll never know
Do doctors still use scripts, or has that gone by the cursive wayside too?
I would think they’d be electronic now, and transmitted through trusted systems.
Pretty much. The Lightbringer Care Act basically was the final death-knoll of handwritten scripts.
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Of course, there are issues. Now since narcotic scripts are electronic, you can’t ‘shop’ pharmacies for the prescription. Which means if your normal pharmacy doesn’t have the medication, you can’t transfer it, usually, which means you are forked.
My grandniece, a near genius, was accepted to Annapolis. Grade average of 4.0 for four years. Went to the bank to open a checking account before entering the Academy and was rejected because she could not sign her name in cursive. A few weeks later after diligent practice…..mission accomplished.
** Even a big mushroom cloud has a silver lining.
Unfortunately, the silver isotopes from said mushroom cloud have a fairly short half-life. Not good for a long-term investment…
Writing and reading in cursive – I too learned cursive in grade school and continued for a long time. However, my fine motor skills make it prescription-grade unreadable (sorry Boron). My drafting lettering skills were similar. I could do drafting awesomely, but block lettering was hard. I can touch-type like a mo-fo though. High error rate but error-detection-and-correction is fast as well.
Nothing like watching high-ranking Agents two-finger typing. Quite fast.
Although I know and can read cursive (mandatory in elementary school back then), “penmanship” kept me from getting all good grades
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I hit “age issues” at 35 or so in this country long ago – about the time I went from good to “excellent” (or at least knowing what I was doing most of the time) in a technical field. Good, fast, cheap – pick two as long as it’s fast and cheap. Good is older than 35; management or out the door. Fast and cheap was once BS to age 35 in a technical field. Fast and cheap is now H1B.
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Brownie recipe? Missing the ½ oz or so of “dry ingredient” :)
Thanks for the recipe.
Interesting CC expansion. A template? Whatev, all two people over at LSP are howling like wolves for a meet in London. I say we should make it happen.
The RN has been ‘hurting’ for years… And are down on personnel, ships, and everything else…
My mother, being an Occupational Therapist, also worked in handwriting. So when she discovered the poor levels of handwriting ability in my 4th grade class, well, yes, she did, she volunteered to teach handwriting.
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Which, of course, meant that when I messed up bad enough while she was teaching, she used my full name like all good moms do. Thus my fellow students learned my middle name, Bernard, and you can guess the levels of teasing and pure hell I was put through over that.
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Though, overall, the handwriting did get measurably better. Especially when she made everyone in the class give her their middle names…
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I use cursive for checks. But I can read cursive and that ability allows me to read most medieval calligraphy, too, except for some of the more extreme Gothic Fractur styles.