CDR SALAMANDER: America’s Maritime Moment Will Not Wait.

I came to London last week for APEX Europe, a thought and defense tech conference where defense leaders from across NATO are talking about the approaches, capabilities and investments that will shape future security. Those conversations felt more urgent after spending time in Greenwich. The museums made clear that maritime strength is about much more than ships. It depends on industrial capacity, technological imagination, national will and the willingness to act before a crisis makes action unavoidable.

That raises a difficult question for the United States: Are we making the decisions today that will preserve American maritime power tomorrow?

I’ll acknowledge something up front. I know I can sound like a broken record on this subject: act now, make hard choices, invest in the industrial base, embrace new technology, take care of our sailors and save our Navy.

But it’s hard not to keep saying it.

I can’t read another story about shipbuilding, listen to another speech about maritime strategy or visit another American or allied naval museum without reaching the same conclusion:

This is our moment.

For the United States Navy. For the maritime services. And for the nation.

Read the whole thing.