Dress for the Job That You Want

Especially at peace - a core to the "presence" mission - a navy ship represents her country and its people.

Sound seamanship and the material condition of ships sends a message about the nation whose flag it flies. Talk to any PAO, INFO OPS, or PSYOPS operator, they'll tell you.

What message are you seeing below?

First of all, let's look to the Chinese Navy.

A Chinese navy flotilla returned to Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, on Sunday after completing its mission of escorting civilian vessels in the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somali.

The 30th escort squad of the Chinese Navy, comprised of missile frigates Wuhu and Handan and supply ship Dongpinghu, escorted 59 Chinese and foreign ships during the mission. The fleet set sail from Qingdao on August 6, 2018, the People's Liberation Army Navy said in a statement.

The fleet also participated in the naval parade marking the 60th anniversary of Tunisian Navy. And it visited Cambodia and the Philippines toward the end of its 175-day mission.

China sent its first convoy fleet to Somali waters in December 2008.

Five months later, what does a Chinese frigate look like to the world?

Next, what high profile ship broke in to the news cycle this month? Back on 19 Jan ...

Arleigh Burke class @USNavyEurope guided missile destroyer #USSDonaldCook transits Bosphorus & enters the BlackSea 17:30Z/12:30EST

What do we see 9 days later?

This is a regular habit. This is not sustainable. This is not the world's premier navy looking like one now, or in the future.

This is also not the fault of the CO or the ship's crew. This has everything to do with manning and maintenance support.

That goes straight to DC.

H/t Sid.