BEYOND THE HORIZON

December 2025

GRAY FLEET

            Rachel Riley, recently a major DOGE figure, moved to Chief of Naval Research replacing VADM Kurt Rothenhaus who shifted to Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, an alignment that has many in the Navy grinding their teeth. A sizable number of Gold Braids complained that Riley has no knowledge of the Navy, fleet needs, of research techniques.

            The Marine Corps claims that Rothenhaus and Riley teamed up to downgrade 5.5mm high ignition rounds used in M-16s to a lower and cheaper ignition round which tends to gum up the weapons causing jams. Riley is now in charge of a plethora of significant grants which she distributes to President Trump’s allies. 

            TIME magazine had an interesting piece regarding Taiwan, China, and the U.S. noting that America has strong ties to the little island and treaties guaranteeing protection against the Big Dragon. China has harassed all U.S. flagged ships and military vessels in the Taiwanese Straits, but the U.S. continues to ensure Freedom of the Seas in international waters.

            The TIME analyst noted that while the United States Navy maintains 299 warships spread around the world, China has over 330 warships just along the East Coast of the nation and directly across from Taiwan. The Navy has an ongoing strategic plan for War 2026, and the Chinese have a similar plan for a potential war in 2027, the truth remains that China can overwhelm Taiwan in hours before the U.S. can react. Like the Philippines in World War II, it was a given that the U.S. military had no chance to protect the P.I., and the same exists for Taiwan.

            President Trump stated that he would use tariffs to keep China under control, and that both nations depend on each other as major trade entities. He has already demanded a 130% tariff on good from China, who in turn, dropped all purchases of soy beans from the U.S., causing a significant agricultural crisis, especially in the Midwest. China is buying soybeans from Argentina. Mr. Trump’s State Department sent Argentina huge amounts of money to prop up their regime. The chess game continues. 

            Executive Order 14192 requires that for every new regulation made by the federal government or agencies, 10 old regulations must be eliminated. Anytime someone says, “it’s easy, all you have to do….” fails to understand the complexity of the problem. The military services are seeing EO 14192 as a head shaking perplexity.

            Dr. David Winkler, a top-notch historian and writer, gave an historical example of what the U.S. industrial power once was.  He noted that during WWI our Merchant Marine lacked the capacity to move soldiers and equipment to Europe that force Congress to create the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, a subsidiary of U.S. Steel, which produced 27 ships.

            The Great Depression eliminated most shipbuilding companies and boosted unemployment until FDR’s election in 1932 who recognized the need to “jumpstart the economy and strengthen the nation’s maritime capabilities.” 1,000 workers established the Local Chapter of the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America. With the Union on his side, FDR ordered 2 Mahan-class, 2 Somers-class, 3 Benham-class, 2 Sims-class, and 26 Gleaves-class destroyers. The Fletcher-class destroyers were next in line and built in 1941.

            What Winkler emphasizes is that during 1942-43 52,000 shipbuilders built a Gleaves-class destroyer in 137 days, a Fletcher-class destroyer was cranked out in 170 days, and C2 cargo ships averaged 82 days from laying the keel to hitting the water. Under the direction of the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, 465 ships were built during WWII. We cannot do that today. 

Dr. David Winkler, Historian

USS FLETCHER

Laid down 2 October 1941

Launched 3 May 1942

The first of 175 Fletcher-class destroyers built in 2 years.

INLAND WATERWAYS

            80% of America’s Locks and Dams are beyond their life expectancy of 50 years at which point the cost of maintenance and repairs rise by a factor of 2.5. Cost overruns, delays, and schedule slippages compound the problems. Congress and the White House have avoided discussion about funding concerns. DOGE has eliminated huge numbers of federal workers working for the Army Corps of Engineers and cut the Corps’ budget exasperating Marine companies, tow operators, lock and dam workers, and such diverse companies as Caterpillar and John Deere who build towboat engines.  To complicate this “head in the sand” conundrum, the Corps is about $60 billion behind in preservation of current Locks and Dams. 

            A stunning example of governmental impasse is at Lock and Dam 25, near St. Louis, that was authorized to increase the lock from 600’ to 1200’ in 2007; however, Congress never got around to funding this project that remains unaccomplished and but may award contracts in 2027. (WATERWAYS JOURNAL October, 2025). 

ENVIRONMENT

            The Asian Carp menace continues virtually unabated creating fears throughout the Midwest especially near the Great Lakes. These environment wreckers have inundated the Des Plains River near Joliet, IL threatening entry to Lake Michigan via the Illinois Waterway. Videos of boats operating in the river show hundreds of these fish leaping out of the water to the point that it has become a sort of recreational adventure of putting someone in the bow with a fish net and attempting to catch the flying carp.

            The current governmental plan, a four-stop concept costing over $1.5 billion, starts with the elimination of an engineered channel about which contract have been issued. The second step, called Leading Edge Deterrent, involves the use of a wall of bubbles the keep the carp from hiding under or between barges as they sail and to create a sound barrier that is irritating to them. Thirdly, locks and banks will be flushed after each usage. These contracts will be offered in 2027. The final stage will include additional flushing locks, electrical deterrents, and support. Buildings. 

            The Governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, has been assured by President Trump that the Federal government will provide agreed upon financial support coupled with allocations from Illinois and Michigan. This entire operation will be completed by 2032.

            Global Warming, whether caused by man, nature, or God, has impacted the ice of Antarctica and the Arctic oceans in complicated ways scientists had not foreseen. The ice sheets have broken into smaller parts that melt faster than the solid mass causing stranding of a multitude of animals; but the smaller elements have created a greater issue. Underneath ice masses, algae grows in huge clumps that became the habitat of plankton that hides in the hanging plants, obtains nourishment from the vines, and reproduce. This algae is the bottom rung of the arctic food chain.

            Public Television recently aired a special on the walrus, noting the declining numbers because of the reduction of ice floes. NATURE magazine listed the 15 most threatened species in the frozen regions. Ice algae, amphipod, copepods, and krill are highly endangered. This combination compromises the bigger fish that, in turn, are food for the walrus, the bearded seal, ringed seal, narwhal, the polar bear, the orca, and the beluga whale. Like the proverbial dominoes, as one falls, the others start to fall.

            It might be important to realize that as the lower end of the food chain fails, the failures continue right to the top. At last look, humans are the top of the food chain. 

            Reggie McLeod’s  remains a monthly digest of the environmental health of the Driftless Region, the area running from the Twin Cities to the Quad Cities (Minneapolis/ St. Paul to Davenport/Rock Island/ Moline/Bettendorf) where the Ice Age glaciers missed but pushed massive quantities of ground to the Midwest and whose melting created unbelievable rivers and bluffs totally unlike most of the Midwest flatlands. 

Not the Iowa you expected

            Politicians really don’t give a hoot about people, especially if they are from a different political party.  The EPA testing showed that the Cedar, Des Moines, Racoon, Iowa, and South Skunk were polluted above accepted standards. The City of Des Moines banned lawn watering this summer because it could not generate good water fast enough. The above-mentioned rivers provide drinking water for Iowa’s largest urban areas: the Greater Des Moines business area, the Greater Cedar Rapids area, and the Iowa City area. Unfortunately, these regions contain about 30% of Iowans and are very Democrat. 

            Did Congress or the Iowa legislature cleaned up the water? No. Did they retest the waters? No. They simply took the rivers off the polluted waters list. You cannot make this stuff up!

            Dubuque dumped raw sewage into the Mississippi 72 times in a span of four years. EPA fined the city $7,000. You cannot make this stuff up!

            Lake Itasca, the source of the Mississippi, is modestly ill that is unusual for an undisturbed watershed. Warm temperatures have created extensive algae growth, natural high phosphorous levels have increased, and its normal shallowness have generated the problems. (Thanks, Reggie McLeod, for the above stories). 

BOAT STUFFBOAT STUFF

            Tim Queeney’s book, ROPES, proffers a history of humankind’s truly significant technological inventions. Perhaps many a boater, seaman, or lubber never give a thought to the rope that they use, abuse, and toss; however, reflection upon its usage over the millennia is important. 

            The man they found frozen in the Alps several years ago indicate that he was running for his life some 5,500 years ago, but he was slain by an arrow. What amazed anthropologists was that he was felled in the Alps, a long way from Egypt or the Fertile Crescent where rope was in common use. Clearly, the use of twisted twin had advanced all through Europe.

            The discovery that caused head-scratching within academia was the 50,000-year-old materials that included braided rope. This indicated the Neanderthal man, a species that predated Homo sapiens, created and used rope, a belief that was considered far-fetched by scholars until these recent findings. 

            The book starts with interesting stories of early rope but finishes with information we all knew, such as, rope was used in tall ships. Duh. Information within the book remains truly worth the buying price. Twisting yarns to the right is an “S” twist, while the left twist is a “Z” twist. The materials used to make rope is far more widespread than I thought. Overall, the book is worth the money and the read. On contemplation, one must agree that next to fire, rope making was both one of the earliest inventions and the most significant. 

 

FOUNDERING

YU SHAN #36 capsized killing 1, 2 missing, and 6 saved.

BOCA de YUMI, sailing from the Dominican Republic, hit something unknown and sand; however all 55 passengers and crew were saved.

An unnamed vessel off Thailand sank killing 7, 13 were rescued, but 280 were missing.

7 Vietnamese fishing boats sank in very harsh weather including strong winds and large waves.

Two weeks later another Vietnamese fishing boat sank under miserable weather killing 1 with 2 missing. 

ALBORADA 1, BARRACUDA, and YAKISA, all flagged in Argentina, all sank in bad weather with winds of 75 mph.