I don’t know much about naval warfare. I was never in the Navy. I get seasick in bathtubs. But it does seem odd to spend billions designing ships everyone already knows won’t work, just so they can look impressive in press releases. It’s kind of like buying a luxury car you never drive because it might break down. Except the car costs eight billion dollars and explodes. So yeah, build ships because the President doesn’t like how the old ones look and implement defense policy that resembles a Yelp review with nukes. Call it the Golden Fleet, paint it shiny, name it after yourself, and suddenly the empire feels young again, like Botox for geopolitics. Meanwhile History’s in the back, tapping its watch, because every empire eventually mistakes aesthetics for strength, noise for power, and spending for strategy.
Anyway, maybe the Trump-class ships won’t be built. Which would be nice. Because historically speaking, the most successful weapons programs are the ones that never leave the drawing board. You don’t build dominance by ordering floating monuments to vanity that double as missile magnets. You build decline that way. Big, beautiful, debt-financed decline.
Yes brother Egypt, big, beautiful debt financed decline…like every democrat city…but thankfully all of that corruption is starting to float to the top, like the 💩 it is…and I wouldn’t be so concerned about a few gold coated ships. It’s the same hand trick that has the left going out of their deranged minds. While they cry about spending a few shekels on a ship, we are busy building weapons that even you could never grasp. So sit back and enjoy the show😊
Of course Steve, I could be wrong, I don’t know boats either, but when a Navy guy tells me not to worry because the real weapons are secret and incomprehensible, that sounds less like confidence and more like something you say right before Congress asks where the money went.
I’ll enjoy the show, sure, just don’t make the Navy’s greatest tradition explaining afterward why the shiny golden thing sank exactly as planned.
Steve, you know what else I don’t know? Space Force Law, but what did you do with Star-man? 😂
(aka Starboardedge)
I’ve checked the globe, the stars, even squinted through the Hubble Telescope and I can’t find him anywhere, which makes me worry he either achieved enlightenment or got reassigned to a very top secret Navy mission!
I’m pretty sure brother Starboard has much better things to do with his time then we do, and what a better way to waste it than reading Mr Bill. I still get a kick from many here, and always enjoy you my friend, but there are so many other people that actually give sound advice, if you’re really interested, which I’m sure you are as much as I am 😊. Anyway, wishing you and yours a safe, happy and healthy New Year and stay well my friend 😊
Well Bill todays letter doesn't paint a pretty picture related to spending on the "war" effort. Sadly I agree. I was in the Navy from 1965 - 68 and I worked on radar systems on a destroyer off the coast of Vietnam. Those systems were OK for the time but todays equipment is beyond anything we could dream of then.
I do not believe the new ships in planning have much of a chance against the modern missile systems of today. Yes we need new ships but don't bet the farm against the new space age missile systems coming down the pike!
You said it Billy “blah, blaH BLAH”. Seems it is all we get from your aged, sage prose. Reading your BS one gets the feeling that no one measures up. NO president (past of president, with the exception perhaps of Biden in your mind), Now the Navy is full of shit. You guys buy into these distractions so easily.
Yet still, not one iota of advise or analysis of financials other than the sky is falling, the interest rate don’t matter blah, bah blah - there are plenty of reruns on the streaming service, i guess here is one more.
NO one is good, this is bad, that is bad, yet you still provide no alternative other than bitching.
TO my detractors, save it - i enjoy pointing this shit out so stuff it!
I would love to see your list of presidents who measure up. The guys from both teams seem to be guiding the USS Titanic straight into the iceberg. $2.4 trillion increase in the national debt in 2025 alone.
You know the thing. Al-Jolani, Mohammed Bin Salman, Zelensky. But I was just wondering which US presidents measured up. Who's on your list? The guys from 21st century are definitely mediocrities unless deficit spending is a positive thing.
The mediocrity didn't suddenly develop at the turn of the century. Even tho the deficits declined under Clinton, he was no slouch in bombing other places and undermining American cultural values.
The way to be dominant in any future conflicts is through the ability to block communications while maintaining our own. If you cannot coordinate or control personnel, weapons systems, drones, etc.
you cannot win a conflict regardless of how lethal theses systems, etc. are.
as demonstrated with the flawlessly executed extration of the leader of the cartel. Certainly not a head of state - just look at the last election. BUt hey, don’t let facts cloud Billys prose.
Problem is actually winning conflicts require boots on the ground. And, ever since Korea, the U.S. has not been able to win anything when boots are on the ground (this does not count regime change operations which are just short violent strikes). To really control Venezuela will take boots on the ground. Thinking rebuilding the oil fields with engineers and techs isn't going to require protection for them is delusional. And, Venezuela isn't the wide open spaces of the Middle East - it is worse than Vietnam. I don't think this is going to turn out well for the U.S........
Angry Ice, if we go the route suggested in your lead in, it certainly would solve & end the problem. But our nation and it's industrial military complex ( now the entire world) operates on the system "of just a little bit pregnant". And we all know how that finally ends!
Hard to imagine how this plays out.......it is feared none of the continued and growing military spending will work out as imagined. The U.S. needs a Gold Fleet like it needs another Pearl Harbor. The World is a-changin'..........and instead of building economic bridges with other nation to foster prosperity for Americans, the U.S. instead is increasing its bullying........the US$ will slide into oblivion and then what do us peons do?
Next up. Let’s eliminate all stock buybacks. They used to be illegal. They still should be illegal.
I don’t know much about naval warfare. I was never in the Navy. I get seasick in bathtubs. But it does seem odd to spend billions designing ships everyone already knows won’t work, just so they can look impressive in press releases. It’s kind of like buying a luxury car you never drive because it might break down. Except the car costs eight billion dollars and explodes. So yeah, build ships because the President doesn’t like how the old ones look and implement defense policy that resembles a Yelp review with nukes. Call it the Golden Fleet, paint it shiny, name it after yourself, and suddenly the empire feels young again, like Botox for geopolitics. Meanwhile History’s in the back, tapping its watch, because every empire eventually mistakes aesthetics for strength, noise for power, and spending for strategy.
Anyway, maybe the Trump-class ships won’t be built. Which would be nice. Because historically speaking, the most successful weapons programs are the ones that never leave the drawing board. You don’t build dominance by ordering floating monuments to vanity that double as missile magnets. You build decline that way. Big, beautiful, debt-financed decline.
Yes brother Egypt, big, beautiful debt financed decline…like every democrat city…but thankfully all of that corruption is starting to float to the top, like the 💩 it is…and I wouldn’t be so concerned about a few gold coated ships. It’s the same hand trick that has the left going out of their deranged minds. While they cry about spending a few shekels on a ship, we are busy building weapons that even you could never grasp. So sit back and enjoy the show😊
Of course Steve, I could be wrong, I don’t know boats either, but when a Navy guy tells me not to worry because the real weapons are secret and incomprehensible, that sounds less like confidence and more like something you say right before Congress asks where the money went.
I’ll enjoy the show, sure, just don’t make the Navy’s greatest tradition explaining afterward why the shiny golden thing sank exactly as planned.
Steve, you know what else I don’t know? Space Force Law, but what did you do with Star-man? 😂
(aka Starboardedge)
I’ve checked the globe, the stars, even squinted through the Hubble Telescope and I can’t find him anywhere, which makes me worry he either achieved enlightenment or got reassigned to a very top secret Navy mission!
I’m pretty sure brother Starboard has much better things to do with his time then we do, and what a better way to waste it than reading Mr Bill. I still get a kick from many here, and always enjoy you my friend, but there are so many other people that actually give sound advice, if you’re really interested, which I’m sure you are as much as I am 😊. Anyway, wishing you and yours a safe, happy and healthy New Year and stay well my friend 😊
Well Bill todays letter doesn't paint a pretty picture related to spending on the "war" effort. Sadly I agree. I was in the Navy from 1965 - 68 and I worked on radar systems on a destroyer off the coast of Vietnam. Those systems were OK for the time but todays equipment is beyond anything we could dream of then.
I do not believe the new ships in planning have much of a chance against the modern missile systems of today. Yes we need new ships but don't bet the farm against the new space age missile systems coming down the pike!
Jim Marshall
For a little humor - Denmark said that Greenland will now be called Epstein Island so the Trump Administration will stop talking about it.
😂😂😂😂😂
You said it Billy “blah, blaH BLAH”. Seems it is all we get from your aged, sage prose. Reading your BS one gets the feeling that no one measures up. NO president (past of president, with the exception perhaps of Biden in your mind), Now the Navy is full of shit. You guys buy into these distractions so easily.
Yet still, not one iota of advise or analysis of financials other than the sky is falling, the interest rate don’t matter blah, bah blah - there are plenty of reruns on the streaming service, i guess here is one more.
NO one is good, this is bad, that is bad, yet you still provide no alternative other than bitching.
TO my detractors, save it - i enjoy pointing this shit out so stuff it!
I would love to see your list of presidents who measure up. The guys from both teams seem to be guiding the USS Titanic straight into the iceberg. $2.4 trillion increase in the national debt in 2025 alone.
You know the thing! Castro, Maduro, Putin, Xi…..
You know the thing. Al-Jolani, Mohammed Bin Salman, Zelensky. But I was just wondering which US presidents measured up. Who's on your list? The guys from 21st century are definitely mediocrities unless deficit spending is a positive thing.
The mediocrity didn't suddenly develop at the turn of the century. Even tho the deficits declined under Clinton, he was no slouch in bombing other places and undermining American cultural values.
Tell us how you really feel! 🤣 I love it!
It’s how i role :-)
Something tells me that there just might be better military analysts than Bongo Bill.
The way to be dominant in any future conflicts is through the ability to block communications while maintaining our own. If you cannot coordinate or control personnel, weapons systems, drones, etc.
you cannot win a conflict regardless of how lethal theses systems, etc. are.
as demonstrated with the flawlessly executed extration of the leader of the cartel. Certainly not a head of state - just look at the last election. BUt hey, don’t let facts cloud Billys prose.
Problem is actually winning conflicts require boots on the ground. And, ever since Korea, the U.S. has not been able to win anything when boots are on the ground (this does not count regime change operations which are just short violent strikes). To really control Venezuela will take boots on the ground. Thinking rebuilding the oil fields with engineers and techs isn't going to require protection for them is delusional. And, Venezuela isn't the wide open spaces of the Middle East - it is worse than Vietnam. I don't think this is going to turn out well for the U.S........
Says the Wizard of id, the all knowing seer, the FOC! (Fountain of Knowledge) lol, you do make me laugh with your nonsense.
A nuclear bomb is a great weapon!
Why do we mess around with trucks, boats and planes when all we need to do is throw a nuclear bomb or three at the problem? (sarc)
-
There always has been/will be a humongous amount of waste procuring tools of war.
Technology moving faster than stuff can be built.
BPR suggests simply not building anything?
Angry Ice, if we go the route suggested in your lead in, it certainly would solve & end the problem. But our nation and it's industrial military complex ( now the entire world) operates on the system "of just a little bit pregnant". And we all know how that finally ends!
Bill still puts a "the" in front of Ukraine. I don't get it. It's a country, not a region.
In Russian Ukraine means border.
Not much of a country depending on how one defines country.
Huh?
What will the first commissioned ship be called, the ‘VASA’?
Hard to imagine how this plays out.......it is feared none of the continued and growing military spending will work out as imagined. The U.S. needs a Gold Fleet like it needs another Pearl Harbor. The World is a-changin'..........and instead of building economic bridges with other nation to foster prosperity for Americans, the U.S. instead is increasing its bullying........the US$ will slide into oblivion and then what do us peons do?
then you bend over and kiss you ass good bye, try it now!
https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2026/01/08/the-key-problems-with-the-newly-announced-trump-class-battleships/