Caitlyn Burchett

Two men were killed Wednesday in a strike on a suspected narco boat in the Eastern Pacific, U.S. Southern Command announced. The vessel, allegedly operated by an unidentified designated terrorist organization, is said to have been traveling along known narco-trafficking routes, USSOUTHCOM said. The strike was the 60th strike as part of Operation Southern Spear, the Trump administration’s campaign against drug cartels and maritime drug trafficking. At least 194 people have been killed in the strikes to date. The strike – the second this week – occurred as the U.S. Navy’s presence in the region winds down. The Iwo Jima

NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, Va. — A Norfolk sailor pleaded guilty Monday to murdering a fellow sailor in May 2025 as part of a plea agreement that will see him sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in a federal prison. Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Jeremiah Copeland appeared before a military judge for a general court-martial and sentencing in a courtroom across the street from the barracks in which he admitted to murdering CS3 Angelina Resendiz. The pair were stationed together onboard guided-missile destroyer USS James E. Williams (DDG-95) at the time of Resendiz’s death. Resendiz, a 21-year-old culinary specialist, was

NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, Va. — A Norfolk sailor was sentenced on Tuesday to serve 43 years in federal prison for the murder of a fellow sailor in May 2025. Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Jermiah Copeland will serve the more than four-decade-long sentence at Leavenworth Federal Prison for strangling CS3 Angelina Resendiz to death on May 29, 2025. For his crimes, Copeland will also be dishonorably discharged from the Navy, forfeit all pay and be reduced to the rank of E-1. Copeland appeared Monday and Tuesday before a military judge for a general court-martial and sentencing to plead guilty to the

One aircrewman is missing after an MH-60S helicopter assigned to USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) made an emergency landing on Wednesday in the Arabian Sea. The helicopter went down at 3:30 a.m. Eastern Time with four crew members on board, the U.S. 5th Fleet said on social media platform X. Three of the crew members were recovered from the water and are in stable condition aboard George H. W. Bush. U.S. Navy assets in the region are currently searching for the missing crew member. “There is no indication the emergency was caused by hostile action,” reads the post. The cause

ABOARD USS NIMITZ UNDERWAY IN THE ATLANTIC ― Approximately 100 miles off the coast of North Carolina, a 14-nation armada converged in the blue waters of the Atlantic. Twenty-six ships from every corner of the world – including the U.S., Norway, Brazil, Morocco, Turkey and South Korea – synchronized at sea last week in a massive demonstration of deterrence and diplomacy. At the forefront of it all was USS Nimitz (CVN-68), the U.S. Navy’s oldest aircraft carrier in active service. “She is still a relevant warship today,” Capt. Joseph Furco, commanding officer of Nimitz, told reporters aboard the carrier. Nimitz

The Blue Angels leadership are conducting a safety review following a low-altitude pass made by an aircraft from the flight demonstration squadron on Wednesday above Pensacola Beach, Fla., USNI News understands. Videos circulating social media show a Blue Angels F/A-18 Super Hornet conducting a low maneuver just above a crowd of beachgoers, sending beach chairs, tents and umbrellas flying. “During an arrival maneuver, an aircraft flew lower than standard profiles, resulting in a disturbance on the beach that affected civilian chairs and umbrellas,” a Blue Angels spokesperson said in a statement. “The safety of our hometown community, spectators, and our

Destroyers USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) and USS Pinckney (DDG-91) returned this week to their homeports following more than eight-month-long deployments, the U.S. Navy announced. Thomas Hudner returned Sunday to Naval Station Mayport, Fla. The destroyer’s deployment took the crew to the U.S. 4th, 5th and 6th fleets – seeing it sail the Caribbean, Mediterranean and Red seas. The destroyer left on Dec. 1 for the U.S. 4th Fleet, USNI News previously reported. As of Feb. 23, five days before the U.S. and Israel launched an offensive against Iran, Thomas Hudner was in the Mediterranean. On April 6, Thomas Hudner was

The forward-deployed George Washington Carrier Strike Group was in the Strait of Malacca on Thursday, USNI News has learned. Flagship USS George Washington (CVN-73), as well as cruiser USS Robert Smalls (CG-62) and destroyer USS Shoup (DDG-86), were in the Strait of Malacca after making a westbound transit through the Singapore Strait, a Navy official confirmed to USNI News. The Japan-based group is conducting their first patrol of 2026, having departed Yokosuka in May. The George Washington Carrier Strike Group’s transit of the Strait of Malacca comes as the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group’s deployment to continue its extended Middle

President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to consider foreign-built warships and auxiliary vessels for the U.S. Navy, in addition to other proposed changes to shipbuilding, in a sweeping presidential memo released on Thursday. Citing a lack of capacity in the U.S. naval shipbuilding base and cost growth, Trump is instead calling for more foreign investment in U.S. shipbuilding and the use of foreign ship designs that would initially get constructed abroad. “An atrophied shipbuilding industrial base, coupled with diminished adjacent supplier bases, has expanded delays and increased costs. The Department of War shall restore both capacity and competition to

The U.S. Navy received its final Lewis B. Puller-class Expeditionary Sea Base this week as Military Sealift Command prepares for the return of three sidelined ships. General Dynamics NASSCO delivered the future USS Hector A. Cafferata Jr. (ESB-8) to the Navy on Tuesday in San Diego following sea trials earlier this summer. Expeditionary Sea Bases have historically been forward deployed and used as a host for both mine countermeasures and special operations forces. “Our ESBs are critical to maritime operations, providing logistics support from sea to shore for a broad range of military operations,” said Jon Thomas, acting program manager,