The Naval Brief: Another destroyer, please; Iranian warship sinks; Afghan evacuation plans; and more...

Welcome to The Naval Brief, a weekly look at the news and ideas shaping the sea services’ future. 

Another destroyer, please. The Navy is asking lawmakers for another destroyer worth $1.66 billion in their unfunded priorities list, USNI News reported. The 2022 budget proposal would buy just one, which under the multiyear contract with the shipbuilders would mean a $33 million penalty for the Navy. The Marine Corps’ list includes two types of anti-ship missiles at a cost of $153.8 million. 

New frigate has a home. Naval Station Everett in Washington State will be the homeport for the first 12 Constellation-class frigates, the Navy announced Wednesday. Service officials expect the first of these “agile, multi-mission warships” to be delivered in 2026. 

Iranian warship sinks. The 679-foot resupply ship Kharg, the Iranian Navy’s largest warship,caught fire and sank in the Gulf of Oman Wednesday, the Associated Press reports. Some 400 people were aboard; about 20 were injured in the blaze, whose cause is under investigation, Iranian officials said.

Two Iranian Navy ships could be heading to Venezuela, Politico reported, and are expected to be in the Atlantic Ocean sometime today. One of the ships appears to have seven attack boats on board, according to USNI News. A defense official told Politico that there are currently no plans to send U.S. Navy ships to monitor or deter the Iranian ships. 

Watch: Last week’s panel on the Future of Naval Modernization featured Bryan Clark,Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Defense Concepts and Technology; and Steven Canup, Distinguished Scientist for Combat Systems Cybersecurity, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division. The video is available on YouTube.

Sign up to get The Navy Brief every Thursday from Caitlin M. Kenney, Defense One’s military services reporter. On this day in 1949, Wesley Brown became the first African American to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy. He entered the civil engineering corps and retired as a lieutenant commander in 1969.

From Defense One

Naval Spending Proposal Defies Calls to Buy Extra Ships, Boost Marines’ Budget // Caitlin Kenney: President’s first spending request seeks to cut procurement to free funds for operations and maintenance.

Biden Requests Less Than 1% Boost to Pentagon R&D, Despite Hyping New Defense Tech // Patrick Tucker: As the Defense Department shifts its focus toward more technologically advanced potential adversaries, it will have to research and develop more and sustain less.

Austin Asks Top General For ‘Options’ to Evacuate Afghans // Tara Copp and Jacqueline Feldscher: Operation would need authorization from White House, which is not yet “actively pursuing” the idea.

Don’t Just End the War in Afghanistan, Repeal the Resolution That Authorized It // Gene Healy and John Glaser: No current threat remotely justifies roving presidential authority to wage war on multiple continents.