The Naval Brief: Outbreak at Quantico; Another fleet plan; Shipyard vaccinations; and more...

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

Outbreak at OCS. A COVID-19 outbreak among a class of future Marine officers has caused the schoolhouse to temporarily reduce its training, Defense One reports. While previous classes had to quarantine for 14 days at Quantico, Va. before training, this was the first class allowed to quarantine at home.

COVID deaths double. The military has had 52 service members die from COVID-19, with half of those deaths occurring over just two months this summer, Military Times reports.

Vaccinations lagging at shipyards. While the Navy has a COVID-19 vaccination rate of 85 percent, their two critical shipyards only have half their workers vaccinated, Defense One reports. Federal contractors must show they are vaccinated by Dec. 8, Defense One also reported. 

Future fleet planning continues. The Navy is drawing up another plan for its future fleet—its fourth in as many years—which will come from a new force design study, Defense One reports. The study will incorporate information from recent experiments and exercises on new operating concepts including Distributed Maritime Operations and the new unmanned taskforce, TF59. 

Sign up to get The Naval Brief every Thursday from Caitlin M. Kenney, Defense One’s military services reporter. On this day in 1954, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, was commissioned. The submarine was also the first to transit the geographic North Pole in 1958 in Operation Sunshine.

From Defense One

Austin, Milley Say White House Was Advised to Keep US Troops in Afghanistan // Tara Copp: The Afghanistan evacuation that resulted was “a logistical success but a strategic failure,” Milley said.

AUKUS Is the Death Knell of Australia's Strategic Ambiguity // James Curran: At what cost is Australia attempting to strengthen its deterrence of China?

Playing Defense Against Terrorism Is Totally Fine // Luke Hartig: The U.S. has built many layers of protection against attack, and toughness doesn’t require endless war.

Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Buddies Tried to Get the VA to Sell Access to Veterans’ Medical Records // Isaac Arnsdorf: A congressional investigation prompted by ProPublica’s reporting found that wealthy civilians with no U.S. government or military experience pursued a plan to monetize veterans’ medical data.