The Navy has a new record for at-sea deployment, set by the guided-missile destroyer USS Stout at 208 days as of Saturday. The Stout has been serving in the 5th Fleet's area of operations, including the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.

The maritime industry is "years behind other sectors" in its grasp of the interdependent nature of various systems that are vulnerable to cyberattacks, said Jason Tama, commander of USCG Sector New York. Many legacy systems for "cyber and networks" are still in operation and have not received proper attention, said Master Mariner Capt. Alex Soukhanov, managing director at Moran Cyber.

The USS Nimitz will mark its 50th anniversary in 2025, but the Navy is considering having it serve for a brief period after that. The plan would require the carrier to undergo additional maintenance at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington, but it would not necessitate a nuclear refueling for the dual reactors, said Alan Baribeau, spokesman for Naval Sea Systems Command.

Components of the nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine USS Pasadena will be replaced, repaired and overhauled during a Drydocking Selected Restricted Availability at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia. The team got a five-month head start on the project by conducting battery changes and upgrading the vessel's radar system.

Oceaneering International's Aerospace and Defense Technologies division has landed a one-year contract to maintain, certify and operate submarine rescue systems and
supporting equipment for the Navy's Undersea Rescue Command. The contract from Naval Sea Systems Command has a potential value of $119 million.

Lithium-ion batteries, or LIBs, have "the potential to be one of the best sources of power for defense underwater applications because their compact designs bring higher efficiency and strengthen reliability for underwater applications," says Nurettin Sevi, defense analyst at GlobalData and a retired captain of the Turkish Navy. Kerry Taylor-Smith explores the basics of LIBs and their potential advantages for applications that include submarines, unmanned underwater vehicles and torpedoes.

A 29-foot vessel from Metal Shark's "Sharktech Autonomous Vessels" division will be equipped with autonomous technology for testing by the the US Coast Guard's Research and Development Center. The technology developed by Boston-based Sea Machines can handle transit, collaboration, ride control, collision avoidance and remote monitoring functions.

The Navy's plans for fiscal 2021 include using Sea Hunter, an autonomous unmanned surface vehicle, in a handful of fleet exercises, said Rear Adm. Casey Moton, program executive officer for unmanned and small combatants. "With the Sea Hunter and the Overlord USVs we will exercise manned ship control on multiple USVs, test command and control, perform as part of the surface action groups and train Navy sailors on these platforms," Moton said.

Crop residue can be used to help reduce farmland soil erosion, according to Indiana conservationists Clint Harrison, Don Donovan and Brian Musser. Crop residue can serve can serve as a kind of blanket to absorb rain impact, boost infiltration and prevent the formation of gullies from runoff.

The typically wide beaches of New Jersey's Wildwoods are suffering from sand loss, and local officials are seeking federal help to reverse the trend. Communities are taking emergency actions to help, but have struggled to keep up with the rate of erosion.