Post

Hmmmm

These ships were built for training, obviously, and also to serve for disaster relief missions. But they also have RoRo and can be transports

workboat.comMarad activates training ship Empire State for federal missionThe U.S. Maritime Administration will activate the SUNY Maritime College training ship Empire State for temporary federal service beginning on or about Sept. 1, college President Rear Adm. John Okon s

Andrew Facini

@andrewfacini.com

29 Aug

This happened before, after Harvey in 2017. But there's no (domestic) disaster for which a ship like that would be obvious and helpful, and the president's tone in the letter is... weird.

Andrew Facini

@andrewfacini.com

Oh HELL no

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social

Whoa. @haleaziz.bsky.social has the scoop on a truly insane plan to use some military training ships for deportations, with people presumably shackled or locked in cells for days at a time as they transit to Central and South America. Each journey would be staggeringly expensive — and dangerous.

nytimes.comTrump Administration Considers Using Ships to Deport Immigrants (Gift Article)Journeys to destinations including El Salvador and Venezuela could take days and cost millions. Officials cautioned that discussions are still preliminary.

8/10/26, 8:12 pm9 reposts20 likes

Chris Sprecher

@chrissprecher.bsky.social

Middle Passage something something. Just disgusting.

Andrew Facini

@andrewfacini.com

Idk why using the Maritime colleges' NSMVs for this feels so much wronger and more personal... maybe because it's so clearly a "federal" service that gets deeply intertwined locally and one which has equipment which has always been seen as help

Andrew Facini

@andrewfacini.com

Just another example of be thoughtful about what "tools" you want to provide a government that can hinge between benevolent and malevolent in less time than it takes to build the things