Combat? What’s That?

I saw the following headline and read the article with great anticipation.  I’ve been calling for a drone carrier for some time now and only Turkey has made a move in that direction so I was very interested to see what kind of vessel this would be, what kind of drones it would operate, and how it would fit into combat operations.
 
“Damen launches ‘Drone Carrier’ for the Portuguese Navy”
 
To say I was disappointed is a huge understatement.  The following describes the ship’s mission focus.
 

The vessel has a high degree of system autonomy. It is designed for unrestricted service in tropical and moderate environments and is especially suited for multi-purpose activities such as oceanographic research, environmental control, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and maritime surveillance and support tasks.[1]

Does anyone else notice the one glaring omission?  There’s no combat mission! 
 
In addition, the vessel is butt-ugly and woefully non-stealthy.
 

I get that Portugal is not going to conduct worldwide combat operations against the Chinese but what about combat ops against terrorists, Middle East combat support missions, or supporting the US Navy in a war?  What about combatting rogue fisheries violators or dealing with Russian or Chinese shadow fleet merchant ships?  What about dealing with Chinese or Russian subs violating Portuguese territorial waters?  What about combatting piracy?
 
Sadly, this non-combat mindset has become the norm in Western militaries. 
 
What’s the old saying?  During peace, prepare for war.  How is this preparing for war?  The West, and that emphatically includes the US, needs to wake up, face the reality that the world is not a peaceful place and start preparing for war.  The US Navy is only now, this next budget year, asking for increased weapons production because of the Iran strikes.  If a couple weeks of moderate intensity (yes, moderate, if even that – this would have been nothing but one battle among many simultaneous battles in WWII) munitions expenditure is enough to seriously deplete our stocks then how ready are we for war with China?
 
 
 
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[1]Naval News website, “Damen launches ‘Drone Carrier’ for the Portuguese Navy”, Staff, 7-Apr-2026,
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2026/04/damen-launches-drone-carrier-for-the-portuguese-navy/