Captain John Konrad is the founder and CEO of gCaptain, one of the world’s most-read maritime news websites, and a member of the Pentagon Press Corps. He holds a USCG Master Unlimited license. John studied naval architecture at the U.S. Naval Academy before graduating from SUNY Maritime College with a degree in Marine Transportation. He is also a Y Combinator Startup School alumnus. His decade at sea included service aboard Military Sealift Command-operated ships, crude-oil supertankers running to Valdez, and dynamically positioned drillships supporting deepwater projects. In industry leadership roles, he participated in major offshore exploration and drilling campaigns, including the KG-D6 discovery with Reliance Industries and world record-setting deepwater work with Chevron. On April 20, 2010, John had finished overseeing the $750 million Deep Ocean Ascension newbuild project for BP when the Deepwater Horizon exploded. His seven years at Transocean and personal ties to members of the Horizon crew drove him to investigate the disaster, resulting in Fire on the Horizon (HarperCollins, 2011). In 2025, he co-authored Returning from Ebb Tide: Renewing the United States Commercial Maritime Enterprise for Marine Corps University Press. John has contributed to publications including Forbes, CIMSEC, Lloyd’s List, and the U.S. Coast Guard Compass, and has appeared on outlets including NPR and the BBC. He has also consulted for major newsrooms and public institutions on maritime reporting and offshore industry topics. His reporting draws on primary documents, official maritime records, and on-the-record sources cultivated over two decades in the industry. He is an Associate Fellow of the Nautical Institute and a member of the Council of American Master Mariners and the Navy League of the United States. His work has been recognized with the U.S. Navy Combined Maritime Forces Naval Support Award and SUNY Maritime’s Distinguished Alumnus of the Year award.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said that U.S. regulators would not bow to political pressure to restart deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico before they
As many of you know my book, Fire On The Horizon, hits bookshelves this Tuesday. I knew from the beginning that writing a book would be a challenge but
For the last few weeks, in the Ionian Sea to the southeast of Sicily, three gliders participated for the first time in an anti-submarine warfare exercise.
gCaptain has received emails today from mariners and oil workers stuck in the Middle East seeking help in evacuating the country. While there is little
RigZone is out with their 2011 outlook on Deep and Shallow water newbuilds on order from exploratory drilling companies worldwide. They write: With utilization
What’s the best way to protect your iPhone? There are 2 breakable/non-replacable things I take everywhere but only one can be protected with platics;
After near 20 years of construction, the first of Russia’s 4th generation multi-purpose submarine will sail out in the White Sea in May. The submarine,
We have seen solutions for piracy come from all corners of the world from expensive non-lethal weapons more often used by police forces, and OEM solutions from
Unofficial Networks, in partnership with Rackspace, introduces a new e-hosting platform to support the website gCaptain.com. Hopefully you did not notice any
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) Director Michael R. Bromwich today announced
Our friends at Telstar Logistics, with a tip from gCaptain member DH, bring us mega ships, planes and photos in their recent post A Very Big Airplane Helps a
Samsung Heavy Industries Co., South Korea’s third-largest shipbuilder, said Sunday it has developed an anti-piracy solution system that can track down
Searchers from the Philippine coast guard found five missing Americans on board a sailboat that was reported missing en route from Guam. All were in good
China surpassed South Korea to become the world’s largest shipbuilder in 2010 in terms of shipbuilding capacity and new orders, according to recently
Launched in Saint Petersburg Russia the NS Ural was not actually commissioned until 2007. By that time it had a new name, the NS Let Pobedy, and a new
One hundred years is a very long time. Yet in the hierarchy of modern marvels, the ability to recover and launch aircraft from the deck of a moving ship
Just think of the opportunities if every Coast Guard boat station and cutter had it’s own fixed wing aircraft and could initiate search and rescue
A Government agency has defended the decision to scrap an emergency tug in the English Channel, claiming it was not the best use of public money. The
The US Treasury Department has forbidden US citizens to do business with 20 Hong Kong shipping companies, which formed the bulk of 26 on the global banned
Electronic Chart Display Information Systems (ECDIS) represent the navigational future. Used properly, they offer substantial advantages over the old paper and
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