More than 5,000 migrants trying to reach Europe have been rescued in the Central Mediterranean over the weekend. British, Maltese, Belgian and Italian vessels and Icelandic and Finnish planes deployed in EU operation Triton coordinated by Frontex were fully engaged in this rescue effort. Frontex Exe
UK Ministry of Defence Orders NATO Submarine Rescue System The UK Ministry of Defence has awarded a £12.1m contract to JFD for the provision of the NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS). HMS Ocean to Replace HMS Bulwark as Fleet Flagship Royal Navy’s very high readiness helicopter carrier, HMS Ocean,
Nearly 370 people – 50 of them children – were saved by HMS Bulwark in her third rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean. The lifesaving incident was one of five being played out at the same time off the Libyan coast as Europe’s navies responded to the humanitarian crisis. The assault ship put five
Members of a Latvian explosive ordnance disposal team used demolition charges to detonate a World War II-era German bottom-mine in Estonian waters, in the Baltic Sea. The operation was conducted as part of the conducting mine countermeasures operations in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Estonia duri
The Naval Service flagship the LÉ EITHNE conducted a successful rescue operation of 201 migrants 60 kilometres North of Libya yesterday morning in co-operation with Italian, German and British ships. The migrants were part of a flotilla of five make shift inflatable vessels that were attempting to c
Royal Navy and Army units are taking part in a series of exercises, alongside thousands of personnel from dozens of participating nations. From early June, UK military personnel will be deployed to Eastern Europe and the Baltic states to take part in a series of military exercises. Collectively name
NATO Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM) welcomed U.S. Naval Force Central Command/U.S. FIFTH FLEET/Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) Commander, Vice Admiral John Miller, and Commander of the European Union Naval Force Somalia (EUNAVFOR)/Commander United Kingdom Amphibious Forces Major General Martin Smit
The European Maritime Force (EUROMARFOR) recently celebrated two events – the Spanish Navy taking command of the operation and its 20th anniversary. EUROMARFOR, a non-standing, military force created in 1995 by France, Italy, Portugal and Spain, is set to fulfill missions defined in the Petersberg D
Spanish Navy’s offshore patrol vessel ‘Rayo’ has just returned to her home port in Las Palmas, Canary Island, after a six-month deployment participating in the EU-led operation ‘Atalanta’ against piracy in Indian Ocean waters. The OPV, under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Rafael Samaniego, had
The Royal Navy’s commando carrier HMS Ocean operated the Navy’s latest attack helicopter, the Wildcat, for the first time. The Wildcat which entered service last year at a commissioning ceremony held at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton in Somerset, landed on the Plymouth-based ship during a major e
Royal Navy’s very high readiness helicopter carrier, HMS Ocean, will shortly assume the duties of Fleet Flagship. The Plymouth based ship takes over from HMS Bulwark on the morning of Monday, June 1. The ship will sail next month for the first of a series of exercises that will demonstrate the flexi
Maritime forces from North Africa, Europe, and the United States concluded Exercise Phoenix Express 2015, May 25. Phoenix Express 2015, sponsored and facilitated by U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), is designed to improve regional cooperation, maritime domain awareness (MDA), information-sharing practi
