On November 26th, 2014, NATO and Japanese maritime forces continued to strengthen relations and enhance interoperability by conducting a combined exercise in the Gulf of Aden. It was a follow-on to the first-ever exercise between the two counter-piracy forces that took place two months ago. Like the
The 100th anniversary of a massive explosion which ripped through HMS Bulwark – killing all but a handful of the 750 sailors on board – has been marked in Portsmouth on Wednesday November 26. The 15,000-tonne battleship was anchored in the Medway Estuary off the north Kent coast when she was torn ap
The Operation Commander of the EU Naval Force, Major General Martin Smith MBE, visited the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Mr Koji Sekimizu, at the IMO headquarters in London on Wednesday 26 November. Meeting to discuss the current situation off the Horn of Africa
Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Fort Austin has spent the last few weeks in company with HMS Bulwark as part of the Cougar 14 Task Group, sailing from the United Kingdom into the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal and Red Sea and up into the Gulf. The Ship’s Company has been busy throughout, keeping th
Her Majesty Queen Sofía of Spain visited the Spanish Navy frigate named after her during a scheduled port of call in Piraeus (Greece), her hometown. The frigate ‘Reina Sofía’ is currently integrated into SNMG-2 as part of the counter-terrorist operation ‘Active Endeavour’ in the Mediterranean Sea. H
During the last week EU Naval Force warship, ESPS Navarra, invited local Somali leaders on board in order to help build relations between the EU Naval Force and the Somali people. After being welcomed on board, the Somalis were given an insight into the EU’s Operation Atalanta, that is helping to ma
HMS Atherstone has spent the last two weeks working in close company with the ships and staff of the Japanese 51st Mine Division in the waters of the Gulf. The two Japanese Ships Bungo and Yaeyama and their Battle Staff led by Captain Yoshida, had deployed to the Gulf to take part in the Internation
Royal Navy helicopters have delivered essential materials to Northern Sierra Leone as the part of the UK’s ongoing efforts to tackle Ebola. Responding to a United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) request, a Merlin helicopter from 820 Naval Air Squadron lifted urgent supplies for a support camp to
James Fisher Defence (JFD), the leading global subsea operations and engineering company, yesterday announced the opening of a new facility in Vaxholm, Sweden, JFD’s international base for the manufacture and maintenance of the company’s SEAL Pod range of Swimmer Delivery Vehicles (SDVs). The new fa
On 19 and 20 November, during her recent port visit to Dar Es Salam, EU Naval Force warship BNS Leopold I hosted members of the Tanzanian Navy in support of EUCAP Nestor’s initiative to conduct Local Maritime Capability Building (LMCB). On the first day, BNS Leopold I’s crew organised several worksh
The X-men have taken hold in the depths of Cornwall with the formation of the Royal Navy’s first squadron of unmanned aircraft. 700X – X for ‘Xperimental’ – Naval Air Squadron will be at the vanguard of the Fleet Air Arm’s venture into the world of unmanned flight with ‘eyes in the sky’ pilotless ai
Partrac Ltd has recently completed a survey to demonstrate its particle tracing technology for aiding the management of contaminated sediments. This was for the SPAWAR (Space and Naval Warfare) Systems Centre Pacific in San Diego. The study is being undertaken under a grant funded by the US Departme
