The three ships assigned to Standing NATO Mine Counter Measures Group TWO (SNMCMG2) arrived in Burgas, Bulgaria, on Friday, 4 July 2014, for a scheduled port visit during their deployment to the Black Sea. Led by Captain Giovanni Piegaja (ITA N), SNMCMG2 is currently composed of ITS AVIERE (flagsh
After five day’s runs from Hamburg sailing through the Elbe River, the North Sea, the Strait of Skagerrak and the Oslo fjord, the training ship ‘Juan Sebastián de Elcano’ arrived at the Norwegian capital on June 28th. This is the northernmost port of call of the training ship since she was launche
Standing NATO Mine Counter-Measures Group TWO (SNMCMG2), one of NATO’s four Standing Maritime Forces, entered the Black Sea on Thursday, 3 July 2014, in a regularly scheduled deployment to enhance NATO’s solidarity and readiness in the region. Led by Captain Giovanni Piegaja (ITA Navy), SNMCMG2 is
History was made today as Her Majesty The Queen officially named the Royal UK Navy’s new aircraft carrier. At 56 metres she is taller than Niagara Falls and, with a flight deck the size of 60 tennis courts, she is the largest ship ever built for the Royal Navy. Today, at HMS Queen Elizabeth’s [&he
Following a challenging week on the Perisher Submarine Command Course, two groups of HMS Lancaster’s personnel visited the surrounding Scottish islands. Lancaster was on hand to do what she does best, hunt and destroy submarines, and in turn the RN’s ‘silent service’ tried to sink their ‘target,’
The frigate ‘Cristóbal Colón’ (F-105) has participated in a ballistic missile defense (BMD) exercise in the Mediterranean Sea on June 26th and 27th, providing air protection to the US Navy cruiser ‘USS Vella Gulf’ (CG-72) whose combat system is capable of intercepting ballistic targets outside the e
Defence and security company Saab has received an order from the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) regarding design plans for a New Lightweight Torpedo (NLT). The order refers to the period 2014-2015 and amounts to the value of MSEK 43. The order is part of the Letter of Intent regardi
Type 45 destroyer HMS Diamond has completed her role escorting ships carrying Syria’s chemical weapons stock for disposal. HMS Diamond joined the Danish, Norwegian and British task group in February to provide maritime force protection to merchant vessels transporting chemical agents from Syria. T
The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to the United Kingdom for Tomahawk Block IV Torpedo Launched Land-Attack missiles and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support for an estimated c
Speaking at an event ahead of the HMS Queen Elizabeth naming ceremony this Friday, the Defence Secretary Philip Hammond told more than 200 business leaders that the sector should be proud of its work on the biggest ship ever built for the Royal UK Navy. HMS Queen Elizabeth is also the biggest ship
On 2 July 2014, German Auxiliary Replenishment Tanker FGS Rhön completed her time deployed as part of EU Naval Force Somalia Operation Atalanta. The ship has significantly contributed to the success of the EU’s Counter Piracy Operation off the coast of Somalia for the last three months. FGS Rhön h
A visit to HMAS Stirling by Colonel Harold Jacobs, Defence Attaché for Australia and New Zealand at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, provided the Royal Australian Navy with the opportunity to return some World War II Netherlands artefacts. Three of the four artefacts are ship’s Bridg