Guided-missile destroyer USS James E. Williams (DDG 95) rescued 10 mariners from their burning vessel in the Gulf of Oman Aug 8. The mariners – who claim to be Iranian – are being well cared for, receiving medical treatment and awaiting transport to aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65), which is
Iran is in full command of the Strait of Hormuz, semi-official Fars news agency reported on Monday citing Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, Iran’s Navy Commander. While speaking on the upcoming maritime drills, the U.S. plans to hold in partnership with 20 other nations in the vicinity of the Persian
IF YOU don’t recognise the ancient ramparts – or the flag for that matter – it’s because no Royal Navy sailor has seen this historic fortress up close in decades. This is the Assaraya Alhamra (the Red Castle), bastion of Tripoli for more than half a millennium, as seen from the bridge of HMS Echo [&
Calmer waters seem to be on the horizon as the threat from Somali pirates is withering, NATO’s counter-piracy commander said, warning that the international forces shouldn’t lower their guard before the threat is completely removed. Speaking in figures, in the first half of 2012 the number of Somali
On 18 July the Force Commanders of the three international Counter-Piracy task forces, the EU Naval Force Somalia – Operation Atalanta (EU NAVFOR), NATO Operation Ocean Shield (TF-508) and Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-151; operated by the Combined Maritime Forces – CMF) met on board the NATO flagshi
HMS Diamond has taken her place among the international naval effort determined to stamp out criminal activity on the seas east of Suez. The state-of-the-art destroyer has relieved her sister HMS Daring as the latest Royal Navy warship serving with the 26-nation Combined Maritime Forces, sailing in
The number of pirate attacks have fallen sharply in the first half of 2012, led by a drop in Somali piracy, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) global piracy report revealed yesterday, but warned that these numbers were offset by a worrying increase of a
Survey ship HMS Echo has discovered an underwater mountain the size of the Rock of Gibraltar as she sailed through poorly-mapped waters in the Red Sea. The ship came across the huge feature while searching for volcanoes on the seabed – and also located a WW2 wreck off the Libyan coast as her 19-mont
On 27 June, Royal Navy personnel deployed to UK Maritime Trade Organisation (UKMTO) joined in the celebrations for Armed Forces Day 2012 by hosting a charity cake sale and tea party at the British Embassy in Dubai and were joined by some very distinguished visitors. The event took place at the Embas
A delegation of senior officials from the NATO headquarters International Staff and International Military Staff visited the flagship of Operation Ocean Shield in the Gulf of Aden earlier this week. On board the Dutch Frigate Evertsen, the delegation was shown a range of counter-piracy capabilities
On the afternoon of 4 July, in the rough seas of the Gulf of Aden, EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Italian Frigate Scirocco rescued a Comoros flagged supply vessel which had been adrift and in total black out for more than 13 hours. The entire operation lasted in excess of 24 hours and was conducted [&he
The U.S. Navy’s first afloat forward staging base-interim, USS Ponce (AFSB-I), arrived in Bahrain for duty in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility (AOR), July 6. Prior to arriving in theater, Ponce, formerly designated as an amphibious transport dock (LPD), was converted and reclassified as an
