US Military Sealift Command’s fleet replenishment oiler USNS Big Horn (T-AO 198) pulled into Naval Station Norfolk, Dec. 17, completing a 10-month deployment in the US Fifth Fleet and US Sixth Fleet area of responsibility. “Some of the missions USNS Big Horn undertook during this deployment included
A ceremony to mark 60 years of service of German Navy sail training ship Gorch Fock has been postponed indefinitely amid a corruption probe related to the ship’s €135 million refit that is currently underway. In an announcement on December 11, the German Navy said a high-profile 60th anniversary cer
A German Navy frigate and a tender are set to return their homeports of Wilhelmshaven and Kiel on Friday, after concluding their NATO deployments. Tender Rhein is returning to Kiel after serving as flagship of the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 2 (SNMCMG2) for over five months. The ship’s
Royal Navy minehunter HMS Chiddingfold was launched at BAE Systems’ Portsmouth site after undergoing what the company described as the “most extensive package of work ever carried out to the plastic hulls of any Hunt Class mine countermeasure vessels.” The vessel was refitted after returning from a
The US Naval Air Systems Command has awarded Boeing Co. a $90.4 million contract for studies and analysis related to the US Navy’s MQ-25 carrier-based unmanned refueling aircraft. The contract from December 19 builds on an earlier one from August 30 with which the US Navy announced it had selected B
The Royal Australian Navy recently released a signal calling for volunteers from the Maritime Logistics, Communications Information Systems and Boatswains specialisations to undertake a dual posting pilot against selected platforms and shore establishments. The idea was raised during the Retention I
After making two narcotics interceptions in late November and early December, Royal Navy destroyer HMS Dragon has now carried out the largest drug haul in the history of the Bahrain-based Combined Maritime Forces (CMF). According to CMF, Dragon seized and destroyed just shy of 10,000 kg of illegal n
The navies of Australia, France and the US concluded a four-day ‘Ship Anti-Submarine Warfare Readiness and Evaluation Measurement’ (SHAREM) 195 exercise in the Arabian Sea on December 18. Participating ships included French navy F70AA-class air defense destroyer FS Cassard (D 614), and Royal Austral
The US Navy’s 272-meter long hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) returned to Naval Station Norfolk on December 18, completing over two months of medical support operations in South and Central America as part of Enduring Promise. The Enduring Promise initiative is a US Southern Command project to p
The focus of the Royal Australian Navy’s 2019 Indo-Pacific Endeavour (IPE19) will focus on developing cooperation with the Indian Navy, Australian defense minister has announced. Engagement with India, one of Australia’s key strategic partners in the Indian Ocean region, will be the cornerstone for
Hydrographic survey ship HMS Echo arrived in Odessa on December 19, becoming the first Royal Navy ship to visit Ukraine since the Sea of Azov crisis from late November when Russian forces seized three Ukrainian Navy vessels and detained Ukrainian sailors. Echo docked in Odessa after entering the Bla
US defense contractor Lockheed Martin announced it has delivered the first Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASM) to the US Air Force, achieving early operational capability (EOC) status ahead of schedule. The air-launched LRASM variant, integrated onboard the B-1B bombers, provides an early operatio
Royal Canadian Navy vessels ranging from coastal defense vessels through frigates to replenishment oilers returned to their Atlantic and Pacific bases from operations in European, South American, and Asia-Pacific waters. Kingston-class coastal defense vessels HMCS Edmonton and Nanaimo returned to Ca
The US Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) has awarded design firm Stantec a $35 million contract for the planning and preliminary design of a multi-mission dry dock and other upgrades at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY) in Kittery, Maine. Stantec’s work will include comprehensive prelimin
