The Lockheed Martin-led team in charge of constructing the Freedom-variant littoral combat ships held a keel-laying for the future USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul, the US Navy’s 21st LCS. The ceremony was held at Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wisconsin, on February 22. Ship sponsor Jodi Gree
The US Navy’s Military Sealift Command received its fourth expeditionary sea base, future USNS Hershel “Woody” Williams, from General Dynamics NASSCO on February 22. The delivery took place after the vessel completed sea trials which started January 17, 2018. Construction of the USNS Hershel “Woody”
The US Chief of Naval Information Command (CHINFO) has awarded Alion Science and Technology a contract potentially worth $34 million to provide worldwide communications and media support services. Through this multiple-award contract, Alion will work to support CHINFO across five major tasks: media
The US Navy is joining partner nations for the 13th Pacific Partnership mission which starts in Singapore on February 23. This year’s mission will be led by Commander, Destroyer Squadron 31 and staff, embarked on the hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) and the expeditionary fast transport ship USNS F
HMS Forth, the first of five new Royal Navy patrol vessels, has started a journey to her new homeport in Portsmouth after completing sea trials. The ship got underway February 21, setting sail from Glasgow where it was built by BAE Systems. Designed for counter-piracy, anti-smuggling, fishery protec
US Navy ships from the Iwo Jima amphibious ready group (ARG) entered the US 6th Fleet area of operations together with embarked 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) on February 21. While in theater, the blue-green team’s 4,500 sailors and marines will train with international militaries “Being in th
Royal Australian Navy oiler HMAS Success is underway after an extended maintenance period alongside Fleet Base East which included a scheduled docking. The 220 women and men of her ship’s company will be put through their paces by Sea Training Group over the next couple of weeks, to ensure that the
German Navy’s Frankenthal-class mine hunter FGS Bad Bevensen is scheduled to depart its Kiel homeport on February 25 to join the Standing NATO Mine Counter Measures Group 1 (SNMCMG1). The minehunter will spend the next five months operating in the North and Baltic Seas. FGS Bad Bevensen will be unde
German Navy’s 40-year-old tanker FGS Spessart was forced to abort its participation in a Norwegian-hosted exercise in the North Sea after experiencing electrical issues. Spessart was part of a multi-ship group maneuvering off Bergen, Norway, during two linked exercises – the Norwegian fleet exercise
Amphibious forces from the navies of Thailand, Republic of Korea and the US carried out a combined amphibious assault during the Thailand-hosted exercise Cobra Gold 2018. The assault featured a wave of US-Thai-Republic of Korea amphibious assault vehicles (AAVs) with coordinated air cover overhead f
The crew of a US Navy P-8A Poseidon on February 20 helped rescue three fishermen after they spent three days adrift at sea. The 19-foot skiff was first reported missing Feb. 12 after it failed to return from a fishing expedition near Chuuk Lagoon in the Federated States of Micronesia. According to t
Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri held a keel laying ceremony for the Italian Navy’s new landing helicopter dock (LHD) at its Castellammare di Stabia shipyard on February 20. Construction on the ship started with a steel cutting ceremony on July 12, 2017, and the delivery is expected for 2022. The shi
A Russian Navy task group returning from their deployment as part of the country’s permanent Mediterranean task force entered the Atlantic Ocean en route to their Northern Fleet homeport. Ropucha-class landing ship Aleksandr Otrakovskiy, Vishnya-class intelligence ship Feodor Golovin and Altay-class
A fleet of Royal Australian Navy ships departed Fleet Base East in Garden Island, Sydney, on Tuesday to start exercise Ocean Explorer. Ocean Explorer will see two submarines, ten ships and embarked aircraft take part in war games off the east coast of Australia. They will be joined briefly by Royal
