The US Navy christened its second expeditionary Expeditionary Sea Base, the USNS Hershel “Woody” Williams (ESB 4), in a ceremony in San Diego, California, on October 21. The ship’s namesake, Hershel Woodrow “Woody” Williams, spoke at the ceremony, and his two daughters, Travie Ross and Tracie Ross,
The US-hosted amphibious drill Bold Alligator will be joined by Mexican, Canadian and French Navy ships in addition to personnel from a number of other ally countries. Bold Alligator 2017 (BA17) started in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, on October 18 and will run through October 30 around Camp Lejeun
US sailors and marines from Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 3 and 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB) gathered in Southern California to kick off the amphibious exercise Dawn Blitz 2017. Dawn Blitz 2017 is a scenario-driven amphibious exercise designed to train and integrate the staffs of ESG-3
Ships from NATO’s Standing Maritime Group 2 joined NATO’s Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) in La Spezia, Italy, to take part in a series of experiments and trials last week. Royal Navy’s HMS Diamond, Turkish Navy’s TCG Barbaros and Spain’s ESPS Blas de Lezo visited Italy after
US Navy aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its carrier strike group arrived in Busan, South Korea, for a port visit on October 21. USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) and the guided-missile destroyers USS Stethem (DDG 63) and USS Chafee (DDG 90) pulled into Busan after participating in Maritime Counter S
Mine countermeasure experts form the UK and US navies embarked the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Cardigan Bay to complete the Mine Identification and Exploitation Exercise 2017 . The exercise allowed for US and UK forces to share knowledge of mine countermeasures (MCM) capabilities in searching, identi
Collaborating under an Integrated Program Office (IPO), the US Navy and Coast Guard released a draft request for proposal (RFP) for the detail design and construction of a Heavy Polar Icebreaker (HPIB). Released on October 19, the draft RFP is for one HPIB, with options for two additional HPIBs. The
The US Navy will be christening its future Freedom-variant littoral combat ship Little Rock (LCS 9) in a ceremony at Canalside, Buffalo, on December 16. The announcement was made by the Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer on October 18. The future LCS 9, commanded by Cmdr. Todd Peters, is the t
Boeing has recently awarded Lockheed Martin two contracts to upgrade its IRST21 sensor system for use on the U.S. Navy’s F/A-18E/F fleet. The Block II contracts provide up to $100 million for developing advanced software, performing hardware upgrades and delivering prototypes. These efforts will fur
US Marines and amphibious forces were joined by armed forces of the United Arab Emirates on October 15 to start a two-week amphibious exercise called Iron Magic. Iron Magic enables regional partners to coordinate amphibious landing, infantry training, military operations in urban terrain (MOUT), mec
The lead ship of the new Royal Fleet Auxiliary tankers has completed her air sea acceptance trials (ASCT) with a Merlin Mk2 helicopter from QinetiQ at Boscombe Down. Completing the ASCT is a major milestone before the RFA Tidespring enters naval service. “Successful completion of these trials will c
RFA Tidespring, the first of four new tankers in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s fleet, paid her first visit to Gibraltar on October 17. Sailing with an embarked Merlin helicopter during pre-commissioning workups, the tanker called in on the Rock for routine logistics support. She is the first of a flee
German Navy’s combat support ship EGV Frankfurt am Main which damaged its stern in March this year is ready to deploy again after undergoing repair works in Kiel. The ship sustained stern damage while reversing into a sea lock at Wilhelmshaven navy base and had to sail for Kiel where it was repaired
US Navy transport dock USS San Diego (LPD 22) pulled into Souda Bay, Greece, on October 15, for a scheduled port visit and a mid-deployment voyage repair maintenance stop. The San Antonio-class ship USS San Diego arrived in Greece together with embarked Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Uni
