The Royal Canadian Navy bid farewell to its last destroyer, Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship Athabaskan, during a paying off ceremony at HMC Dockyard in Halifax on March 10. HMCS Athabaskan, the last of the four Iroquois-class destroyers, served the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) for more than 44 years. These
Royal Australian Navy’s fleet replenishment tanker HMAS Sirius is preparing to return to the fleet following a four-month maintenance period at Captain Graving Dock, Garden Island. The ship recently sailed out of Sydney Harbour and into the Pacific Ocean for sea trials. She will return to Sydney bri
Works on the jetty that will welcome the Royal Navy’s largest ships ever built, the two Queen Elizabeth-class carriers, has been completed, the UK ministry of defense announced. The jetty at Her Majesty’s Naval Dockyard Portsmouth, parts of which date back over 90 years, has been refurbished to prep
French Navy’s D’Estienne d’Orves-class aviso FS Commandant Birot replaced its sister ship FS Commandant Bouan in the EUNAVFOR-led operation Sophia in the Mediterranean Sea on March 10. FS Commandant Bouan earlier took over from FS Commandant Ducuing and served the counter smuggling mission from Febr
South African defense contractor Denel has teamed up with German ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems for joint work on South African Navy frigates and submarines. The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding on board the SAS Amatola, in Rostock, Germany, during the frigate’s deployment to European
U.S. Navy’s electromagnetic railgun program could get a new boost with improved high energy pulsed power containers. U.S. defense contractor General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced on March 9 that they have developed a new container which provides “twice the energy density than ex
U.S. Navy’s Guam-based submarine tender USS Frank Cable headed for a dry-docking overhaul after five years of tending submarines and surface vessels assigned to the U.S. 5th and 7th fleet areas of responsibility. After its successful deployment in 2016, including port visits to India, Sri Lanka and
U.S. technology company Battelle announced it received a U.S. Navy contract for work on the Naval Synchronization Toolset (NST) for the navy’s fleet of F/A-18 Hornet aircraft. NST is a forecast analytic system that helps synchronize aircraft capability sets with the reality of availability. Soon, th
The Russian Navy’s Project 949A Oscar-class submarines will be rearmed with the 3M-54 Kalibr cruise missile, Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said on March 6. “The Zvezda shipyard is carrying out profound modernization of Project 949A nuclear submarines, including the replacement of arm
Dynamic Manta 2017, NATO’s annual anti-submarine warfare exercise, is set to start on Monday next week, off the coast of Sicily, Italy. The two-week drill will gather ships and sailors from ten allied countries for ASW training in the central Mediterranean. Submarines from France, Greece, Italy, Spa
Norway-based vessel designer and builder Vard will be working on the maintenance of five Norwegian Coast Guard vessels, the company announced on Monday. The company said the total value of the contract signed with the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation was approximately NOK 48 million (approx.
Australian shipbuilder Austal opened a new shipbuilding facility that will be used for the Pacific Patrol Boat Replacement (PPB-R) programme. Australian Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne MP officially opened the facility at Naval Base, West Australia in a ribbon cutting ceremony on March 8.
Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker Gold Rover was officially decommissioned in a March 6 ceremony at HM Naval Base Portsmouth, after over 40 years of service. Commander Naval Operations Rear Admiral Bob Tarrant and the Head of the RFA Cdre Duncan Lamb joined former COs of the tanker for a service of thank
U.S. Navy’s Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group departed White Beach, Okinawa, Japan, to begin a routine regional patrol on March 8, 2017. USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), the USS Green Bay (LPD 20), and the USS Ashland (LSD 48), together with embarked marines and sailors of the 31st Marine Exp
