US Navy mine countermeasures ship USS Devastator (MCM 6) experienced a fire aboard while it was pierside at Naval Support Activity (NSA) Bahrain on March 14. The navy said there were no personnel injuries, adding that the extent of the damage is being assessed. Sailors aboard Devastator, USS Sentry
US Navy’s Ohio-class cruise missile submarine USS Florida (SSGN 728) arrived in Naval Support Activity Souda Bay, Greece, for a scheduled port visit on March 14. While the Kings Bay, Georgia, homeported USS Florida is on a routine deployment in the US 6th Fleet area of operations, it is rare for the
US shipbuilder Ingalls Shipbuilding held a keel-laying ceremony for the US Navy’s third America-class amphibious warship Bougainville (LHA 8) in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on March 14. Ship’s sponsor Ellyn Dunford declared the keel “truly and fairly laid” after her initials were welded onto a plate. T
Royal New Zealand Navy frigate HMNZS Te Mana has arrived in Canada to start her combat management system upgrades. The ship pulled into Canadian forces base Esquimalt on March 12 and will be modernized at Seaspan’s shipyard in Victoria, British Columbia. Te Mana is starting the upgrade after complet
US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) returned to Naval Station Rota, Spain, after completing its eighth forward-deployed naval forces (FDNF) patrol of Europe and Africa. Donald Cook began its patrol Nov. 17, 2018 to conduct naval operations in the US 6th Fl
The Secretary of the US Navy Richard V. Spencer on Tuesday announced the name of the new class of towing, salvage, and rescue ship currently being built for the navy. The first of the new class of ships will be named USNS Navajo in honor of the major contributions the Navajo people have made to [&he
Assets from the navies of Japan, the UK and US are scheduled top take part in their second trilateral exercise later this week. The inaugural Asia Pacific exercise took place in December 2018. The drill will take place in the Western Pacific and is scheduled for kick off on March 14. Japan will be r
The US Navy has established a new entity that will oversee the construction and fielding of the 12 Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines. The establishment of Program Executive Office Columbia (PEO CLB) was announced on March 6 as the navy’s number one acquisition priority. “This is the Navy’s
The US needs more surface vessels and anti-submarine warfare assets in Europe to counter evolving threats in the region.
The annual disaster response preparedness exercise Pacific Partnership began March 4 as US Military Sealift Command (MSC) expeditionary fast transport ship USNS Brunswick (T-EPF 6) got underway from Naval Base Guam to start the mission in Indo-Pacific. Pacific Partnership is the largest annual, mult
The US Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southeast awarded a $240 million indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity design-build multiple award construction contract (IDIQ-MACC) for the construction of littoral combat ship training facilities. The first of five contracts, valued at at $24.
A fire broke out recently aboard the US Coast Guard’s heavy icebreaker USCGC Polar Star, the Coast Guard has informed. According to the service, the fire broke out in the ship’s incinerator room about 650 miles north of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, on February 10. The 150-member crew of the cutter spe
The US Navy’s carrier-based, fifth generation fighter has achieved initial operational capability, the Commander, Naval Air Forces and the US Marine Corps Deputy Commandant for Aviation jointly announced. The aircraft carrier variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35C Lightning II, met all requi
Austal USA has held a metal cutting ceremony on the US Navy’s Independence-class littoral combat ship Canberra (LCS 30). Austal LCS Program Director Dave Growden had the honor of starting the router to cut the first piece of aluminium, signaling the start of construction. The LCS is a 127m frigate-s
