Rear Admiral Richard W. Butler who has been the Commander of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 4 since July 31, 2014 was succeeded by Rear Adm. Bruce H. Lindsey on December 11. The change of command ceremony was also a retirement ceremony since the former Commander Buttler retired from the Navy after more
HMS Artful, the third of overall seven submarines the United Kingdom is building, has joined the Royal Navy fleet. Until now the submarine was owned by Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), the MOD’s body responsible for procuring and supporting equipment for the armed forces. Defence Minister Phili
The Australian-based shipbuilder, Austal Limited, announced December 13 it has entered into a shipbuilding contract with the National Australia Bank to construct two further Cape Class Patrol Boats. The contract value for the two vessels is $63 million. The company said the vessels would be delivere
Although the U.S. Navy’s fifth Freedom-variant littoral combat ship, the USS Milwaukee, was commissioned November 21, the ship arrived at Joint Expeditionary Base (JEB), Virginia, December 11. This delay was caused by the discovery of metallic debris in the port and starboard combining gear filter s
The U.S. state Delaware and its Department of natural resources and environmental control DNREC sank the former Army and Navy ship Shearwater on December 11. The ship was sunk onto the Del-Jersey-Land Reef as the latest fish-attracting habitat and underwater enhancement to Delaware’s acclaimed artif
U.S. Navy’s Weapons division performed a live-fire test of the Standard Missile-3 Block IIA missile, a 21-inch diameter Standard Missile variant cooperatively developed by the United States and Japan for use with the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense program, on December 8. This is the second such tes
The fifth Landing Craft Utility ship of LCU MK IV project, was launched at the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd shipyard in Kolkata on December 7. Rear Admiral AK Verma, VSM, Chairman & Managing Director, GRSE Ltd, commenced the proceedings with a formal welcome, which was followed by an
Damen Shipyards Group unveiled their new rigid hull inflatable boat, the RHIB 1050, at this year’s Europort event in Rotterdam. The 10.5 x 3.35-metre multi-mission vessel can serve as an independent platform or as support for a larger patrol vessel. The RHIB 1050 was developed at Damen Shipyards Har
The Royal Moroccan Navy has taken delivery of a Damen Stan Tug, officially named Al Mounkid. The 22-metre long vessel, named Al Mounkid, takes the honour of being the first tug to join Morocco’s naval fleet. The Royal Moroccan Navy fleet incorporates frigates, offshore patrol vessels, training vesse
Two Standing NATO Maritime Group Two (SNMG2) ships, the flagship, FGS Hamburg, and HDMS Absalon, arrived for a port visit to Haifa, Israel on December 7. The crews of the ships will have opportunities to interact with their Israeli counterparts. On conclusion, NATO and Israeli naval forces plan to p
Royal Navy amphibious assault ship, HMS Bulwark, has returned to Plymouth from operations in the Mediterranean after leading a major Royal Navy deployment. The Plymouth-based ship was leading this year’s exercise Cougar comprising exercises with the French Navy off Corsica and then Exercise Trident
A French flag officer embarked in the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle took command of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command’s Task Force 50 on December 7. The commander will be leading coalition naval strike operations for Operation Inherent Resolve, the purpose of which is “to fig
INDRA NAVY is a bilateral maritime exercise between the Indian and Russian navies that was initiated in 2003. The 8th edition of INDRA NAVY is being conducted in the Bay of Bengal from December 7 – 12, 2015. The primary aim of this exercise is to increase interoperability between the two navies and
The U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) participated in a bilateral passing exercise (PASSEX) with ships from the Romanian, Turkish and Ukrainian Navies, Dec. 6. The PASSEX was conducted in order to improve maritime capabilities between the U.S. and Black Sea n
