HMS St Albans has played a key role in a major exercise in the Gulf testing the abilities of naval forces to defend the region’s scores of gas and oil platforms – vital to the UK and global economy. The Portsmouth-based frigate was Britain’s input to the week-long ‘Stakenet’ exercise, alongside the
PLYMOUTH’S Frigate Alley will soon become ‘Landing Craft, Hovercraft, RIB and ORC Alley’ as Royal Marines units move into a new £25m home in Devonport Naval Base. Two of the commandos’ amphibious formations – 539 Assault Squadron and 10 (Landing Craft) Training Squadron – are to relocate from their
BMT Defence Services Ltd, a subsidiary of BMT Group Ltd, the leading international maritime design, engineering and risk management consultancy, has announced the promotion of Tim Hardy to the role of Head of Naval Engineering. Tim will lead a team of more than 60 people comprising some of the indus
THE waters of the English Channel fall away from a Viking as a Royal Marine drives the armoured vehicle into the loading bay of HMS Bulwark. Although the Viking has been in service with the commandos for nearly a decade, this is actually a first: the amphibious assault ship is seeing whether it’s po
Black Sea Fleet (BSF) rescue tug Shakhter moored at homebase Sevastopol on Aug 4. The cruise of the BSF auxiliary ship lasted 3 months. The crew had excellently accomplished all assigned tasks and received traditional piglet roast. During the long-range cruise, the tug called at Spanish and American
THERE’S nothing like a ship’s homecoming. Tears. Smiles. Hugs. Kisses. Laughs. Glasses of champers. Banners. Union Jacks. Royal Marines Band. Huge White Ensigns. A flypast. Joy. Raw emotion. Two homecomings within minutes of each other, well that’s just magical. Britain’s flagship HMS Albion complet
Harbor Defense Division of Baltiysk Naval Base is completing preparations for the Open Spirit 2011 international minesweeping exercise to be held late in Aug. Crews of harbor minesweepers Sergei Kolbasiev and BT-230 headed by the division commander Capt 1 rank Pavel Prosekov tested the ships at sea.
Three Royal Navy ships return home this weekend bringing to a close an eventful and complex operational deployment to the Mediterranean and Middle East. The Task Force Flagship, HMS Albion, and her escorting Frigate, HMS Sutherland, both arrive back in their homeport of Plymouth on Mon 8 Aug. RFA Ca
American frigate USS Carr arrived in Baltic Fleet (BF) main naval base paying informal visit, reports Russian Defense Ministry. The ship called at Baltiysk after friendly visit to St. Petersburg where she had participated in 5th International Maritime Defense Show (IMDS-2011) held since June 29 till
The Royal Navy’s Flagship, HMS Albion, and its largest ship, HMS Ocean, are reunited off the coast of Libya for a transfer of stores, ammunition and personnel. The two Devonport based amphibious ships are both part of the Royal Navy’s Response Force Task Group, but for the past six weeks HMS Albion
HMS Sutherland fires her main 4.5-inch gun as part of NATO’s Operation Unified Protector to safeguard the civilian population of Libya. Destroyer HMS Liverpool has returned to front-line duties off Libya, taking over from frigate HMS Sutherland. The type 23 had a busy week on the NATO tasking, runni
The Cold War may be over but Royal Navy fliers have been keeping their submarine-hunting skills fresh. A Merlin helicopter flew from the frigate HMS St Albans to search the seas below for enemy boats. The aircraft from 829 Naval Air Squadron was designed to give the Navy the best chance of finding s
Babcock has achieved a score of 90% in the two year review of the four year Warship Support Modernisation Initiative (WSMI) partnering agreement between Babcock and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) at Devonport. The review findings demonstrate Babcock’s ability to work successfully with the MoD not onl
Planning for the fourth and last Vanguard class Long Overhaul Period and Refuel (LOP(R)), to be undertaken by Babcock at Devonport Royal Dockyard on HMS Vengeance, has reached an important milestone with the submission of the tender, following identification of the full work package requirement, for
