Shipbuilder Navantia held a steel-cutting ceremony on Monday to officially start the construction of the Royal Australian Navy’s auxiliary oiler and replenishment ships (AORs). The ceremony follows the successful completion of the critical design review. Navantia was awarded the contract to construc
The Australian Ministry of Defense accepted delivery of its first Aegis-equipped air warfare destroyer, Hobart, in a ceremony at the Osborne naval shipyard on June 16. Hobart is the first of three destroyers being built and integrated by the AWD Alliance which comprises the Department of Defence, Ra
After completing port calls in Madagascar and Australia, ships from the Chinese PLA Navy’s 25th Task Group arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, on June 15. The ships are on a goodwill visit tour in Asia Pacific following their counter-piracy deployment in the Gulf of Aden. Composed of two Type 054A fri
Royal New Zealand Navy’s fleet oiler returned to her homeport of Devonport Naval Base on June 13 completing her last operational deployment. The 30-year-old Endeavour wrapped up a four-month South-east Asia deployment and is set to be decommissioned later this year. HMNZS Endeavour started her servi
An Indian Navy task group of three ships sailed into Fremantle, Australia, to participate in a week-long naval exercise off the Western Australian coast. Exercise Australia India is a regular bilateral maritime exercise aimed at developing a deeper understanding and cooperation between the two navie
U.S. Navy’s littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS 4) arrived in Cam Ranh, Vietnam, for an expeditionary preventive maintenance availability on June 11. The visit is part of a technical visit to the international port which will last until June 15. This marks the first demonstration of expeditionary
Royal Australian Navy’s Adelaide-class frigate HMAS Newcastle got underway from Garden Island, Sydney on Sunday to start her sixth deployment to the Middle East. This is Newcastle’s final deployment as she is scheduled to decommission in 2019. Family and friends joined the Acting Commander Australia
Returning from a counter-piracy deployment in the Gulf of Aden, the 25th Task Group of the People’s Liberation Army – Navy arrived in Sydney, Australia, for a three-day port visit on June 8. The Task Group consisting of two guided missile frigates, Hengyang and Yulin, and one replenishment ship,Hong
Australian shipbuilders Austal and ASC Shipbuilding announced they are teaming up for the construction of the Australian Navy’s SEA5000 Future Frigates. Under this arrangement, ASC Shipbuilding and Austal will act as one in support of the program, combining their skills and experience. “The Austal/A
The Royal Australian Navy commissioned its second Australian Defence Vessel (ADV), ‘Cape Inscription’, during a ceremony on June 6. ADV Cape Inscription was officially named in Henderson and had the Australian White Ensign hoisted on it for the first time. The two Cape-class patrol boats for the nav
Construction of Australia’s new antarctic supply research vessel (ASRV) started in Romania with a steel-cutting ceremony on May 31. Dutch shipbuilder Damen is in charge of constructing the vessel at its Galati, Romania, shipyard. The shipbuilder is constructing the ASRV for Serco Defence, a subsidia
After concluding amphibious drills with U.S. Marines off Guam recently, French Navy ships FS Mistral and FS Courbet trained with Australian and Spanish Navy ships in Australian waters. The French ships engaged Australian ships Success and Parramatta and the Spanish Navy’s Cristobal Colon in waters t
After three months of operations, personnel from this year’s Pacific Partnership mission returned to Singapore USNS Fall River (T-EPF 4) on May 31. Their return marked the conclusion of this year’s mission. Fall River departed Singapore on March 4 and served as the command platform for the Pacific P
The navies of Republic of Singapore and India concluded their bilateral maritime exercise SIMBEX on May 24. Hosted by Singapore, the exercise started on May 24 at Changi Naval Base RSS Singapura with the at sea phase taking place in the South China Sea. This year’s exercise was the 24th iteration of
