Royal Navy minehunter HMS Middleton returns to Portsmouth on Friday (31/8) after spending three years on operations in the Gulf. The ship operated out of Bahrain conducting counter-piracy and security patrols and exercises with coalition forces. She was part of a four-strong RN mine warfare force wh
U.S Naval Forces Europe participated in the first Senegal navy staff talks August 23-24 at the Senegal navy headquarters in Dakar. Rear Adm. Mohamed Sane, chief of navy staff for the Senegal Navy, presided over the two-day meeting along with Rear Adm. Kenneth “K.J.” Norton, chief of staff for U.S. N
High-Speed Vessel Swift (HSV 2) completed a weeklong visit to Lagos, Nigeria, in support of Africa Partnership Station (APS) 2012, Aug. 24. During the visit, Swift conducted several classroom and field training engagements with Nigerian service members, hosted a health fair, and held a reception for
Counter piracy forces from the EU Naval Force Somalia (EU NAVFOR) Operation Atalanta and NATO disrupted two pirated dhows and freed the crew taken hostage in the Gulf of Aden. On 10 August, a suspicious dhow, reportedly pirated in Bosaso – Somalia, was located off the coast of Oman by the Spanish EU
Amazonas, the first of three BAE Systems built Ocean Patrol Vessels being delivered the Brazilian Navy, departed the UK for Rio de Janeiro this morning after her crew completed a rigorous programme of Flag Officer Sea Training with the Royal Navy off the South coast. Supported by a team from BAE Sys
On 18 July the ferry MV Skagit was reported to be sinking off Chumbe island. The EU Naval Force Somalia Operation Atalanta (EU NAVFOR) immediately redirected a Luxembourg Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft (MPRA), which was conducting counter-piracy patrols closest to the location of the si
On 17 and 18 July, the Djiboutian navy and the EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) French frigate Guépratte, will participate in the joint surveillance operation “7 Brothers” in international waters near the Islands of Seven Brothers and the Bab El Mandeb strait. With a new operational center and a network o
Minister of Defence Hillen is making it cheaper for shipping companies to deploy marines on board merchant ships passing through waters off the coast of Somalia. These military personnel protect vulnerable vessels from pirates in Vessel Protection Detachments (VPDs). The Dutch shippers’ organisation
The Algerian navy ship ANS Soummam (937) arrived in New York City for a 5-day port visit, marking the first time an Algerian navy ship has ever visited the United States, July 9. Soummam transited the Atlantic Ocean as part of a training program for officer trainees from the Algerian Naval High Scho
HMS Diamond has sailed through the Suez Canal for the first time as she begins her maiden deployment in earnest. It took 14 hours for the Type 45 destroyer to pass through the 100-mile canal linking the Mediterranean with the Middle East, where she’ll spend the next six months. The 100,000-tonne Gre
A new sensor and software suite sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) recently returned from West Africa after helping partner nations track and identify target vessels of interest as part of an international maritime security operation, officials announced July 10. Researchers deployed th
China is closely cooperating with the navies of Japan and India in patrolling against piracy off Somalia, a sign of the country’s greater willingness to work with other nations in safeguarding global trade despite mixed sentiments among Chinese toward the country’s main Asian rivals. Japan’s Maritim
HMS Sutherland today sailed from Devonport to begin six months keeping pirates and other criminals in check in the Indian Ocean. The Type 23 frigate – known as the Fighting Clan – sailed from her Devonshire home this afternoon bound for warmer, and more troubled waters. The Fighting Clan takes over
On June 25, Force Commander Rear Admiral Dupuis visited the headquarters of the Tanzanian Navy to meet General Omar, Commander of the Navy. Tanzania faces the scourge of piracy off its coasts and is therefore intrinsically concerned. Its navy works daily in Tanzanian territorial waters to combat pir
