The latest round of Mediterranean Sea patrols carried out by NATO ships as part of operation Sea Guardian concluded on October 30 and saw the participation of four ships and one submarine. Ships from the navies of Bulgaria, Italy, Romania and Turkey, in cooperation with maritime patrol aircraft from
Royal Navy helicopter carrier HMS Ocean has assumed her role as NATO SNMG2 flagship again after returning from the Caribbean where she contributed to the UK humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operation Ruman. Ocean relieved HMS Diamond – Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer which jumped in for th
The Indonesian Navy received its second Perusak Kawal Rudal (PKR) guided-missile frigate KRI I Gusti Ngurah Rai during a ceremony in Surabaya, Indonesia, on October 30. Named after the Indonesian War of Independence hero who fought against the Dutch between 1945 and 1949, KRI I Gusti Ngurah Rai is t
Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Fort Rosalie, the UK’s oldest ship in naval service, recently started a six-month deployment in Southwest Asia entering the Red Sea through the Suez Canal. Replacing sister ship RFA Fort Victoria, RFA Fort Rosalie will be helping allied warships sustain the constant fight
The Royal Navy has decommissioned River-class patrol vessel HMS Severn after fourteen years of service. The decommissioning ceremony took place at HM Naval Base Portsmouth on Firday, October 27. The ship’s company and guests gathered at South Railway Jetty for a final inspection and service of thank
Simulation technology developer VSTEP announced it has been awarded a contract from CAE to deliver ship bridge simulators for the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Naval Training Centre. In mid-2016, CAE was awarded a contract by the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the UAE Armed Forces to design and develop
Several UK and international reports said the UK defense ministry is considering selling a number of its frigates and two amphibious ships to the navies of Brazil and Chile. Previous reports indicated that the two Albion-class landing platform docks were likely to be sold due to the UK defense minis
Divers from the US, German and Dutch navies concluded several days of expeditionary mine countermeasures (ExMCM) training as part of exercise Bold Alligator 2017 (BA17). The combined ExMCM force had members from the Royal Netherlands Navy Defense Dive Group Very Shallow Water (VSW) Dive Platoon, Ger
UK-based ship repair and conversion company A&P Group is launching a defense division to better position itself for UK defense ministry’s future Type 31 frigate and Type 45 destroyer contracts. The new division will be headquartered at A&P Falmouth and managed by Gerald Pitts, who now takes the role
Recognizing sailors’ desire to use smartphones at sea, French-based defense technology company Thales has developed a new shipboard information distribution system dubbed COMTICS. COMTICS is a multimedia communication device resembling a smartphone that allows naval personnel permanent shipboard mob
French Navy’s D’Estienne d’Orves-class aviso FS Ducuing completed its second deployment to the European Union’s Mediterranean Sea operation Sophia. Taking over from FS Commandant Birot, Ducuing spent 43 days deployed to the Mediterranean Sea where it helped fight people- and arms smugglers operating
The US-hosted amphibious drill Bold Alligator will be joined by Mexican, Canadian and French Navy ships in addition to personnel from a number of other ally countries. Bold Alligator 2017 (BA17) started in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, on October 18 and will run through October 30 around Camp Lejeun
Ships from NATO’s Standing Maritime Group 2 joined NATO’s Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) in La Spezia, Italy, to take part in a series of experiments and trials last week. Royal Navy’s HMS Diamond, Turkish Navy’s TCG Barbaros and Spain’s ESPS Blas de Lezo visited Italy after
Mine countermeasure experts form the UK and US navies embarked the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Cardigan Bay to complete the Mine Identification and Exploitation Exercise 2017 . The exercise allowed for US and UK forces to share knowledge of mine countermeasures (MCM) capabilities in searching, identi
