The Latvian Navy is hosting this year’s edition of the international annual mine clearance and ordnance disposal drill Open Spirit which is taking place between August 18 and 31. The exercise aims to reduce the threat of unexploded ordnance throughout the Baltic Sea region, including seabed communic
US Navy aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush and more than 7,000 sailors assigned to its carrier strike group are set to conclude their seven-month deployment returning home to Norfolk on August 21. The aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), commanded by Capt. Will Pennington, and the guid
Irish boat builder Safehaven Marine has been awarded a contract to build the largest vessel in a new fleet of Royal Navy workboats which are to be delivered by Atlas Elektronik (AEUK). Safehaven Marine will supply an 18 metre Wildcat 60 catamaran, to be part of a fleet of up to 38 new workboats, ran
The Finnish Navy chief will be hosting the commander of Allied Maritime Command and ships from NATO Standing Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1) in Helsinki next week. On August 24, Finnish Navy Vice Admiral Veijo Taipalus will welcome MARCOM commander Vice Admiral Clive Johnstone for an official visit to Finl
The German Navy’s F122, Bremen-class frigate FGS ‘Lübeck’ is joining NATO’s Standing Maritime Group 2 in the Aegean Sea. Setting sail on August 21, Lübeck will be replacing another German ship, F123 frigate FGS Brandenburg, which spent six months as the flagship of the international task group. Comm
The Royal Marines spent four weeks at sea aboard aviation training ship RFA Argus preparing for the operation of the new Merlin Mk3 helicopters. Two Fleet Air Arm squadrons – 845 and 846 – have recently switched from Sea Kings to the green Merlin Mk3, transferred from the RAF. But in order to be abl
Spanish Navy frigate ESPS Cristóbal Colón (F-105) returned home to Naval Base Ferrol, Spain, on August 10 after spending three month in Australia where the ship’s crew helped prepare Australian sailors to operate the Aegis combat system. Just the like the future HMAS Hobart, the first of three new a
Two Royal Navy mine countermeasure vessels arrived in Oman recently to relieve two of their counterparts who spent the last three years forward-deployed to Bahrain. Returning home to the UK are HMS Penzance (bound for Faslane) and HMS Chiddingfold (Portsmouth) after completing their three-year stint
French Navy Gowind-class patrol vessel FS L’Adroit has concluded a month-long deployment to the Mediterranean Sea where it helped tackle the migrant crisis off the coast of Libya under the EU-led operation Sophia. FS L’Adroit provided support to the operation, contributing to deter the illegal traff
Atlas Elektronik is to deliver up to 38 workboats for the Royal Navy under a £48 million contract announced by UK defense minister Harriett Baldwin on Wednesday. The new fleet will assist Royal Navy ships from UK bases and on operations all over the world. The tasks to be carried out by the boats wi
A reconnaissance mission flown by a Royal Navy Wildcat over the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat has uncovered nine illegal drug plantations in the island’s forbidden zone. Naval aviators revisited the town of Plymouth on the island, 20 years after it was destroyed by a volcano eruption. Half the
Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Charlottetown left her homeport in Halifax and headed for Europe where she will join navy ships from several countries for a six-month deployment to NATO’s Standing Maritime Group 1. On her second deployment under the Canadian Navy’s operation Reassurance, HMCS Charl
U.S. Navy Seabees on July 25 started construction of a maritime operations center on the Ukrainian Ochakiv Naval Base. The seabees, assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 1, have been in Ochakiv since April to establish contracts, obtain construction permits, and perform other logist
Royal Navy’s Portsmouth Naval Base will be receiving a new combined heat and power plant which will recycle energy, reduce carbon footprint and save the UK defense ministry up to £4million per year in energy costs. BAE Systems is beginning work to install the plant as energy and electrical requireme
