Works on the Royal Navy’s fifth follow-on River-class offshore patrol vessel began with a steel cutting ceremony on Friday, April 21. Tony Douglas, head of UK’s defense procurement organisation, pressed the button to cut the first sheet of steel for the HMS Spey at BAE Systems’ Govan shipyard in Sco
HNLMS Karel Doorman, the largest ship in service with the Royal Netherlands Navy, has taken to sea again after receiving a new engine during a reparation that lasted for almost a year. The amphibious, multi-function support ship returned to the Den Helder base in April last year with a broken engine
German Navy frigate and current flagship of NATO’s Standing Maritime Group 2 – FGS Brandenburg – ran aground on Monday morning while departing the port of Piraeus, Greece. The frigate collided with a jetty and sustained considerable damage. According to German media, FGS Brandenburg damaged her rudd
Polish Naval Port Gdynia contracted Sweden’s Saab for the maintenance and logistic support of the Polish Navy’s RBS15 Mk3 surface-to-surface missile system. Saab received this contract after partnering with Polish defense company MESKO, a member of Polish Armament Group (PGZ), last year. The contrac
The Turkish Navy commissioned the lead ship of a new class of landing ships, TCG Bayraktar, on April 14, Turkish minister of defense tweeted. This was first reported by Turkish Bosphorus Naval News who noted that the ship will remain under the shipyard’s warranty for 12 months. After the 12-month pe
A Royal Navy frigate escorted two Russian corvettes which sailed through the English Channel on the night between April 15 and 16. Type 23 frigate HMS Sutherland located the two Russian ships in the early hours of Friday morning as they sailed through the North Sea towards the Dover Straits. The two
German Navy tanker ‘Spessart’ had to be towed home from UK waters after experiencing problems with its engine during the Joint Warrior drill off Scotland. The 40-year-old ship broke down on March 27 and the extent of damage is yet to be determined, German Kieler Nachrichten reported. Spessart withdr
Italian Navy aircraft carrier ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi concluded its participation in the EU NAVFOR-led operation Sophia in the Mediterranean Sea. The carrier stepped down from its duty as flagship of the mission on April 4, some six month after joining the group. During its time spent with operation
Ships and personnel from U.S., UK and France have kicked off the two-week multilateral amphibious exercise Alligator Dagger 17. The drill is taking place in international waters off the coast of Djibouti and in the vicinity of Djibouti and Arta Beach, between April 5 and 20. Participating forces inc
The UK Royal Marines are being restructured to better fit the changing Royal Navy fleet, the UK Ministry of Defence announced on Tuesday. According to the UK Ministry of Defence, some 200 Royal Marine roles are being repurposed with around half of them being backroom function roles, like drivers and
The UK Ministry of Defence has awarded Cohort company SEA a contract to upgrade the ambient noise prediction system (ANPS) for the Royal Navy. The ANPS takes meteorological and oceanographic forecasts, together with oceanographic databases, and performs complex acoustic propagation calculations to p
The Finnish Defence Forces’ Logistics Command announced the names of three shortlisted combat system bidders for its Squadron 2020 project vessels. Of a total of 8 companies competing for the contract, Finland has chosen German Atlas Elektronik GmbH, the Canadian Lockheed Martin Canada Inc and the S
Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri launched the bow section of Italian Navy’s new logistic support ship in a March 10 ceremony in Riva Trigoso, Italy. The launched bow section is 94 meters long, 24 meters wide, 16.3 meters high, and weighs about 4.100 tons. It will now be transported by sea to the ship
The United States has launched dozens of Tomahawk missiles on a military base in Syria, in what it says is a retaliation for the regime of Bashar Assad using nerve agents to attack his own people, that had occurred a few days earlier. The attack has been ordered by the U.S. president, Donald Trump,
