HMS Defender – the fifth of the Royal Navy’s powerful new Type 45 destroyers – will be formally commissioned into the fleet on Thursday (March 21). Hundreds of guests including families of the 190 ship’s company will attend a colourful ‘Christening’ ceremony at Portsmouth Naval Base to mark the ship
Sailors aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) and Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) conducted a noncombatant evacuation operation (NEO) drill while underway off the coast of Okinawa March 15. NEO is the safe evacuation of American civilians and embassy o
Indonesian Naval Ship “KRI Diponegoro-365” arrived at the Port of Colombo for a refueling and logistics visit on 18th March 2013. The ship, which is on the way from Indonesia to Lebanon as part of Indonesia-UNIFIL mission in Lebanon, was welcomed by the Sri Lanka Navy in accordance with Naval tradit
The “Wizards” of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 133 conducted an aerial change of command ceremony over the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) March 17. Cmdr. Mike Bisbee, of Miami, Fla., relieved Cmdr. Christopher DeMay, of Farmingdale, N.Y., as commanding officer. Bisbee
The multinational maritime exercise Saharan Express 2013 (SE-13) successfully concluded with post-sail discussions and a press conference, March 14. SE-13, which began March 7, is a maritime exercise designed to improve cooperation among participating nations in order to increase counter-piracy capa
One-tonne models of the Royal Navy’s future carriers and the tankers which will support them are being tested in a giant water tank in Gosport. A 1:44 scale model of HMS Queen Elizabeth and RFA Tidespring have been practising replenishments at sea in calm and rough waters at the ‘ocean basin’ test f
Sailors from Submarine Group (COMSUBGRU) 2 welcomed a new command master chief March 15. COMSUBGRU 2 Command Master Chief Andrew Smith relieved Command Master Chief Wesley Koshoffer. Koshoffer’s pivotal role as the command master chief was to work with the command master chiefs from submarine squadr
Nudging between the rocks in the Kyle Akin, HMS Richmond is safely guided through narrow waters separating the Scottish mainland from the Isle of Skye by specialist navigators. The navigators have been tested to the limit over the past fortnight aboard the Portsmouth-based frigate, which has sailed
The Navy celebrated the keel laying of Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) John Warner (SSN 785) at Huntington Ingalls Industries – Newport News Shipbuilding (HII -NNS) in Newport News, Va., March 16. The submarine is named for former five-term U.S. Senator from Virginia and Secretary of the Navy John Warn
Royal Navy warship HMS Westminster, which is affiliated to its namesake borough, has arrived on the Thames alongside HMS Belfast for a six-day regional engagement visit. Sailing through the Thames barrier, beneath Tower bridge and past the O2, the Type-23 frigate gracefully transited through the cap
The amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu (LHA 5) held its second annual woman’s leadership symposium, March 10. The two-hour symposium afforded Sailors and Marines the chance to ask female officers and senior enlisted leadership personal and professional questions. Peleliu’s Commanding Officer Capt.
The John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group (JCSCSG) got underway March 17, following a four-day port visit to Jebel Ali, Dubai. During the port visit, Sailors from Stennis and guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG 53) had the opportunity to explore the local culture and participate in a variety of
The United States Department of Defense has announced that Austal USA has been awarded a US$19.987 million modification to a previously awarded Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) contract. The modification exercises options for class service efforts and special studies, analyses and reviews for the LCS prog
Three Crew Members of US Navy EA-6B Prowler Jet Die in Aircraft Crash (UPDATE) All three crew members aboard a Navy EA-6B Prowler jet assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron 129 (VAQ-129) at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash., were killed when the aircraft crashed Monday morning in an unpopulate
