Royal Navy patrol ship HMS Mersey returmed home to Portsmouth on Friday completing a 13-month mission supporting efforts to tackle people trafficking and drug smuggling. The River-class patrol ship left Portsmouth in January 2016, heading for the Caribbean before travelling east to the Mediterranean
Off the west coast of Africa frigate HMS Portland takes on fuel from tanker RFA Gold Rover – the very last time the oldest vessel in the UK’s Naval Service will provide ‘black gold’ to fuel front-line operations. The 11,000-tonne support vessel is due to decommission in the UK next month – 43 years
Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker Tidespring arrived in Japan on February 9 for a scheduled stop on its way to UK waters. RFA Tidespring is the lead ship of Tide-class tankers built for Great Britain by the South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. As the first of four ships that
The first Royal Navy establishment overseas in nearly half a century will be ready for sailors and marines to move into by November, the Royal Navy said. Workers are on track to complete the future HMS Jufair in Bahrain that will provide accommodation, welfare and support facilities for up to 300 mi
French Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle has entered dry dock in the Toulon navy base to start its mid life refit. The undertaking will be led by DGA (French armament procurement agency), the French Navy’s Fleet Support Department and the aircraft carrier’s crew in collabo
NATO ships from Turkey, Italy and Greece are currently sailing in the Mediterranean Sea making observations that will help improve maritime situational awareness. The three ships are tasked under operation Sea Guardian, a newly launched NATO operation which has three man tasks, maritime situational
Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Argus departed Falmouth Docks and started a busy training programme on January 23 under the command of Captain Peter N Selby. Having completed a scheduled maintenance period (SMP) at A & P Falmouth, she began deck landing training (DLT) with 845 Squadron right away. On the
The largest vessel in the Royal Dutch Navy’s fleet recently became the first ship to have its hull cleaned with robot technology. Dutch company Fleet Cleaner announced that the Karel Doorman cleaning was a trial completed in December 2016. The company removed the fouling of the vessel using a hull c
To battle submarines in the Baltic Sea, you need to have a torpedo developed specifically for the Baltic Sea, Swedish torpedo developers have said. In a recent article posted on the Defence Materiel Administration website, Sweden’s torpedo developers explain what a process to develop and produce a n
The Royal Australian Navy has awarded Austrian UAV developer Schiebel a contract for the supply of its Camcopter S-100 system and three years of follow-on contractor logistics support. The contract was signed at the end of December 2016, but the company announced it on February 6, 2017. The Royal Au
Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet anti-submarine warfare destroyer ‘Admiral Tributs’ set sail to carry out training at sea, the Russian ministry of defense announced. The ship’s crew will carry out artillery firing at coast, air, and sea targets. They will also practice jamming countermeasures, ship dama
During her port call in Adelaide, Italian FREMM frigate ITS Carabiniere welcomed the Australian minister for defense Christopher Pyne on board on February 5. Pyne toured the Italian frigate ITS Carabiniere as it visited South Australia on a four-month deployment to the Asia-Pacific to support naval
Navy ships from Australia, Great Britain, France and the U.S. concluded their participation in the multi-national exercise Unified Trident that was held in the Persian Gulf. More than 15 ships, plus numerous aircraft from the four navies completed many different evolutions from January 31 to Februar
All eleven Royal Navy submarines will be based at HMNB Clyde in Scotland from 2020, UK defense secretary Michael Fallon has announced. In addition to this, the UK is also investing near £4 million in the building of a single UK hub for Royal Navy’s submarine service at HMNB Clyde. HM Treasury this w
