The Peruvian Navy officially marked the beginning of construction works on its second Makassar-class landing platform dock (LPD) ‘Paita’ with a keel-laying ceremony on December 14. The ceremony took place at the SIMA shipyard in Calao and was led by Peruvian defense minister Jorge Nieto Montesinos.
US Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) has qualified the first nine F-35C Lightning II pilots during its underway period. The Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS) Carrier Qualifications were successfully completed between December 7 and 11. Along with Abraham Lincoln, the “
The US Navy is set to commission littoral combat ship USS Little Rock (LCS 9) in a ceremony on Saturday, December 16, at the Canalside waterfront in Buffalo, New York. The Freedom-variant littoral combat ship is the 10th LCS to enter the fleet and the fifth of the Freedom-variant design. Little Rock
US Navy’s Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Key West (SSN 722) returned to Apra Harbor, Guam, on December 15, after four months of operations in the Western Pacific. Key West, under the command of Cmdr. J. Grady Hill, is returning from the US 7th Fleet area of responsibility, where the crew par
Peruvian naval shipyard SIMA has started the modernization of the Peruvian Navy’s four Type 209/1200 submarines. The first boat to undergo the upgrades is the BAP Chipana which was recently lifted out of the water onto a dry dock for the maintenance. The Syncrolift system the company used for the pr
US defense contractor Raytheon announced it has completed design, development and testing of its Cooperative Engagement Capability system which will provide the Australian Navy’s new Hobart-class destroyers with enhanced air warfare capabilities. The systems are yet to be certified by the US Navy, h
US Navy submarine USS Asheville (SSN 758) completed her homeport shift from Pearl Harbor arriving at Naval Base Guam on December 14. Asheville replaced USS Chicago (SSN 721) as Guam’s fourth forward-deployed Los Angeles-class attack submarine. Chicago shifted homeport to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in Sep
Members of the US Naval Amphibious Force, Task Force 51, 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (TF 51/5) on December 13 started a bilateral amphibious combat rehearsal in international waters off the coast of Djibouti, Africa. They will be teaming up with the French Task Group 473.1 which is composed of
US Navy dock landing ship USS Rushmore (LSD 47) joined the 1st Marine Division (MARDIV) for the at-sea amphibious portion of exercise Steel Knight which concluded on December 11. Steel Knight is a scenario-driven exercise designed to enhance the command and control, interoperability, and fundamental
The US Navy has decided not to reactivate old Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates, according to an USNI News report which cites an internal service memo. The main driver for the decision is likely the cost of bringing the ships – the last of which was decommissioned in 2015 – out of mothballs. Accord
The US Navy is set to receive USNS City of Bismarck (T-EPF 9), its ninth expeditionary fast transport ship, later this month. As one of the navy’s newest ship classes, the non-combatant EPFs provide warfighters with a ship that can be configured and reconfigured to take on any number of missions fro
The US Navy amphibious ready group (ARG) assembled around the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima is ready to deploy after tackling the final pre-deployment hurdle. Sailors aboard the three ships constituting the ARG completed a combined composite training unit exercise (COMPTUEX) December 9, provi
US Navy aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt on December 7 launched combat sorties into Afghanistan as part of Pentagon’s operation Freedom’s Sentinel, the US Navy announced. Worth noting is the fact that the Roosevelt’s carrier air wing flew two different mission on the same day, one into Afghan
After developing a new crack in its hull during the first departure from Yokosuka, US Navy destroyer USS Fitzgerald started its voyage to the US for a second time on December 9. Fitzgerald was initially loaded aboard heavy lift vessel MV Transshelf in late November to be transported to Pascagoula, M
