Ships from NATO’s Standing Mine Counter Measures Group One (SNMCMG1) arrived in Liepāja, Latvia, on May 3. Led by Commander Johan-Elias Seljamaa from the Estonian Navy, the group will conduct a port visit and continue with historical ordnance disposal operation (HODOPS) in Latvian waters until May 1
A German Navy fleet tender with an embarked team of Lithuanian boarding specialists intercepted a Libyan weapon-smuggling vessel on May 1. Tender ‘Rhein’ intercepted the Libyan-flagged vessel ‘El Mukthar’ in international waters of the Mediterranean Sea. ‘Rhein’ is currently part of a EUNAVFOR count
The Italian Navy’s FREMM frigate ITS Carabiniere pulled into Dammam, Saudi Arabia, on May 5, on the return leg of her Indo-Asia-Pacific deployment. Carabiniere is set to depart Dammam on May 6, after hosting a press conference on its deck and engaging with local officials. The ship’s crew previously
The Mauritius Coast Guard received its second fast patrol vessel, MCGS Valiant, from Indian shipbuilder Goa Shipyard Limited on April 30. The $27 million contract for the construction of MCGS Valiant and sister ship MCGS Victory was signed in May 2014. The contract also included ten 14.5m-long fast
The U.S. Navy is looking at the possibility of using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for man-overboard situations in which the UAVs would help keep a visual on the sailor in the water. According to the Naval Safety Center, since 2006 more than 110 sailors and marines have fallen overboard, and eight
Representatives from Australia, U.S. and Japan commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea aboard Australian Navy amphibious ship HMAS Choules which positioned herself in the waters of the conflict off Townsville on May 1. The ship’s company and embarked forces took a break from
Ships from NATO’s Standing Maritime Group one (SNMG1) arrived in Warnemünde, Germany, for a scheduled port visit on April 28. The group is currently on a deployment to the Baltic Sea. SNMG1 has, during the past months, participated in several multinational exercises off the coast of Norway and Great
A report on the Australian government’s handling of the Future Submarine acquisition was complimented by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) in a report released on April 27. Commenting on the report, Australia’s Minister for Defence Industry said the ANAO has independently verified that the
Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer HMS Daring departed Constanta, Romania, on April 27 after a two-day visit and exercises with the Romanian Navy. The Portsmouth-based warship visited Constanta for a routine port visit on her way home after supporting maritime security operations in the Persian Gulf. De
The U.S. Navy said it carried out four flight tests of the surface-to-air Standard Missile-6 Block I (SM-6 Blk I) off the Hawaiian coast between April 6 and 13. These tests marked the next step toward the SM-6 Blk I’s achievement of full operational capability. In addition, the navy said these were
Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Ballarat and Royal Canadian Navy ships HMCS Ottawa and Winnipeg recently completed a series of underway exercises in the waters of South East Asia. The exercises, conducted in international waters from 19-21 April, included close quarters manoeuvring, practicing re
Russian Navy reconnaissance ship ‘Liman’ collided with Togo-flagged livestock carrier ‘Youzarsif H’ north of Bosphorus, the Russian defense ministry has confirmed. Liman sank in the collision despite the crew’s efforts to keep the vessel afloat. The reconnaissance ship’s hull was breached below the
Members of the Five Power Defence Arrangements started exercise Bersama Shield 2017 on April 27 in Malaysia and Singapore. The long-running Bersama exercise series aims to enhance the interoperability between the founding members of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) – Australia, Malaysia, N
All members of the NATO alliance have, for the first time ever, adopted a recently-developed standard for underwater acoustic communications. The standard is called Janus and was developed by NATO Science and Technology Organization’s Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE). “This ma
