After nine months operating as part of the Royal Australian Navy Fleet, Spanish Armada Ship, ESPS Cantabria was farewelled from her temporary homeport of Garden Island, Sydney. Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Ray Griggs, AO, CSC, RAN joined the Spanish Ambassador to Australia, HE Mr Enrique Viguera, Com
The Navy bade farewell to the Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided missile frigate USS Ford (FFG 54) after more than 28 years of service during a decommissioning ceremony at Naval Station Everett, Oct. 31. The ceremony featured former USS Ford commanding officers, plankowners and family of the ship’s na
During the scheduled port-call at Tunis, the frigate ‘Álvaro de Bazán’ (F-101) and the Turkish frigate ‘Salihreis’, integrated into the Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG-2), have trained with naval units from the Tunisian Navy. These PASSEX-type exercises are intended to assure that the participa
HMS Ledbury has sailed into Poland for the start of a NATO exercise involving ships from partner nations including Norway, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Estonia. The two-week exercise will see the personnel take part in a number of warfare serials including hunting for dummy mines, di
Parliamentary Secretary to the Australian Minister for Defence, the Hon Darren Chester MP, made his first visit to the Headquarters Northern Command and HMAS Coonawarra yesterday, where he met with personnel and toured the Navy’s most northerly base. After an invigorating physical training session w
The United States and New Zealand announced on Monday a resumption of military-to-military contacts as part of expanded defense cooperation that will see the first visit by a New Zealand naval vessel to an American port in more than three decades. The announcement followed a meeting at the Pentagon
Two of the Royal Australian Navy’s Coastal Hydrographic Survey ships have recently returned to their homeport of Cairns, having completed a survey of Dawson Strait, Papua New Guinea. The two ships, Mermaid and Paluma, commenced vital survey work in August to assist mariners in the safe passage and n
Army and RAF personnel have been getting their sea legs on board HMS Richmond while on her patrol of the South Atlantic. The Yorkshire Regiment and 230 Squadron RAF are affiliated to the Portsmouth-based Type-23 frigate and seven personnel were given the opportunity to stay on board and experience l
Members from Naval Cooperation and Guidance for Shipping (NCAGS) and U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) as well as commercial shipping industry representatives came together for exercise Lucky Mariner 14-1, Oct. 27. Lucky Mariner is a biannual U.S. Navy, coalition, and commercial shipping e
This past weekend, two NATO ships assigned to Standing NATO Maritime Group TWO (SNMG2) paid a visit to the port of Tunis. The port visit provided the crew of the SNMG2 ships a welcome break from the high tempo supporting NATO’s counter-terrorism Operation ACTIVE ENDEAVOUR (OAE), actively deterring t
On Tuesday, 29 October 2013, SNMCMG1 marked 40 years of service afloat with a ceremony in port, during the harbour phase of Exercise STEADFAST JAZZ 2013. More than 260 crewmembers from six SNMCMG1 ships participated in this event along with former commanders of the Group and official guests from all
Last week, Personnel from HMAS Choules conducted a memorial service at a cemetery on Manus Island to remember Australians who died there during World War 2. The cemetery is located on what is now Manus Secondary School grounds, just inside Lorengau township. It is understood that this was formally t
German frigate FGS Niedersachsen, which is currently deployed with the EU Naval Force, recently carried out two friendly approaches on dhows. To help strengthen mutual understanding and trust between the EU Naval Force and local seafarers, as well as obtain first hand information about possible pira
General Dynamics Bath Iron Works successfully launched the Navy’s first Zumwalt-class destroyer Oct. 28 at their Bath, Maine shipyard. The future USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) will be the lead ship of the Navy’s newest destroyer class, designed for littoral operations and land attack. The ship began its tr
