Ships of the U.S. Navy’s Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) departed Okinawa, Japan, August 21, beginning their fall 2016 deployment. The Bonhomme Richard ESG is comprised of amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), amphibious transport dock USS Green Bay (LPD 20), amphib
Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Vancouver departed Pearl Harbour August 18 and will now conduct operations in the Asia-Pacific after participating in the Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), the world’s largest international maritime exercise. According to the Canadian Navy, the frigate’s activiti
Following initial talks in June 2015, the U.S. Navy has now signed an agreement with the government of Queensland, Australia to refuel its Great Green Fleet warships with biofuels in Queensland. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and United States Deputy Under Secretary of the Navy for Management Thomas
Pacific Partnership 2016, embarked aboard hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19), arrived in Padang August 19 for the fifth and final mission stop of 2016. This year marks the fifth time the mission has visited Indonesia and will include partner nations’ military forces from Australia, Canada, Japan, Ne
After 3 years, U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) (Ike) returned to the Kingdom of Bahrain for a port visit, August 13-17. With more than 50 consecutive days at sea, the crew appreciated the time to rest and explore the small island country and take in the local culture. Ik
Pacific Partnership 2016 departed Palau on August 15 aboard JS Shimokita (LST 4002) after completing two weeks of medical and engineering initiatives designed to promote cooperation and knowledge exchange between local authorities and the multinational Pacific Partnership team. While Shimokita was i
U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold (DDG 65) conducted coordinated maneuvering events, Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES), and a search-and-rescue (SAR) swimmer training event with the People’s Liberation Army (Navy) Jiangkai II class frigate Daqing (FFG 576
The U.S. Navy accepted delivery of future USS Detroit (LCS 7) during a ceremony at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard, Aug. 12. Detroit is the eighth littoral combat ship (LCS) to be delivered to the Navy and the fourth Freedom variant to join the fleet. Delivery marks the official transfer o
U.S. Navy’s amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) returned to homeport on August 12 following the successful completion of Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2016. During this year’s multinational maritime exercise, America served as the command and control platform for the amphibious task force, Com
U.S. Navy’s latest class of destroyer, often referred to as the ‘super-stealth’ destroyer, the USS Zumwalt played host to the latest class of international officers at U.S. Naval War College’s Naval Command College (NCC). As students of the NCC, the officers study together for a year in Newport, Rho
Aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) trapped its first aircraft after more than 13 months on August 9. Bush spent the last 13 months undergoing a planned incremental availability (PIA) at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. PIA was completed in June 2016 and the ship is currently undergoing preparatio
U.S. Marine and Fleet Forces commands (USFF and MARFORCOM) kicked off exercise Bold Alligator 2016 (BA16) in Norfolk on August 15. BA16 is a synthetic, scenario-based simulation exercise designed to train Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 2 and 2d Marine Expeditionary Brigade (2d MEB). As part of the
U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Stethem (DDG 63) arrived in Sydney August 14 for a port visit as part of her deployment in the 7th Fleet area of operations. The port visit supports the Great Green Fleet, an initiative created to promote energy efficient systems and alter
German and U.S. Navy mine warfare experts are preparing to take their technology to the Baltic Sea, including acoustic and magnetic sensors, to operate side by side and see the differences and to learn from one another with the goal of advancing technologies and techniques for the detection, classif