Australian shipbuilder Austal announced it has started sea trials for the first Guardian-class Pacific Patrol Boat (PPB-R). The announcement was made on August 8 as part of the company’s celebration of 30 years of successfully delivering shipbuilding programs. The PPB-R program will see 21 Austal de
The Royal Australian Navy’s decommissioned frigate ex-HMAS Darwin is to be scuttled in the waters off Tasmania to become a dive wreck, the Australian government announced August 9. Australian defense minister Marise Payne said she was pleased that the former Adelaide-class frigate would call Tasmani
US Navy dock landing ship USS Oak Hill (LSD 51) returned to her Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story homeport on August 7, wrapping up a six-month deployment to the US 5th and US 6th Fleet areas of operations. Oak Hill departed their homeport Feb. 9 as a part of the Iwo Jima Amphibious R
German Naval Yards and thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) – two Kiel-based shipbuilders – are joining forces to compete against a Dutch proposal for the design and construction of the German Navy’s new MKS180 ships. TKMS signed an agreement with German Naval Yards Kiel (GNYK) on August 3 under which
The EU-led counter-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia has welcomed its new flagship from the Spanish Navy. On August 6, Spain’s Galicia-class landing platform dock ESPS Castilla joined the operation Atalanta which received a new force commander on the same day. Rear Admiral Alfonso Nanclares
The US Navy-hosted international maritime exercise Rim of the Pacific concluded August 2 after 30 days of exercises and maneuvers in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. A total of 25 nations, 46 surface ships, five submarines, 17 land forces, and more than 200 aircraft and 25,00
The US Government Accountability Office has published a review of the US Navy’s dismantlement and disposal process for the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier – the former USS Enterprise (CVN 65). The Navy originally intended to dismantle the entire 76,000-ton CVN 65 at Puget Sound Naval
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy will be sending a warship to Australian waters where it will take part for the first time in the international, biennial exercise Kakadu. Australia has invited China to join the drill in an effort to ease tensions between the two countries, intensified by Ch
German Navy’s frigate Lübeck will soon become part of the NATO’s Standing Nato Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2) in the Aegean Sea, the navy said. The Bremen-class frigate will depart her homeport of Wilhelmshaven on August 6, 2018, in order to join the group. Lübeck has been preparing for this deployment si
Denmark’s defense department has received the final two of overall nine MH-60R Seahawk helicopters delivered by Sikorsky Aircraft under a $686 million contract. The aircraft arrived at the Royal Danish Air Force base Karup on August 1 aboard an American C17 aircraft. MH-60R Seahawks will be flown by
The first of two Australian Navy Cape-class patrol boats – ADV Cape Fourcroy – helped seize approximately 600 kilograms of cocaine and arrest two men in an operation on August 1. The operation was headed by the Queensland Joint Organised Crime Taskforce (QJOCTF) in collaboration with Maritime Border
Italian Navy amphibious ship ITS San Marco has become a flagship of the EUNAVFOR Med operation Sophia Task Force. San Marco has replaced landing platform dock (LPD) San Giusto which completed six months of deployment in the operation, from February 1 to August 1, 2018. This was the vessel’s second i
Engineers could be able to view the status and predicted health of ships’ systems.
US Navy’s Southern Command is hosting 20 nations for the Combined Force Maritime Component Command (CFMCC) portion of the annual exercise PANAMAX. Running from July 30 to August 10, the Panama Canal protection exercises will be led by Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and the United States. Panamax,
