The Royal Navy marked hundred years of aircraft carrier operations with a Merlin Mk2 helicopter landing and taking off from the flight deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth on August 2. On a clear but windy day at Scapa Flow, pilots Lieutenant Greg Weal and Lieutenant Nick Allen flew their 14-tonne helicopter
Ships, submarines and aircraft from the navies of Greece and Egypt started training activities as part of the bilateral exercise Medusa 1/2017. The aero-nautical exercise runs from July 30 to August 3 and is being held in the Mediterranean Sea in waters north of Cairo, as well as in Alexandria Naval
The Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship RFA Fort Victoria is back home after over two years of operations. Fort Victoria arrived in Crombie, Fife, after concluding a 26-month deployment. During her 26-month deployment, Fort Victoria carried out a total of 150 underway replenishment operations, issuing 58,634
French shipbuilder Naval Group (former DCNS) has appointed a new executive director to work with the Commonwealth of Australia on the Australian Future Submarine program. Jean-Michel Billig, the Australia executive director joined Naval Group in May 2017 as special advisor to Hervé Guillou, Presiden
Russia’s Amur Shipbuilding Plant has launched Project 20380 corvette Gromkiy in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, five years after the ship’s construction officially started. The corvette’s launch comes eight days after the Russian Navy commissioned sister-ship Sovershenny into the Pacific Fleet. In a ceremony at
French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire on Thursday announced the country is temporarily nationalizing Europe’s only only shipyard capable of building aircraft carriers in a bid to find a better shareholder deal. This means that Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, who earlier signed a heads of agreement
Hellenic Navy’s 107-year-old battle cruiser Georgios Averof concluded a three-month refit returning to its homeport in Athens where it serves as a museum ship. The battle cruiser returned to Athens on Thursday where it was welcomed by a naval band and a helicopter while other ships sounded their hor
Belgian Navy frigate BNS Louise Marie concluded her deployment to the EU-led migrant crisis operation in the Mediterranean Sea setting sail home on July 23. The multi-purpose frigate left operation Sophia after the scheduled 34 days of duties, despite calls for the frigate’s earlier withdrawal due t
The name of the first Type 26 frigate to be built for the Royal Navy has been announced during a steel-cutting ceremony held at Govan shipyard in Scotland. Pressing the button which officially marked the ship’s construction start, UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon announced that the first Type 26
A Royal Navy Wildcat helicopter has wrapped up its integration aboard a German Navy frigate during her pre-deployment training which started in April this year. The Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Yeovilton-based helicopter spent seven weeks aboard the Bremen-class frigate FGS Lübeck. This was also t
Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS St. John’s concluded her six-month deployment to operation Reassurance supporting NATO assurance and deterrence measures in Central and Eastern Europe. While deployed, HMCS St. John’s conducted operations and took part in multi-national exercises with NATO Allies and
Royal Navy sailors and marines exercised with their counterparts from other countries during a five-month annual French naval deployment to the Indian Ocean and Far East. UK forces joined the French Navy assault ship FS Mistral in March as part of the Jeanne d’Arc 2017 French task group, which has v
Royal Fleet Auxiliary Mounts Bay unloaded military personnel, trucks and heavy equipment onto the Seven Mile Beach, Grand Cayman, for the first stop of the dock landing ship’s deployment to the Caribbean. Swimmers, sunbathers and holidaymakers looked on as the 16,000-ton RFA Mounts Bay moored off th
Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Mounts Bay took over UK’s North Atlantic patrol duties from RFA Wave Knight during a port visit to the Lesser Antilles port of Fort-de-France in Martinique. Handing over the baton to Mounts Bay, RFA Wave Knight wrapped up a 13 month deployment which has seen the ship sail
