More than 5,500 Sailors and Marines serving in the Enterprise Carrier Strike Group (CSG) arrived in Norfolk July 15, returning from a six-month deployment supporting operations in the Mediterranean and the Arabian Sea. USS Enterprise (CVN 65), along with embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 1, Carrier St
BPC Dixmude – the third Mistral/BPC-type force projection & command vessel for the French Navy – arrived in Toulon after sailing from Saint-Nazaire on 6 July. Over the coming six months, DCNS will settle the ship’s combat system. The ship will be delivered to the French defence procurement agency DG
Two yachtsmen owe their lives to the fliers of 771 Naval Air Squadron after a dramatic rescue in a gale 100 miles off Cornwall. Aircrewman Sgt Tony Russell RM was forced to dive into the Atlantic and under a liferaft to haul one of the sailors to safety after the men had abandoned the […]
HMS York returned to cheering crowds of families and well-wishers at Portsmouth Naval Base last week following a varied and wide-ranging deployment to the South Atlantic and Libya. The Royal Navy Type 42 destroyer sailed into the base in spectacular style, with a powerful 15-gun salute to the Second
Portsmouth based warship HMS Westminster has been formally recognised by the American Armed Forces for her contribution to operations in Libya earlier this year. The Type-23 frigate was initially deployed to Libya on Operation Ellamy to take part in humanitarian operations and evacuate refugees, tak
LAET Greg Coulter ‘dances‘ on the surface of the Indian Ocean as HMS Sutherland practises winching drills in the middle of a major amphibious exercise off the shores of Saudi Arabia. The Devonport-based Type 23 frigate is the escort for the Cougar 11 task group – the Navy’s key deployment of the yea
Ploughing through seas whipped up by the monsoon season, HMS Iron Duke and St Albans perform a traditional sail past in the Indian Ocean as one Portsmouth-based frigate hands over Gulf duties to another. The two ships – Iron Duck on the left here, the Saint on the right – saluted each other with jet
A team from the Navy Unmanned Combat Air System program office (PMA-268) accomplished the first carrier touchdown of an F/A-18D surrogate aircraft, emulating an unmanned vehicle, using systems developed as part of the Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) program on July 2. The t
The flight deck of HMS Illustrious has buzzed and throbbed once more with aircraft as helicopters returned to the first time since her £40m overhaul. LA James Batley guided the first aircraft – a Merlin of 814 Naval Air Squadron – to set down on the deck of ‘Lusty’ in more than 18 months, […]
This is the dramatic moment a crewman from a stricken merchant ship was lifted to safety – one of 13 sailors plucked from their stricken vessel by Royal Navy aviators off Oman. All souls aboard the tanker MV Pavit were winched off by a Merlin from HMS St Albans, as the Portsmouth frigate broke [&hel
Amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2) onloaded 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) ground elements at White Beach Naval Facility, Okinawa, Japan, before getting underway to embark aircraft from the MEU’s Aviation Combat Element (ACE), June 29. The fly-on of the remaining 12 aircraft from Marine
Excited family members welcomed home the crew of the Australian Warship HMAS Stuart today as she returned to Sydney after a successful six-month mission in the Middle East Area of Operations (MEAO). The Anzac Class Frigate was also met on the wharf by Defence Minister Stephen Smith, New South Wales
Libyan television demonstrated wrecks of an aircraft, having declared that was AH-64 Apache helicopter shot down by Gaddafi’s army. However, under close examination it turned out to be American unmanned air vehicle (UAV) MQ-8B Fire Scout. According to Flight Daily News, NATO coalition confirmed that
While underway in support of the 2011 Gulf of Mexico (GOMEX) Quick Draw exercise, guided-missile frigate USS John L. Hall (FFG 32) responded to a mayday issued by a U.S. flagged vessel, June 16. At approximately 9:30 pm, John L. Hall’s embarked SH-60B Light Airborne Multipurpose System (LAMPS) helic
