Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth pulled into Gibraltar on Friday morning for her first ever overseas port visit. The visit will be a logistical one for the 65,000-tonne future flagship which left her home in Portsmouth last week for helicopter trials. These helicopter trials take plac
Turkish shipbuilder Sedef has held a keel-laying ceremony for the Turkish Navy amphibious assault ship TCG Anadolu at its shipyard in Tuzla, Istanbul. Once commissioned, the landing helicopter dock will be the first of its kind in the Turkish Navy. It is designed by Navantia and based on the Spanish
US Marines and the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force concluded exercise Iron Fist 2018 off the coast of Southern California, February 7. US Navy’s Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship USS Rushmore (LSD 47) Rushmore provided both an amphibious and air platform for US Marine Corps and Japanese Ground
Naval aviators from four squadrons completed carrier qualifications on US Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) on February 2. During this period, Abraham Lincoln qualified pilots from the “Gladiators” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 106, the “Flying Eagles” of Strike Fi
Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth embarked 820 Naval Air Squadron (NAS) on February 5 in what is the first time that any squadron has embarked the ship. The Merlin Mk 2 helicopters of 820 NAS have been working with the ship since she sailed for the first time from Rosyth in June last [
Italy’s Fincantieri announced it has signed a share purchase agreement for the acquisition of 50% of the share capital of STX France from the French state. The agreement provides for a purchase price of euro 59.7 million (approx. USD$74M). The signing takes place after the resolution of the share pu
Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri launched the Italian Navy’s eighth FREMM frigate ‘Antonio Marceglia’ (F-597) at its Riva Trigoso shipyard in Genoa on February 3. The eighth of a series of 10 FREMM vessels was launched during a ceremony attended by Italian defense minister Roberta Pinotti and, on beh
Royal Navy helicopter carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth welcomed Chinook helicopters on board for the first time as she got underway from Portsmouth for her next round of trials. HMS Queen Elizabeth sailed from Portsmouth on February 2 for the first time since being officially commissioned into the Royal
The soon-to-be-decommissioned Royal Navy fleet flagship HMS Ocean arrived at Portsmouth Naval Base on February 2 on a farewell visit. The helicopter carrier and assault ship arrived just after dawn to pay a visit to the city before returning to her homeport of Devonport, Plymouth for the final time
French Navy air-defense frigate FS Chevalier Paul has concluded three weeks of counter-Daesh operations in the Persian Gulf with the US carrier strike group centered around aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. During her time with the carrier strike group, Chevalier Paul provided air defense for
French shipbuilder Naval Group on February 1 launched the French Navy’s sixth FREMM frigate ‘Normandie’. The shipbuilder floated out its overall eight FREMM vessel 12 months after the start of hull assembly in the building dock on the Lorient site. This launch brought the company a step closer to th
A new Royal Navy small survey vessel that will replace the recently decommissioned HMSML Gleaner will be named HMS Magpie, Royal Navy First Sea Lord Admiral Philip Jones announced. The last HMS Magpie was commanded by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh in Malta in the early 1950s. Motor Survey launch Magpie
US Navy’s amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) has embarked Marines assigned to 3d Marine Division (MARDIV) at White Beach, Okinawa, ahead of exercise Cobra Gold 2018. Bonhomme Richard embarked 3d MARDIV personnel, vehicles and equipment before continuing a scheduled patrol in which
US Navy ships assigned to the America amphibious ready group are on the final leg of their return home from a seven-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific. The ships are scheduled to enter Naval Station San Diego on February 2 after stopping at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, late January. Dur
