On Wednesday 11 September, German frigate FGS Niedersachsen received a special kind of air mail, when a Spanish Maritime Patrol Aircraft parachuted in voting papers for 20 sailors on board for the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Germany. The warship, which has 230 men and women on board is cu
Navantia set afloat, yesterday at 12:00, the first of the series of twelve fast landing crafts that the shipyard is building for the Royal Australian Navy. The design of these ships is based on the ones built by Navantia for the Spanish Navy and commissioned from 2006 to 2008. The contract, signed i
On Tuesday 10 September, EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Spanish warship ESPS Meteoro embarked a Skeldar V-200 Reconnaissance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in the port of Djibouti. Prior to embarking the UAV on board the ESPS Meteoro, it was tested by the Spanish Navy in Canary Islands waters on board th
“Somalia is open to further cooperation with the European Union in the area of maritime security”, said President Hassan Sheik Mohamoud of Somalia last week while on board HNLMS Johan de Witt on the Indian Ocean in a position close to the capital city of Mogadishu. The president sees this type of co
Leading the fight against piracy across 2.5 million square miles of the Indian Ocean from yesterday is a Royal Navy team who have taken charge of the international task force. It is the first time the Senior Service has been in charge of Combined Task Force 151, half a dozen ships from half a dozen
On Saturday 7 September, two members of the EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) warship FGS Niedersachsen were evacuated due to medical reasons to a hospital in Salalah, Oman. The ship had been conducting counter piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. The ship broke from counter-pira
On Thursday 5 September, Spanish warship ESPS Meteoro, which is part of the European Union’s counter piracy Naval Force operating off the Horn of Africa, gave assistance to a Yemeni dhow, which had suffered steerage difficulties, with a faulty rudder. In the early morning, the ship’s SH60B helicopte
The ship’s company of HMS Illustrious has hosted the President of Albania, His Excellency Mr Bujar Nishani, as exercise Albanian Lion draws to an end. Albanian Lion was the first major workout for the Royal Navy’s Response Force Task Group (RFTG) as part of Cougar 13 – a long planned deployment that
The fleet replenishment ship ‘Cantabria’ has set sail to participate in a three-week training exercise with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) frigate ‘Stuart’ and the New Zeeland Navy frigate ‘Te Mana’ in east-Australian waters. This time the ‘Cantabria’ embarked an Air Unit made up of two AS350BA ‘Sq
On 4 September 2013, off the coast of Mogadishu, the EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Atalanta hosted the President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, on board the Dutch EU NAVFOR flagship, HNLMS Johan de Witt. The President, his Ministers and security commanders met with EU Special Envoy to Somalia, Mich
Fourteen participants from various countries on the east coast of Africa have attended the EU’s Senior Maritime Security Course on board the landing platform dock HNLMS Johan de Witt. The Johan de Witt is currently operating off the coast of Somalia as the flagship for the Atalanta counterpiracy mis
DCNS, a world leader in naval defence and an innovator in the energy sector, is exhibiting at MSPO Exhibition taking place in Poland from 2nd to 5th of September 2013. As a naval prime contractor, systems integrator and shipbuilder, DCNS combines resources and expertise spanning the naval defence va
On Friday 30 August, Commodore Peter Lenselink and members of his staff visited German frigate FGS Niedersachsen, which is currently part of the EU’s counter piracy task force off the coast of Somalia. During his visit, Commodore Lenselink visited the different departments on board and met members o
EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia Operation Atalanta warship ESPS Meteoro recently evacuated a member of the ships crew who had a medical issue. The ship had been conducting counter piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. The ship broke from counter-piracy operations and clo
