U.S. Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, the future USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), completed crew certification on February 16, following a three-day fast cruise. “It is the crew that brings the ship to life,” said Capt. Rick McCormack, Ford’s commanding officer. “The crew is at the heart of all that we d
U.S. Navy’s Singapore-based littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS 4) arrived in Brunei for the first scheduled port visit on its deployment on February 16. While in port Coronado will host multiple ship tours and put the embarked MH-60S Seahawk helicopter and MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopter on
Russia’s Project 667BDR nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine ‘Ryazan’ returned to service after it spent five years in the docks undergoing repairs and modernization. Russia’s Ministry of Defence confirmed that the submarine returned to its homeport in Vilyuchinsk, Kamchatka after completing
After last year’s reports said Dutch warships had disappeared from the floor of the Java Sea, a joint Dutch-Indonesian investigation confirmed initial fears saying that “salvage operations of some kind have indeed occurred”. The disappearance of ships was first noted in November 2016 when a diving t
The Brazilian Navy has decided to decommission its aircraft carrier BNS Sao Paulo (A 12), 17 years after acquiring it from the French Navy in 2000. The reason for this decision, as the Brazilian news site DefesaNet reported, was the fact that cost of returning the aircraft carrier to an operational
The 36th iteration of the multilateral exercise Cobra Gold kicked off in Sattahip, Thailand, February 14. Cobra Gold is a Thailand/United States co-sponsored, combined task force and joint theater security cooperation exercise conducted annually in the Kingdom of Thailand. CG 17 will be held Feb. 14
The U.S. Navy has awarded BAE Systems Norfolk Ship Repair a $42 million contract for repair and alteration works on the Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Vicksburg (CG 69). Under the contract, BAE Systems will perform what is termed as a special selected restricted availability (SSRA). An SSRA is schedu
Danish Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organization (DALO) has contracted Thales for the delivery of 14 continuous wave illumination (CWI) transmitters for the Danish Navy’s Absalon and Iver Huitfeldt-class vessels. The transmitters are to be integrated in the current ESSM fire control systems on-
The wreck of the U.S. Navy’s World War II cruiser USS Houston (CA 30) lying in Indonesian waters appears to be intact, an analysis of data from a multi-beam sonar survey has revealed. Following a 2014 expedition, specialists from the Naval History and Heritage Command Underwater Archeology (UA) Bran
Germany will buy six MKS 180 multi-role warships right away instead of initially starting off with four units, a spokesman of German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday, according to Reuters. The initial plan was to build four ships in the class and later decide whether to build ano
Installations in the U.S. Navy Region Northwest (NRNW) concluded exercise Solid Curtain-Citadel Shield (SC-CS) 2017 which they carried out in coordination with local law enforcement and emergency personnel. The exercise took place between January 30-February 10. During SC-CS 2017, NSF personnel at a
Following an operational tasking in the second part of 2016, RFA Wave Ruler returned home for a maintenance period which was completed in January. Wave Ruler returned to her tanker duties in support of Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) after setting sail on January 22. Wave Ruler is tasked to carry o
The U.S. Coast Guard will test potential heavy polar icebreaker design models at Canada’s National Research Council (NRC) in St John’s, Newfoundland. Announced by the U.S. Coast Guard’s acquisition directorate, the government to government agreement for the heavy polar icebreaker acquisition program
NATO’s annual mine countermeasure (MCM) exercise Dynamic Move (DME17) which saw the participation of over 15 countries, including Partnership for Peace (PFP) countries, Finland and Sweden, concluded Friday, February 10. The two-week drill was organized by the Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM) and aim
