The UK Royal Navy has welcomed two major warships home from operations in Europe and Asia Pacific. On Friday, Type 45 destroyer HMS Diamond returned home to Portsmouth after two months of operations in the Mediterranean while amphibious assault ship HMS Albion returned to Plymouth after a ten-month
The Royal Navy is retaining its three Batch 1 River-class offshore patrol vessels for at least the next two years, UK defense secretary Gavin Williamson announced on November 22. The announcement follows the previous decommissioning of two of the ships in the class, HMS Severn in 2017 and HMS Tyne i
Royal Navy’s submarine-hunting Merlin helicopters recently left the flight deck of aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth for three weeks of exercises at the US Navy’s Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC). The ranges off Andros Island – south-west of Nassau – are centered on a natural
UK defense company BAE Systems announced it is investing £20 million into the development of augmented reality and artificial intelligence which will improve the capability of future combat systems. As explained by the company, the innovations will help naval personnel improve their decision making
US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) got underway from its forward-deployed homeport of Naval Station Rota, Spain, On November 19 to start its eighth patrol in the US 6th Fleet area of operations. Donald Cook deployed two days after sister ship USS Carney (
French Navy anti-air warfare destroyer FS Cassard rescued twelve crew members of the Panama-flagged asphalt-bitumen tanker Durban Queen in the Persian Gulf on November 20. FS Cassard was en route to Kuwait and exercise Pearl of the West when it received a distress call from the nearby tanker. Accord
Royal Navy amphibious assault ship HMS Albion has completed the final port call of a ten-month deployment to Asia-Pacific. Albion departed Gibraltar on November 20 and is expected to arrive at its Plymouth homeport on Friday. After a number of stops in the Asia-Pacific region and Middle East – Indon
Two days after leaving her construction site in Maine, US Navy’s stealth destroyer Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001) met with Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) for a photo exercise in the Atlantic Ocean. Joining the two on November 11 were Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer US
US Navy’s guided-missile destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) completed a four-month patrol in the US 6th Fleet area of operations, returning to Naval Station Rota, Spain, November 17. Carney departed Rota July 27, 2018, and began its fifth Forward-Deployed Naval Force patrol in Europe and Africa. “From Va
The Royal Bahrain Naval Service received its second upgraded Al Manama-class combatant at Royal Bahrain Navy headquarters in Mina Salman on November 15. The RBNS Al Muharraq was delivered by Italian defense contractor Leonardo under a six-vessel upgrade contract signed in 2015. The upgrades include
The Polish Navy’s 95-meter offshore patrol vessel ORP Slazak got underway from Gdynia to start her first sea trials, 17 years after construction on the ship got underway. The Polish Navy hopes to receive the vessel by March 2019 when acceptance trials are expected to be completed and the vessel hand
A major submarine escape and rescue exercise hosted by Italy concluded in the Gulf of Taranto on November 8. In addition to two submarines and multiple ships, the exercise was attended by International Submarine Escape & Rescue Liaison Office (ISMERLO) based in Northwood, United Kingdom. Greek subma
French shipbuilder Naval Group has established a Dutch subsidiary, Naval Group Netherlands, in a bid to secure a role in the Royal Netherlands Navy’s Walrus-class submarine and Tripartite-class mine countermeasures ship replacement programs. Led by Mark van Rooij, Naval Group Netherlands will serve
The Royal Navy has started Chinook helicopter trials for the Tide-class tankers off Portsmouth and in the Navy’s South Coast exercise areas. The trials for the largest helicopter in the UK armed forces inventory are taking place aboard RFA Tidesurge, the third of four ships in the class. The underta
