A biting wind whistled across Portsmouth Harbour as six Royal Naval Reservists plunged into the dark waters of the diving training lake at the Navy’s Horsea Island training site, swimming across the lake, completing a timed set of circuits and leaping several times from the highest platform (over 30
Portsmouth based HMS Lancaster has visited her final Caribbean port and started her long journey home for Christmas. The ship called into Bridgetown, Barbados, for a four day visit that also marked the island’s Independence Day. A squad of 15 sailors were sent along to participate in the 47th Indepe
During the medal ceremony which was held on the flight deck in the Gulf of Aden, the international staff and ship’s company were decorated by the Force Commander of Atalanta, commodore Peter Lenselink of the Royal Netherlands Navy. Commodore Lenselink praised the EU flag staff and ship’s company “Yo
On Saturday 1 December, an EU Naval Force Autonomous Vessel Protection Detachment (AVPD) handover ceremony was held in Djibouti between Lithuanian and Serbian Forces in Djibouti. Members of the Lithuanian Forces have spent the past four months embarked in the World Food Programme (WFP) aid ship, MV
Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Moss Point, Miss., Unmanned Systems Center started production of the first NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) Block 40 Global Hawk aircraft, enhanced to meet NATO operational requirements. NATO representatives, state dignitaries, community leaders and Northrop Gru
Standing NATO Mine Counter-Measures Group TWO (SNMCMG2) successfully joined 11 additional ships in the annual Turkish Mine Warfare Exercise NUSRET 13 in Saros Bay November 22-30. The SNMCMG2 units FGS MOSEL, FGS ROTTWEIL and TCG ERDEMLI were joined by the Hellenic Navy HS EVROPI. The Turkish Navy, u
On Sunday, 1 December 2013, the NATO counter-piracy Operation OCEAN SHIELD task group flagship HNoMS FRIDTJOF NANSEN rescued the crew of a Somalia-based dhow, which contained broken steering gear and two ill crew members. While patrolling the Gulf of Aden, NANSEN received a call from a Japanese Mari
The Honourable Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, and the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of the Environment, Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency and Minister for the Arctic Council, yesterday announced the award of two contracts totaling $1.1M to Northern Tra
Six Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) warships sailed from Halifax earlier this week to participate in a Task Group Exercise (TGEX) off the Canadian Atlantic coast from November 25 to December 6. “This Task Group exercise will have the added value of being a part of NORAD Exercise Amalgam Dart, proving inte
Leaders of the tactical group of the Ocean Shield operation discussed the operation results aboard the Ukrainian frigate Hetman Sahaydachnyi in relation to the rotation term completion. The parties analyzed the interoperability and summarized the joint work during this counter-piracy operation. Comm
Three federal politicians were given a hands-on experience of life in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) recently, when they visited HMAS Creswell as part of the Australian Defence Force Parliamentary Program 2013. Parliamentary Secretary for Defence, the Hon. Darren Chester MP, together with Parliamen
During the last two months, a Danish Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) Challenger (CL604) from the Royal Danish Air Force provided support to NATO’s counter-piracy Operation OCEAN SHIELD (OOS) under the control of Maritime Air Directorate (MARAIR). This MPA was stationed in the Seychelles between 23 Se
A unique system that merges the virtual and real worlds to train Sailors for combat scenarios was unveiled Dec. 2 in Orlando. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is demonstrating the Fleet Integrated Synthetic Training/Testing Facility (FIST2FAC) Dec. 2-5 at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simula
The Royal Naval frigate HMS Monmouth has conducted the first in-service landings of a new helicopter on board at sea. The Wildcat of 700 Naval Air Squadron from Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton in Somerset landed on the flight-deck of the Plymouth-based ship to conduct the flight deck landings of t
