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
The US State Department has approved a possible sale of eight Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block 1B missiles and thirteen SM-3 Block 2A missiles to Japan for an estimated cost of $561 million. In an announcement on November 19, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the contract also included
Article by: Peter Ong The United States Coast Guard’s only heavy operational Polar-class icebreaker, Polar Star, completed its annual scheduled refit at Mare Island, Vallejo, California, in a maintenance period riddled with challenges. The forty-two year old ship returned from Operation Deep Freeze
Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Stuart returned to her home port of Fleet Base West following a three-month deployment to North East Asia. While deployed, Stuart took part in a number of exercises conducted in the North East Asia region in company with HMAS Melbourne and Sirius. The commanding of
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
Qatari Emiri Naval Forces recently completed Eastern Sailor 19, an exercise conducted annually with the US Navy and US Coast Guard. Eastern Sailor 19 is an annual, bilateral surface exercise between the US Navy and the Qatar Emiri Naval Forces serving to expand levels of cooperation between the two
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
Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Melbourne has wrapped up six months of operations in the Pacific and Nort East Asian regions and has returned to her homeport at Garden Island Sydney. According to the ship’s commanding officer, Commander Marcus Buttler, the deployment was a great success as the sh
US Navy ships from the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) Carrier Strike Group (CSG), along with other Norfolk-based cruiser-destroyer (CRUDES) units, completed a “Live Fire With A Purpose” (LFWAP) missile exercise (MSLEX) off the East Coast earlier this month. As explained by the navy, the LFWAP program
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
Mine countermeasure ships from the navies of the US and Japan will be joined by their Australian counterparts for a mine warfare exercise off the coast of southern Japan which kicks off November 17. The drill is called Mine Warfare Exercise 3JA 2018 and is part of an annual exercise series organized
