Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigate HMS Northumberland has welcomed her crew back following a major refit at the frigate refit complex in Devonport. Justin Mills, ship project manager, handed over the Type 23 frigate to the new Commander Alexandra Pollard. This is Pollard’s first command having previously
British defense contractor and shipbuilder BAE Systems is cutting around 375 jobs across its Maritime Services division, the company announced on Tuesday. The cuts in Portsmouth and Solent are part of a wider, company-wide restructuring which will see BAE Systems reduce over 1900 positions. The move
Royal Navy’s amphibious transport dock HMS Albion embarked officer cadets from Britannia Royal Naval College for their first experience at sea. The 18,500 tonne assault ship sent two of her largest landing craft into the River Dart to embark the group of 75 cadets. They will spend the next six weeks
Breaking away from its usual duties in the North and Baltic Sea, NATO’s Standing Maritime Group 1 has sailed to the Mediterranean Sea where it will be contributing to the Mediterranean operation Sea Guardian. Led by Norwegian frigate HNoMS Otto Sverdrup and commander Petter Kammerhuber, the SNMG1 wi
The Italian Navy has decommissioned its deep sea tugboat ITS Prometeo after over 40 years of service. The vessel was decommissioned on October 5 at naval base Augusta in a ceremony attended by the chief of Coastal Defence Forces (COMFORPAT). Prometeo was the second of two Atlante-class tugboats buil
In a live-fire integrated air and missile defense (IAMD) scenario organized as part of exercise Formidable Shield 2017 off the coast of Scotland, ally ships worked together to defend against three subsonic anti-ship cruise missiles on October 7. During the collective self-defense scenario, Canadian
The Romanian Navy has deployed its flagship frigate ROS Regele Ferdinand to NATO’s Standing Maritime Group 2 for a month of joint operations and exercises. The former Royal Navy Type 22 departed Constanta, Romania, on October 6 and will integrate into the NATO task group for operation Sea Guardian.
Researchers believe they have found the wreck of the first ship to be sunk in World War 2 – the SS Athenia. The wreck was located 650ft down around 50 miles south of Rockall by shipwreck hunter David Mearns as he was helping to provide the most comprehensive map of the waters for Irish Government [&
The Russian Navy will soon receive the first batch of the Pantsir-ME naval missile and anti-aircraft artillery weapon systems, the weapon manufacturer said recently. Alexander Denisov, general director of the High Precision Complex holding company, which includes Pantsir-ME manufacturer KBP, told jo
A Dutch and a Royal Navy ship recently completed what was termed by the Royal Navy as “the easiest RAS ever”, as support vessel RFA Mounts Bay took on fuel from Dutch ship HNLMS Karel Doorman in the Caribbean. A difficult – potentially dangerous – manoeuvre it’s typically performed mid-Ocean between
The Finnish defense forces have been cleared to sign a letter of intent and a pre-design activities contract with Patria for the upgrade of Hamina-class missile boats. The mid-life upgrade (MLU) of the four vessels in the class will be performed as part of the Squadron 2000 upgrade program and will
The wreck of what is believed to be the Royal Navy’s WWII submarine HMS Narwhal has recently been found by hydrographers off the coast of Scotland. HMS Narwhal was last seen in late July 1940 when she left her base to lay mines off German-occupied Norway during the Battle of Britain. Sitting upright
Ships from 13 nations are taking part in the French-hosted exercise Brilliant Mariner which kicked off September 29. The exercise is attended by Standing NATO Maritime Groups one and two and the Standing Mine Countermeasure Group 2 in addition to the French Aero-Naval Rapid Reaction Force (FRMARFOR)
UK defense secretary Michael Fallon on Tuesday unveiled a new Royal Navy fleet support model bringing a spate of existing contracts under new, overarching arrangements. Called Common Support Model (CSM), the arrangement will provide a framework for comprehensive support across the Royal Navy’s fleet
