On the afternoon of 4 July, in the rough seas of the Gulf of Aden, EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Italian Frigate Scirocco rescued a Comoros flagged supply vessel which had been adrift and in total black out for more than 13 hours. The entire operation lasted in excess of 24 hours and was conducted [&he
Around 350 NZ Defence Force personnel are in the United States as the world’s largest international maritime exercise, Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC 2012), gets underway. HMNZS TE KAHA and HMNZS ENDEAVOUR have berthed at Honolulu port, and a Rifle Platoon from 1 Royal New Zealand Infantry Regi
Sailors on survey HMS Echo completed the Full Monty in the sweltering heat of the Mediterranean. The ship’s company mirrored the advance of the legendary WW2 general from Tobruk to Tripoli 70 years ago by cycling the 630-mile distance. Sailors from the survey ship clambered on to exercise bikes to c
Australian sailors, soldiers, airmen and women have joined defence forces from 21 other nations, including France, Canada and Russia, for Exercise RIM-OF-THE-PACIFIC (RIMPAC 12) in the islands of Hawaii. Approximately 1100 Australian Defence personnel are among 25,000 personnel participating in the
Northrop Grumman Corporation has been selected to supply the Platform Management System (PMS) for the Royal Navy’s fifth Astute-class submarine, Anson. Northrop Grumman’s Sperry Marine business unit will supply the PMS for Astute Boat 5 under a performance partnering arrangement (PPA) with BAE Syste
Fresh from maritime security operations in the Indian Ocean, Merlins of 814 Naval Air Squadron decamped to Stavanger to hunt three diesel boats determined to ‘sink’ a German tanker. Normally they don’t make it quite as easy as this for the Navy’s top submarine hunters to find them… The tell-tale mas
Babcock has successfully delivered a long term contract to upgrade the 4.5 inch Mk8 naval gun to Mod1 standard, with the completion June of the last gun system upgrade to programme and cost. Babcock undertook the first Mk8 Mod1 upgrade under the contract in 2005. The seven year programme has involve
A further milestone has been reached in the assembly of the first of the UK’s new Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers by Babcock at Rosyth, where the massive Super Block 03 (SB03) has been moved 90 metres north to meet Lower Block 02 (LB02) in a major hydraulic skidding operation, as part of Ass
Minister for Defence Stephen Smith and Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare today announced the launch of the second Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) at the Navantia shipyard in Spain. The launch represented a major milestone in the shipbuilding process and was attended by the Chief of Navy, Vice
Representatives from Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) and Naval Sea Systems Center (NAVSEA) hosted a Maritime Environmental Conference and workshop that concluded July 3 on board High Speed Vessel Swift (HSV 2) as part of the ship’s participation in Africa Partnership Station (APS) East 2012. Thi
On July 1, HNLMS Evertsen, the flagship of NATO’s counterpiracy mission Ocean Shield, handed over 7 Somalis suspected of piracy to the Royal Navy of Oman. The suspects and all of the evidence were transferred to the Omani navy ship RNOV Al Muazzar (C32). The suspects were apprehended in the morning
HMNZS TE KAHA and HMNZS ENDEAVOUR sailed from Devonport Naval base at the beginning of June bound for Hawaii and Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC 2012), being conducted from 29 June to 3 August. Other units from the NZ Defence Force are also taking part in the exercise—the Operational Diving Team
Military leaders from 22 nations formally launched Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC) 2012, July 2. RIMPAC is hosted biennially by U.S. Pacific Fleet in and around Hawaii. U.S. and international speakers at the opening press conference included Adm. Cecil D. Haney, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fl
Building on the bilateral relations between the maritime authorities of Portugal and Spain, a combined exercise of maritime search and rescue will take place today in an area south of the Guadiana river mouth, coordinated by the Maritime Search and Rescue Center in Lisbon (MRCC LISBON) and supported
