U.S. Navy’s littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) departed Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands, on September 18, after a brief stop en route to Naval Base San Diego. Fort Worth arrived in Kwajalein September 17 for refueling and stores onload prior to continuing the transit to he
The U.S. Navy has confirmed that the newest littoral combat ship USS Montgomery which the Navy received in June this year, experienced two unrelated casualties within a 24-hour period while transiting from Mobile, Alabama, to her homeport of San Diego on September 13. USS Montgomery is the fifth lit
Indian shipbuilding company MDL has launched the nation’s second indigenously built Visakhapatnam-class destroyer INS Mormugao. Weighing 2844 tonnes at launch, the destroyer entered water for the first time during a September 17 ceremony in Mumbai. Also called Project 15B, the ships are an improved
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is preparing a £30M contract which will see a number of companies join together to develop a Laser Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) capability demonstrator that will give the government an insight into laser weapon possibilities. Led by the missile producer MBDA, the in
The Panamanian Navy is host to this year’s iteration of exercise UNITAS which is attended by the United States, Panama, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Peru and the United Kingdom. The ten-day exercise kicked off September 18 and will includ
Royal Netherlands Navy offshore patrol ship HNLMS Groningem has seized two tonnes of cocaine after intercepting a small fishing boat in the Caribbean Sea. Five crew members were detained and transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard together with the found contraband. A U.S. maritime reconnaissance plane
Naval units taking part in the Australian-hosted multinational maritime exercise have sailed out of Darwin to begin the sea phase of Exercise Kakadu. The ships separated into three multi-national task groups once outside the harbor and will spend the next eight days undertaking a graduated program o
U.S. Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) reached the halfway point of its Planned Incremental Availability (PIA) September 13, pierside at Naval Air Station North Island. PIA is a reoccurring part of a ship’s life cycle, scheduled approximately every 36 months. It’s
Ships assigned to the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group (BHR ESG), with embarked 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, joined the U.S. military exercise Valiant Shield 2016, on September 15. Valiant Shield is a biennial exercise held between the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force in an effor
Following a request for information (RFI) for its Squadron 2020 project to construct four ice-going offshore patrol vessels, the Finnish Navy has now signed a letter of intent (LOI) with the Rauma-based shipbuilding company Rauma Marine Constructions. If the LOI is realized, the company will build f
The U.S. Navy’s newest destroyer, future USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) pulled into Naval Station Norfolk September 14 for another port visit on the 3-month journey to its new homeport in San Diego. Crewed by 147 sailors, Zumwalt is the lead ship of a class of next-generation multi-mission destroyers design
The U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) has awarded Ocean Power Technologies a contract to design a new mass-spring oscillating PowerBuoy for mission critical sensors for the U.S. Navy. Under the approx. $250,000 contract, OPT is to design a PowerBuoy which will differ from the current PB3 type in t
Pakistan’s Karachi Shipyard announced it would launch the nation’s third Azmat-class (FAC) corvette on September 17. Construction of the 63 meter multi-mission, fast attack craft started in April 2015 while keel laying took place five months later on August 11. The ship displaces 560 tons and, accor
HMAS Hobart, the first of three Royal Australian Navy Aegis-equipped air warfare destroyers, has started builder’s sea trials leaving ASC’s Osborne, South Australia shipyard for the first time. A number of alongside dock trials in preparation for Hobart’s first departure to sea were carried out, inc
