US Navy destroyers USS Mason (DDG 87), USS Nitze (DDG 94), and USS Bainbridge (DDG 96) returned to Norfolk Naval Station on November 5, completing a seven-month deployment to the US 6th and 5th Fleet areas of operation. The Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyers deployed April 1 as part of De
US Navy ships assigned to the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group trained with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) Escort Division 12 in the Philippine Sea between October 24 and November 2. “Conducting bilateral exercises with the JMSDF enables both navies to continue to strengthen the uni
The US Navy’s future Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Kansas City (LCS 22) has concluded acceptance trials in the Gulf of Mexico. The navy announced this on October 31, after the ship completed a series of in-port and underway demonstrations. “This level of performance is among the best
The Royal Australian Navy’s second air warfare destroyer HMAS Brisbane recently carried out a live missile firing using the Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) and remote sensor data from a US Navy destroyer. The missile firing was part of the Australian destroyer’s US East Coast combat systems
USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), the first of a new class of US Navy aircraft carriers, completed its Post-Shakedown Availability/Selected Restricted Availability (PSA/SRA), returning to its home port at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, on October 30. A PSA is a typical period of construction availabili
The US Navy’s newest America-class amphibious assault ship, future USS Tripoli (LHA 7), has completed acceptance trials. The aviation-centric ship spent three days underway in the Gulf of Mexico during the trials, before returning to the Ingalls Shipbuilding’s shipyard. The Navy’s Board of Inspectio
US Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), dubbed the world’s most expensive ship with a price tag of over $13 billion, departed Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding (HII-NNS) after 15 months of repairs. The ship started trials after undergoing rectification work on a
After sustaining significant damage in a collision with a merchant tanker in August 2017, Japan-based US Navy destroyer USS John S. McCain has completed repair and rectification work and is now ready for at-sea trials. The ship was refloated in November 2018 but subsequent tests revealed issues with
The US Navy is set to commission its newest Freedom-variant littoral combat ship, USS Indianapolis (LCS 17), in a ceremony in Burns Harbor, Indiana, on October 26. The future USS Indianapolis, designated LCS 17, honors Indiana’s state capital and largest city. It will be the fourth ship to bear the
Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is currently undergoing extensive F-35B flight trials with the aim of determining the operational limits of both the ship and the fifth-generation stealth jets it is poised to operate. One of the trial evolutions included loading one of the jets with w
The US Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) has awarded Teledyne a contract modification for further deliveries of MK11 Shallow Water Combat Submersible (SWCS) systems. The SWCS system is a manned combat submersible vehicle specifically designed to insert and extract special operations forces (SOF) in
The cutters will enter Ukrainian Navy service as Sloviansk (P190) and Starobilsk (P191).
The US Navy-led International Maritime Exercise 2019 (IMX 19) that will involve participants from over 50 nations kicked off in the Persian Gulf on October 21. The exercise will span from the Suez Canal south to the Bab-al-Mandeb, through the Strait of Hormuz and into the Northern Arabian Gulf. It w
The Navy has now completed its transition to the P-8A Poseidon.