Portuguese Navy frigate NRP Francisco de Almeida (F334) departed its homeport of Lisbon Naval Base on August 6 to join NATO’s standing maritime group 1 (SNMG1). The former Karel Doorman-class frigate will join units from Canada, Netherlands, Denmark, Spain and Norway for operations in the North and
A €5 billion deal between Italy and Qatar for the construction of seven navy vessels is now official following an announcement made by Qatar’s foreign minister on Wednesday. “I am pleased to announce the conclusion of a deal between the Qatari Emiri Naval Forces to buy seven naval units from Italy i
The Royal Navy marked hundred years of aircraft carrier operations with a Merlin Mk2 helicopter landing and taking off from the flight deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth on August 2. On a clear but windy day at Scapa Flow, pilots Lieutenant Greg Weal and Lieutenant Nick Allen flew their 14-tonne helicopter
Germany is sending its F123 frigate Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to the Mediterranean Sea and EU’s migrant-rescue operation Sophia. The Brandenburg-class frigate is set to depart the German Willhelmshaven navy base on August 7 to join the mission for the second time. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern previously cont
The UK defence ministry’s Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) office signed a seven-year contract with Babcock International Group to keep Royal Navy ships supplied with items essential for day-to-day maintenance and operations. The contract, announced by defence minister Harriett Baldwin in Portsm
French shipbuilder Naval Group (former DCNS) has appointed a new executive director to work with the Commonwealth of Australia on the Australian Future Submarine program. Jean-Michel Billig, the Australia executive director joined Naval Group in May 2017 as special advisor to Hervé Guillou, Presiden
In addition to quantity, dredging works that helped prepare Portsmouth Harbour for the arrival of new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers have revealed lots of interesting items. More than 20,000 items, ranging from shoes to sea mines, have been found during the dredging of the approach to the H
German Navy’s newest frigate and the lead ship in its class, the future FGS Baden-Württemberg, has missed its scheduled July 28 commissioning date as it is yet to be handed over by the shipbuilders. According to German news site Wilhelmshavener Zeitung, FGS Baden-Württemberg is still undergoing adju
Responding to the possibility of new UK aircraft carriers operating in the South China Sea, China’s foreign ministry said the deployment would only “stir up trouble”. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang made these remarks after UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson hinted at the possibility of t
Warships and submarines from all fleets of the Russian Navy paraded in front of Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces Vladimir Putin in a ceremony that lasted an hour and a half. Overall 40 vessels participated in Russian Navy Day celebrations in Saint Petersburg on July 30. The nav
Russia’s Amur Shipbuilding Plant has launched Project 20380 corvette Gromkiy in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, five years after the ship’s construction officially started. The corvette’s launch comes eight days after the Russian Navy commissioned sister-ship Sovershenny into the Pacific Fleet. In a ceremony at
Engineering firm WR Davis became the first Canadian company to be picked by BAE Systems to deliver equipment for the construction of the Royal Navy’s new Type 26 frigates. BAE Systems as the prime contractor on the program awarded a C$12m contract to WR Davis Engineering Ltd for the uptake and downt
A visit by Royal Navy destroyer HMS Duncan to the Ukrainian port of Odessa on July 24 marked the first UK warship visit to Ukraine in eight years. The Portsmouth-based destroyer led a NATO task group into the Ukrainian port at the start of a three-day visit ahead of exercises with the host nation’s
U.S. Navy’s forward-deployed Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) returned to Naval Station Rota, Spain, after completing a four month patrol that began April 3, 2017. At the beginning of the ship’s fifth forward-deployed patrol, Ross and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-miss
