More than a hundred members of Australian Navy’s New Entry Officer Course (NEOC) 50 embarked in HMAS Choules for their sea training deployment – a key milestone in their initial training to become qualified officers in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). NEOC is the foundation course for most new off
HMAS Darwin has again intercepted a suspected drug smuggling vessel operating in international waters, seizing 786 kilograms of narcotics with an estimated street value of $30 million. Darwin’s boarding parties boarded the suspicious dhow in the Arabian Sea and spent approximately 23 hours searchi
ADV Ocean Shield has arrived back in the search area. The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, Bluefin-21, was deployed from the vessel around 2am this morning. It remains underwater on its search mission. Over the next week, Bluefin-21 will search the remaining areas in the vicinity of the acoustic sig
A considerable load has been put on France due to its intention to continue with the construction and sale of Mistral-class ships to Russia. France said that the delivery of two warships to the Russian Navy will not be affected by the current EU sanctions imposed on Russia amid the Ukrainian crisi
Austal Limited (Austal) has delivered the second of eight Cape Class Patrol Boats being supplied to the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service under a $330 million design, build and in-service support contract. Cape Byron was delivered four weeks ahead of its original delivery date. Aust
On Monday 19 May 2014, Dutch frigate HNLMS De Zeven Provenciën joined EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia Operation Atalanta. As the ship sailed towards the Gulf of Aden the crew maintained a high level of operational readiness. They conducted a hostage release exercise with a Dutch merchant vessel
The Royal Australian Navy’s Collins-class submarine HMAS Sheean has taken advantage of a mid-ocean encounter by getting in some anti-submarine warfare practice on its way to Singapore for a major exercise. HMAS Sheean will participate in Exercise Bersama Shield 2014 with other Australian Defence F
ADV Ocean Shield arrived at Geraldton, Western Australia, yesterday to begin preparations to receive spare parts related to the transponder mounted on the Ocean Shield and the transponder mounted on the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, Bluefin-21. The repairs are necessary to correct a hardware issu
Royal Australian Navy patrol boat HMAS Wollongong has made a mercy dash to embark two injured Australians who were rescued by an Indonesian merchant vessel in the Arafura Sea. An Indonesian registered civilian offshore supply ship, MV POSH Shearwater, initially responded to a vessel in distress ca
The Royal Australian Navy’s Fleet Base West based operational tanker, HMAS Sirius, entered Sydney Harbour this week as part of a visit to Garden Island on the east coast. At over 190m in length, and displacing more than 46,000 tonnes with a full load, Sirius is currently the largest ship in the Na
The Chief of Navy of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Vice-Admiral (VADM) Ray Griggs, was conferred Singapore’s prestigious military award, the Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Tentera) [or the Meritorious Service Medal (Military)] by President Tony Tan Keng Yam. Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen presented
The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, Bluefin-21, has been recovered about two hours into its first mission since returning to the search area so a communications problem could be investigated. During the recovery, Bluefin-21 was damaged but was able to be repaired expeditiously with spare parts on b
HMAS Darwin operating in the Indian Ocean in international waters, 40 nautical miles off the east coast of Somalia, intercepted a suspected drug smuggling dhow on 13 May 2014, seizing 449 kilograms of heroin with an estimated street value of $132 million dollars. Darwin’s Commanding Officer, Comma
The Contact Group on Piracy off the coast of Somalia (CGPCS) will hold its Sixteenth Plenary Session at the UN Headquarters in New York on 14 May 2014, under the Chairmanship of the European Union. The meeting will focus on three major policy areas: (i) capacity building in the region off the coas
