UK warship HMS Richmond has joined the EU mission in the Mediterranean to tackle migrant smugglers. HMS Richmond has new powers to stop and detain suspected migrant smugglers and disable their vessels. The Type 23 frigate’s arrival comes after the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resoluti
German Tender Werra is expected to return to her homeport, naval base Kiel, tomorrow, October 24. The 5th Minesweeper Squadron ship has spent 5 months undertaking Mediterranean Sea missions and taking part in migrant rescue operations. During her deployment, FGS Werra saved a total of 1186 people fr
U.S. 6th Fleet command and control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) departed Glenmallan, Scotland for a scheduled embarkation, Oct. 19. The Blue Ridge-class flagship conducted a brief port visit and embarked U.S. 6th Fleet and Maritime Theater Missile Defense (MTMD) Forum personnel. Deputy Commander,
Italian warship, ITS Libeccio, started her journey home to La Spezia after completing her deployment with the European Union’s counter-piracy Operation Atalanta on Tuesday, October 20. During the past four and a half months, ITS Libeccio conducted counter-piracy patrols, friendly approaches with loc
The German Tender Werra has left Operation Sophia after over four months of deployment. Werra was substituted by the German combat support ship, FGS Berlin. With Commander Marcel Rosenbohm at the helm, FGS Berlin arrived to the Italian port of Augusta, Oct 14, to begin its EU Naval Force deployment.
HMS Queen Elizabeth Tests 13-Tonne Anchors The mighty anchors on Britain’s biggest warship have been tested for the first time. Royal Navy’s Diamond Gets New Gadgets The new-look, souped-up HMS Diamond makes her way to sea for the first time since the summer of 2014. Infographic: Operation Sophia in
In an operation conducted yesterday, October 13, the German Navy’s frigate Schleswig-Holstein rescued 207 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. The action started when the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (I.M.R.C.C.) requested EUNAVFOR MED Task Force operating in the Central Mediterranean t
The EU anti-migrant smuggling operation in the Mediterranean sea, known as Operation Sophia, has entered its operational phase, aimed at boarding and seizing vessels suspected of being used for human smuggling and trafficking. The operational phase follows the first phase, launched June 22, which in
Belgian Navy’s frigate Leopold I officially joined EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia on October 10. The Belgian ship will work together with the other ships already deployed in the region. On 7 October, as announced by the EU Political and Security Committee, Operation EUNAVFOR MED – Operation Sophia mo
Five and a half months after departing from her home port of Rota, Spain, the Spanish Landing Platform Dock (LPD), ESPS Galicia, has completed her counter-piracy deployment with Operation Atalanta in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean. ESPS Galicia, under the command of Captain Rafael Fernández-Pinta
The French frigate FS COURBET and the German FGS SCHLESWIG HOLSTEIN have been taking part in a complex rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea from October 7. The German frigate FGS SCHLESWIG HOLSTEIN, together with the Italian Ship ITS AVIERE belonging to the “Mare Sicuro” mission, was firstly
French Navy’s frigate FS Courbet joined EU Naval Force MED operation on October 2. The vessel departed from her home base in Toulon, France, with a Panther helicopter from the French Naval Aviation 36F Flottille, allowing it to significantly expand the scope of its sensors. Whilst with EUNAVFOR MED,
Eight Nations will participate in the Maritime Theater Missile Defense (MTMD) Forum-led Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) At Sea Demonstration (ASD) 2015 this month. The MTMD Forum consists of 10 nations: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, United Kingd
Spanish Navy’s Santa Maria-class frigate SPS Canarias (F86) is on its way to join the EU Naval Force’s Operation Sophia. The vessel departed its homeport of Rota Naval Base yesterday to take part in the efforts of decreasing illegal trafficking off the coast of Libya. Canarias will spend some three
