Sailors on board Royal Navy ship HMS Echo are continuing their efforts to narrow down the area in the Indian Ocean where ‘pings’, thought to be from missing flight MH370’s black box, have been detected. The commanding officer of the hydrographic survey ship said they were using their specialist eq
Since Rear Admiral Jürgen zur Mühlen assumed force command of the EU Naval Force on Sunday 6 April, he has been very busy ensuring that his flagship, FGS Brandenburg, and the rest of the EU Naval Force warships and maritime patrol aircraft under his command are fully prepared for the important role
On Sunday 6 April the German commander of the EU Naval Force Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft (MPRA) P-3C Orion reached 3,000 of flying hours. After he returned to the Djibouti airbase, where the aircraft is currently based, he received a special welcome from the German MPRA detachment le
On Monday 7 April the German tanker Rhön arrived in the port of Djibouti to join the European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia Operation Atalanta. The tanker under the command of Captain Egon Rhauderwiek will provide regular replenishment support to the EU Naval Force warships and other inter
On Sunday 6 April, Rear Admiral Hervé Bléjean (French Navy) handed over the Force Command of EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia Operation Atalanta to Rear Admiral Jürgen zur Mühlen (German Navy) during a Change of Command ceremony held on board FS Siroco in the Port of Djibouti. Deputy Operation C
On Monday 31st March, the Royal Navy took a major step forward in developing a framework to allow Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) to be deployed from its anti-submarine warfare warships. A Memorandum of Understanding between the Service and the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) was signed whi
Last week German Navy frigate, FGS Brandenburg, completed her transit through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea towards the waters of the Gulf of Aden to start counter piracy operations with the EU Naval Force Somalia, Operation Atalanta. The Suez Canal, which is 162 kilometres in length is an extrem
On Sunday 30 March, EU Naval Force French flagship, FS Siroco and the Japanese Navy destroyer, JDS Samidare met at sea in the Gulf of Aden. The Japanese Commander of Escort Division 4, Captain Hiroaki Tajiri and members of his staff took the opportunity to visit the Operation Atalanta Force Comman
On Wednesday 2 April, German Navy frigate, FGS Hessen departed the waters of the Gulf of Aden and headed for home after completing four months of counter piracy patrols with the EU Naval Force. After a short port stop in Malaga, Spain, FGS Hessen will arrive in her home port in Wilhelmshaven on Th
The frigate ‘Cristóbal Colón’ and the OPV ‘Relámpago’ visited Doha (Qatar) during the Doha International Maritime Defense Exhibition and Conference (DIMDEX 2014) Both warships made the most of their scheduled port calls in support of the national defense industry in what is considered the most imp
On 16th March the Force Commander of EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia Operation Atalanta, Rear Admiral Hervé Bléjean visited the Spanish Offshore Patrol Vessel, ESPS Relampago for the first time since the ship arrived in the piracy high risk area. ESPS Relampago joined Operation Atalanta, the EU
After two and a half years protecting the World Food Programme (WFP) ship, MV Caroline Scan, from pirate attack off the coast of Somalia, the EU Naval Force has bid the vessel and her hard-working crew a fond farewell. In April 2014, MV Caroline Scan will be entering a period of maintenance, so th
It’s not every day that passengers on board a civilian cruise liner would get so close to a warship on operations that they could wave to each other, but this is just what happened last week when the German cruise liner, AIDAdiva, with over 2,000 passengers on board, met German frigate FGS Hessen at
Ahead of Chinese President Xi’s visit to the European Union in Brussels, a significant naval exercise has taken place in the Gulf of Aden to demonstrate the growing cooperation between the EU and China on issues of international security and defence. EU Naval Force warships, FS Siroco and FGS Hess
