On 26 September, the Seychelles Peoples Defence Force, Coast Guard and Air Force, together with the EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia Operation Atalanta and EUCAP Nestor, carried out a search and rescue exercise in Seychelles waters. The operation was coordinated centrally by the Seychelles Coast G
To deter and disrupt piracy off the Horn of Africa is one of the main tasks of the EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia Operation Atalanta. To help strengthen mutual understanding and trust between the EU Naval Force and local seafarers, as well as obtain first hand information about possible piracy i
The Russian Navy has had to withdraw its ships from attending this month’s International Fleet Review, the Royal Australian Navy advised today. The Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Ray Griggs, said the unfortunate change of plans was due a change in the positioning of the Russian ships. “While the withdr
Last week the German frigate FGS Niedersachsen, deployed with the EU Naval Force (EU ANVFOR) Somalia Operation Atalanta received an emergency call from the Italian merchant vessel MV Jolly Perla. A crew member had acute heart problems and needed immediate medical assistance. After consultation with
UK: RNAS Culdrose Welcomes Fleet Commander The Fleet Commander visited Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose to meet service personnel from across the Base, discuss current operations and see for himself the Navy’s next generation anti-submarine maritime patrol helicopter, Merlin Mk 2. India to Issue Six
On Wednesday 11 September, German frigate FGS Niedersachsen received a special kind of air mail, when a Spanish Maritime Patrol Aircraft parachuted in voting papers for 20 sailors on board for the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Germany. The warship, which has 230 men and women on board is cu
Navantia set afloat, yesterday at 12:00, the first of the series of twelve fast landing crafts that the shipyard is building for the Royal Australian Navy. The design of these ships is based on the ones built by Navantia for the Spanish Navy and commissioned from 2006 to 2008. The contract, signed i
On Tuesday 10 September, EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Spanish warship ESPS Meteoro embarked a Skeldar V-200 Reconnaissance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in the port of Djibouti. Prior to embarking the UAV on board the ESPS Meteoro, it was tested by the Spanish Navy in Canary Islands waters on board th
“Somalia is open to further cooperation with the European Union in the area of maritime security”, said President Hassan Sheik Mohamoud of Somalia last week while on board HNLMS Johan de Witt on the Indian Ocean in a position close to the capital city of Mogadishu. The president sees this type of co
Leading the fight against piracy across 2.5 million square miles of the Indian Ocean from yesterday is a Royal Navy team who have taken charge of the international task force. It is the first time the Senior Service has been in charge of Combined Task Force 151, half a dozen ships from half a dozen
On Saturday 7 September, two members of the EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) warship FGS Niedersachsen were evacuated due to medical reasons to a hospital in Salalah, Oman. The ship had been conducting counter piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. The ship broke from counter-pira
On Thursday 5 September, Spanish warship ESPS Meteoro, which is part of the European Union’s counter piracy Naval Force operating off the Horn of Africa, gave assistance to a Yemeni dhow, which had suffered steerage difficulties, with a faulty rudder. In the early morning, the ship’s SH60B helicopte
The ship’s company of HMS Illustrious has hosted the President of Albania, His Excellency Mr Bujar Nishani, as exercise Albanian Lion draws to an end. Albanian Lion was the first major workout for the Royal Navy’s Response Force Task Group (RFTG) as part of Cougar 13 – a long planned deployment that
The fleet replenishment ship ‘Cantabria’ has set sail to participate in a three-week training exercise with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) frigate ‘Stuart’ and the New Zeeland Navy frigate ‘Te Mana’ in east-Australian waters. This time the ‘Cantabria’ embarked an Air Unit made up of two AS350BA ‘Sq
