Commander of Standing NATO Maritime Group ONE (SNMG1), Commodore Henning Amundsen handed over command of NATO’s counter-piracy Operation OCEAN SHIELD task force (CTF-508) at one minute past midnight December 7 to Rear-Admiral Eugenio Diaz Del Rio, Commander SNMG2. The two commanders and staffs met a
U.S. Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Stout and U.S. Naval Support Activity Souda Bay on Sunday as part of his annual USO Holiday Tour. Dempsey took a tour of the ship and spoke with sailors about the
After stopping 20 armed pirate groups and seizing more than 50 pirates, RFA Fort Victoria has completed a marathon 40-month deployment by sailing home yesterday. For many of her 1,197 days away from the United Kingdom, support ship RFA Fort Victoria has acted as Britain’s leading warrior in the figh
A German navy officer is currently underway on the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Roosevelt (DDG 80) as part of the Personnel Exchange Program (PEP). Lt. Maik Welk, from Rostarch, Germany, brings nine years of experience in the German navy to Roosevelt where he currently serves as
After spending almost five months operating with the EU’s counter-piracy Operation Atalanta off Somalia, German frigate FGS Niedersachsen is heading home. During its time with Operation Atalanta, FGS Niedersachsen sailed a total of 26,000 nautical miles and conducted daily counter piracy patrols to
Italian warship ITS Libeccio has reached the half way point in its four month deployment with the European Union Naval Force, operating off Somalia. ITS Libeccio, which has 237 sailors on board, took over counter piracy duties from another Italian warship, ITS Zeffiro on 6 October 2013. Having now s
The Royal Navy’s newest ship, HMS Duncan, will visit her adopted city of Dundee this weekend (December 6-9) A state-of-the-art Type 45 destroyer, it is just over two months since HMS Duncan, the sixth and last of the Daring-Class destroyers, joined her five sisters as a commissioned member of the Ro
Not a single ship was seized by pirates during the Royal Navy’s three-month spell in command of a task force patrolling the Indian Ocean for modern-day buccaneers. The ships of Combined Task Force 151 also succeeded in hunting down one pirate action group after the raiders’ two failed attempts to hi
On Friday 6 December, Commodore Peter Lenselink (Royal Netherlands Navy) handed over the Force Command of EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia Operation Atalanta to Contre Amiral Hervé Bléjean (French Navy) during a Change of Command ceremony held on board HNLMS Johan de Witt in the Port of Djibouti.
Last week, two ships from Standing NATO Maritime Group TWO (SNMG2) passed through the Suez Canal en route to taking command of NATO’s counter-piracy Operation OCEAN SHIELD. SNMG2 flagship ESPS ALVARO DE BAZAN and Turkish frigate TCG GELIBOLU will soon join the Ukraine frigate UPS HETMAN SAGAIDACHNY
Fire aboard Indian Navy Ship Indian Navy warship INS Konkan caught fire during repair in Vizag on Wednesday, as informed by the Indian Express. INS Konkan, a Pondicherry class minesweeper acquired from Russia, was undergoing a refit at naval base Vizag when the accident occurred. Australian Warships
On Monday, Australia’s second Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ship departed the Navantia Ferrol Dockyard in Spain for a short trip south to Vigo, where she will be loaded onto the Dockwise Heavy Lift Ship (HLS) Blue Marlin for transit to Australia. Weather permitting, Blue Marlin is scheduled to depar
Cardiff based P2000 HMS Exploit has returned to the front line Fleet after a period of refit in Holyhead. HMS Exploit successfully finished her Annual Slip and Repair Period at Holyhead Boatyard which sees her ready for another busy year of high tempo URNU operations. Starting as she means to go on,
On Tuesday 3 December, Spanish Ocean Patrol Vessel, ESPS Tornado joined the European Union’s counter piracy task force operating off the coast of Somalia. The warship will be part of the EU Naval Force for four months as Spain’s contribution to Operation Atalanta. Commissioned in 2012, ESPS Tornado
