Spanish Navy frigate ESPS Méndez Núñez got underway from her Ferrol homeport on Thursday to start what will eventually be a year-long deployment with the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. The Aegis-equipped Alvaro de Bazan-class frigate (also referred to as F100) will spend the next two
The United Kingdom has deployed a Royal Navy offshore patrol vessel to the English Channel as part of the country’s response to the recent increase in migrant crossings. HMS Mersey will support Border Force and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in their efforts to patrol the stretch of water, keep
FREMM frigate ITS Federico Martinengo returned to its homeport of La Spezia on December 20, completing its maiden deployment. The seventh Italian Navy FREMM frigate started its first operational deployment in August this year after entering service in April. In the past five months, the frigate oper
The Russian Navy’s Black Sea frigate Admiral Essen (751) arrived in Sevastopol on December 26 after completing missions in the Mediterranean, the country’s defense ministry said. The crew of the frigate performed tasks as part of the country’s permanent formation in the Mediterranean Sea from August
Ships from the US Navy’s Kearsarge amphibious ready group (ARG) and embarked 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) entered the US 6th Fleet area of operations on December 25 for a regularly-scheduled deployment. During its time in theater, the ARG/MEU team and its more than 4,500 sailors and marines
The US state department announced on Friday it would support the development of Ukraine’s naval capabilities with $10 million in foreign military financing (FMF). FMF enables eligible nations to purchase US-produced military equipment, services, and training. The department said the investment was i
Three days after welcoming the lead Karakurt-class corvette into its fleet, the Russian Navy commissioned first-of-class patrol ship Vasily Bykov in a ceremony on December 20. The Project 22160 patrol ship was commissioned at the Novorossiysk Naval Base on the Black Sea where it will serve as part o
Ships and submarines from the navies of Japan, the UK and US gathered in waters south of Japan for the first trilateral naval exercise on December 21 and 22. Focused on anti-submarine warfare, the exercise featured drills with Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopter destroyer JS Izumo (DDH 183)
US Military Sealift Command’s fleet replenishment oiler USNS Big Horn (T-AO 198) pulled into Naval Station Norfolk, Dec. 17, completing a 10-month deployment in the US Fifth Fleet and US Sixth Fleet area of responsibility. “Some of the missions USNS Big Horn undertook during this deployment included
A German Navy frigate and a tender are set to return their homeports of Wilhelmshaven and Kiel on Friday, after concluding their NATO deployments. Tender Rhein is returning to Kiel after serving as flagship of the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 2 (SNMCMG2) for over five months. The ship’s
Royal Navy minehunter HMS Chiddingfold was launched at BAE Systems’ Portsmouth site after undergoing what the company described as the “most extensive package of work ever carried out to the plastic hulls of any Hunt Class mine countermeasure vessels.” The vessel was refitted after returning from a
After making two narcotics interceptions in late November and early December, Royal Navy destroyer HMS Dragon has now carried out the largest drug haul in the history of the Bahrain-based Combined Maritime Forces (CMF). According to CMF, Dragon seized and destroyed just shy of 10,000 kg of illegal n
The navies of Australia, France and the US concluded a four-day ‘Ship Anti-Submarine Warfare Readiness and Evaluation Measurement’ (SHAREM) 195 exercise in the Arabian Sea on December 18. Participating ships included French navy F70AA-class air defense destroyer FS Cassard (D 614), and Royal Austral
Hydrographic survey ship HMS Echo arrived in Odessa on December 19, becoming the first Royal Navy ship to visit Ukraine since the Sea of Azov crisis from late November when Russian forces seized three Ukrainian Navy vessels and detained Ukrainian sailors. Echo docked in Odessa after entering the Bla
