Operations
HMS Mersey starts counter drug ops in Caribbean Sea
Royal Navy’s River class offshore patrol vessel, HMS Mersey, has sailed from Florida, USA after completing her final preparations to start Counter Drug Operations in the Caribbean and Central America. The ship arrived in Key West, Florida after battling storms en route. Key West is home to the Joint
US Navy’s civilian staffed auxiliary ship enters 5th Fleet
U.S. Navy’s Expeditionary Fast Transport ship USNS Choctaw County (T-EPF 2) yesterday, February 3, entered the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations. Choctaw County is the first ship of its platform to be forward deployed to the region following a routine transit of the Suez Canal. The auxiliary is a no
US and Royal Navy continue work on submarine systems
General Dynamics Mission Systems announced February 2 that the U.S. Navy recently awarded a follow-on, omnibus contract that continues work on fire control systems and subsystems aboard U.S. Navy and United Kingdom’s Royal Navy nuclear ballistic-missile submarines (SSBN). According to General Dynami
EGV Berlin returns home a tad earlier
Even though the German Navy’s combat support ship EGV Berlin was more than 24 hours early, around 250 people gathered at the Naval Base Wilhemshaven to welcome the ship’s crew home. EGV Berlin was forced to sail into port earlier due to a strong hurricane warning, as locking in the harbor would have
First mission medals in Operation Sophia
Op Sophia military personnel who recently left the EUNAVFOR operation in the Mediterranean have been awarded mission medals. The operation commander Rear Admiral (UH) Enrico Credendino awarded the medal February 2, after little more than 6 months since the operation was launched. 45 officers, petty
USS William P. Lawrence sailors ace USWEX
The crew of the U.S. Navy’s guided-missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence (DDG 110) completed the first Undersea Warfare Exercise (USWEX) of the calendar year, February 1. The anti-submarine warfare (ASW) team practiced fathometer, a sonic depth finder, familiarization and submarine detection exe
Senegalese, Cape Verdean forces work with Spanish Navy
A Spanish Special Naval Warfare Force team (FGNE in its Spanish initials) is training Senegalese and Cape Verdean Forces on special operations missions as part of Exercise Flintlock 16. This multinational exercise is conducted by Sahel and NATO nations within the present Cooperative Security framewo
Protection for FS Charles de Gaulle
Fighter jets aboard the French aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle have been conducting airstrikes against the Daesh positions in Syria since November 2015 while the carrier itself was positioned in the Persian Gulf. While the carrier is a powerful offensive ship it lacks armament to protect itsel
Migrant airlifted at high seas
One German corvette and one Spanish frigate participated in a medical evacuation of a migrant previously saved in the Mediterranean Sea. On January 28, German frigate FGS Ludwigshafen am Rhein carried out her first rescue operation on her deployment with Operation Sophia. The frigate embarked a tota
USNS Spearhead makes port call at Sekondi, Ghana
U.S. Navy’s expeditionary fast transport vessel USNS Spearhead (T-EPF 1), from the Military Sealift Command, arrived in Sekondi, Ghana, for a scheduled port visit January 30. This is the first port visit for Spearhead in support of Africa Partnership Station (APS). The ship is scheduled to embark me
Trinidad and Tobago Navy patrol vessels get new radars
British navigation and security surveillance systems manufacturer Kelvin Hughes has installed its SharpEye upmast radar system on four new vessels commissioned by the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force. The Damen Stan Patrol 5009 Coastal Patrol Vessels are all now fitted with a Kelvin Hughes Advanced
US Navy challenges China in South China Sea, again
U.S. Navy destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur made an ‘incursion’ into waters China claims to be under their territorial jurisdiction on Saturday, January 30. Xinhua News Agency, the official press agency of the People’s Republic of China, reported that the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer saile
US Coast Guard commissions ‘Joseph Napier’
U.S. Coast Guard’s newest fast response cutter, the USCGC Joseph Napier, was commissioned January 29 in a ceremony in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Cutter Joseph Napier will join the fleet of Coast Guard fast response cutters stationed in San Juan and heighten the Coast Guard’s offshore presence in the Car
EU NAVFOR operation in Mediterranean showing results
Operation Sophia, the EU-mission in the Mediterranean, has been making headlines with migrant-rescue operations. The main goal of the mission, however, is to disrupt the networks of migrant smugglers. The German Navy says the Op Sophia is succeeding in this undertaking. The EU-operation entered the