US Coast Guard’s 42-year-old icebreaker Polar Star arrived at its Seattle homeport following a six-month maintenance period at Mare Island Dry Dock in Vallejo, California. The icebreaker received extensive repairs and upgrades to engineering and electronic systems while completing the dry dock avail
F-35 Lightning fighter jets have dropped first test bombs during flight trials on board the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth. The inert GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided precision bombs were dropped off the east coast of the USA, marking another significant milestone in the carrier’s tri
US Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) is currently at pier 14, Naval Station Norfolk, where sailors are performing maintenance in support of the ship’s pierside shipyard availability period. This maintenance phase is designed to ensure Abraham Lincoln is capable of car
US Navy ships assigned to the Kearsarge amphibious ready group (ARG) completed a live-fire missile exercise (MISSILEX) on October 14. Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) fired one RIM-7P missile from the NATO Sea Sparrow missile launcher and successfully engaged a target simulat
Ships assigned to the US Navy’s Iwo Jima expeditionary strike group (IWOESG) have entered the US 6th Fleet area of operations as part of a deployment in support of NATO exercise Trident Juncture 18. The strike group will join the Harry S. Truman carrier strike group and US 6th Fleet flagship USS Mou
US Navy’s Los Angeles fast-attack submarine USS Newport News (SSN 750) wrapped up a seven-month deployment, returning to Naval Station Norfolk on October 13. The submarine and her crew operated in the US 6th Fleet area of operations, visiting UK submarine base HMNB Clyde at Faslane several times dur
Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth was at the center of an important milestone for the F-35 program as an F-35B performed the first ever shipborne rolling vertical landing (SRVL) British test pilot Peter Wilson conducted the landing this weekend. Previously the jets have conducted only
Ships assigned to the Kearsarge amphibious ready group (ARG) departed Naval Station Norfolk on October 13 to start the composite training unit exercise (COMPTUEX). COMPTUEX is the final pre-deployment exercise that certifies the ARG’s abilities to conduct military operations at sea and project power
Days after wrapping up the deployment’s first Fiji port call, US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Shoup (DDG 86) returned to Suva, Fiji, on October 14. USS Shoup previously arrived in Suva as part of the ship’s Oceania Maritime Security Initiative (OMSI) deployment on October 3. The US Navy did not
After welcoming her first F-35B fighter jets on the flight deck as part of first-of-class flight trials, the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth recently welcomed two US Navy helicopter heavyweights on the deck. The first to land was the United States Navy’s biggest helicopter – the MH-5
The US Navy’s newest Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Thomas Hudner (DDG 116) left the pier at Bath Iron Works (BIW) on October 10 for open sea, General Dynamics Marine Systems said. The newbuilding headed for Boston where she will be commissioned on December 1 into the navy fleet. Launched in April 20
US Navy guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 54) met up with Royal Thai Navy patrol vessel HTMS Krabi (OPV 551) and frigate HTMS Taksin (FFG 422) for a cooperative deployment in the East China Sea on Oct. 9. The event focused on navigation, communication and ship handling skills, improving intero
The newly established Japan Ground Self Defense Force (JGSDF) Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade (ARDB) embarked a US Navy ship for the first time off the Philippine coast on October 2. The ARDB conducted amphibious operations with amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48) during Kaagapay N
US Coast Guard’s national security cutter USCGC Strato returned home after a deployment in which operations spanned from the Arctic Ocean to the coasts of South America. Stratton’s crew began their deployment in the Arctic Ocean in support of Coast Guard District Seventeen and operation Arctic Shiel
