Standing NATO Mine Counter-Measures Group TWO (SNMCMG2), one of NATO’s four Standing Maritime Forces, entered the Black Sea on Thursday, 3 July 2014, in a regularly scheduled deployment to enhance NATO’s solidarity and readiness in the region. Led by Captain Giovanni Piegaja (ITA Navy), SNMCMG2 is
Ships and aircraft in the next Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise could be running on biofuels, and they won’t even need to know it, according to speakers at an Alternative Fuels Overview briefing for RIMPAC 2014 participants. The briefing drew over 40 officers and officials from seven nations –
Attack submarine USS Virginia (SSN 774) returned home to Groton, Conn., July 3, after completing a 14-week surge deployment overseas. Virginia’s crew of more than 140 officers and enlisted personnel departed March 28 to conduct assigned theater security missions in the U.S. European Command region
The guided missile destroyer USS Howard (DDG 83) returned to Naval Base San Diego from a seven-month deployment to the Western Pacific Ocean, July 3. Deployed since Dec. 2, 2013, Howard’s crew of nearly 300 Sailors is completing a successful deployment to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations wher
On 2 July 2014, German Auxiliary Replenishment Tanker FGS Rhön completed her time deployed as part of EU Naval Force Somalia Operation Atalanta. The ship has significantly contributed to the success of the EU’s Counter Piracy Operation off the coast of Somalia for the last three months. FGS Rhön h
HMCS Summerside and its crew came back to the Atlantic Fleet on June 30th, 2014 from a 7-week deployment on Operation CARIBBE and exercise TRADEWINDS 14. Of note, Summerside was the fifth Kingston-class patrol vessels to be deployed this year on Op CARIBBE, Canada’s contribution to the multination
HMS Somerset is due to return to Devonport Naval Base, Plymouth on Friday 4 July after a successful six-month patrol policing key international shipping lanes in the Gulf and Indian Ocean. HMS Somerset has maintained a presence in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf since early 2014. During her six mont
Seven personnel from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light (HSL) 49 Detachment 2 deployed on board USS Ingraham (FFG 61) earned the Enlisted Air Warfare Specialist (EAWS) qualification, June 22. The EAWS qualification pin is one of many different warfare qualifications that enlisted personnel c
Quartermaster Seaman Dalton Whitworth, assigned to the guided-missile destroyer USS Nitze (DDG 94), stands watch on the bridge wing as the ship transits the Suez Canal. Nitze is conducting operations in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility in support of U.S. national security interests in Afr
On board HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën the Maltese Special Duties Enhanced Boarding Team (MSDEBT) works hard to maintain their skills by conducting regular training. Before the deployment started, the MSDEBT visited the Royal Netherlands Navy base in Den Helder to train on the ship with the onboard te
Aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) welcomed aboard Carrier Air Wing One (CVW 1) for a luncheon and tour of the air wing’s ready rooms, July 1. CVW 1 and TR will work closely together over the coming year as they conduct increasingly complex integrated training to prepare for future d
Two Type 45 destroyers have met up in the Eastern Mediterranean while deployed on operations. UK Navy’s HMS Defender and HMS Diamond rendezvoused off the coast of Cyprus – where Diamond was leaving to escort the last consignment of chemical weapons from Syria for destruction and Defender stocked u
On June 28, TORM Sofia prevented a suspicious approach to the vessel by a group of pirates in the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea. There were no injuries to crew, vessel, environment or cargo. The Filipino Master, his crew and the employed armed guards are safe and suffered no injuries. The LR1 prod
HMAS Darwin has struck again against drug smugglers, intercepting another vessel in the Arabian Sea and seizing more than 6.2 tonnes of narcotics with an estimated street value of almost $250 million. Darwin’s boarding parties located 315 bags hidden onboard the dhow. Each bag contained in, betwee
