On Friday 6 December 2013, the French Navy ship FS Siroco joined the EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia Operation Atalanta. FS Siroco will be the flagship of the European Union’s counter piracy operation off the coast of Somalia for the next four months. Rear Admiral Hervé Bléjean is the Force Comma
Sailors from the multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) and Marines from 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) departed Naval Station Norfolk for a two-week underway in order to complete Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) off the East Coast of the United States. COMPTUEX aff
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
The Royal Australian Navy accepted the first two MH-60R helicopters from the U.S. Navy in a ceremony yesterday at the Lockheed Martin facility in Owego, N.Y. “The advanced anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare capabilities of the MH-60 Romeo are a game-changer in shifting the advantage from the su
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
The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group (HST CSG) passed the approximate midway point of its 2013-2014 deployment Dec. 6. HST CSG deployed from Norfolk, Va., and Mayport, Fla., in late July and after transiting the Atlantic Ocean and U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility (AOR), entered the U.S. 5th
Boeing has delivered the 13th production P-8A Poseidon ahead of schedule to the U.S. Navy, marking a perfect on-time record for the year. The aircraft’s arrival at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., on Dec. 4 follows the Navy’s announcement of initial operational capability and first P-8A deploym
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.
