French Navy frigate FS Auvergne docked in the Western Australian port of Freemantle on November 15, four months into her maiden operational deployment. Departing her homeport of Toulon with an embarked NH90 helicopter in August, the FREMM frigate spent most of the time in the Indian Ocean, as part o
French Navy’s future FREMM frigate FS Bretagne completed her first set of sea trials in Lorient, North Western France. According to the international organization for cooperation on arms (OCCAR), the organization which coordinates the Italian-French FREMM frigate program, Bretagne wrapped up the fir
Over twenty ships and a number of aircraft are winding up their participation in the Turkish-hosted multinational maritime exercise Dogu Akdeniz-17. The exercise is hosted by Turkey in the Mediterranean every two years and the 2017 iteration is the 20th time it is taking place since it first started
The Turkish government is interested in buying the soon-to-be-decommissioned UK helicopter carrier HMS Ocean if it is not sold to Brazil. In a reply to a parliamentary question, the UK defense ministry confirmed that Turkey sent an expression of interest to UK about the potential sale of HMS Ocean.
Shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) laid the keel for the US Navy’s future Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123) in a ceremony in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on November 14. The ship’s keel was authenticated by the ship’s sponsors, Louisa Dixon, Virginia Munf
An AUD $367 million project to upgrade the Royal Australian Navy base HMAS Stirling got underway on November 10 as Australia’s defense minister Marise Payne and Western Australia senator Slade Brockman joined the sod-turning ceremony to mark the ceremonial start of the upgrade. Located on Garden Isl
US Coast Guard cutter Spencer has offloaded some 10 tons of cocaine and 23 kilograms of heroin in Port Everglades, Florida, on Tuesday. The offloaded drugs were seized in international waters off the Eastern Pacific Ocean and are worth an estimated $300 million wholesale, according to the US Coast G
Royal Australian Navy minehunter HMAS Huon wrapped up a South West Pacific deployment earlier this month with the final of six port visits to Hobart, Tasmania, and her namesake city of Huonville. Having already toured the remote Australian territories of Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands, as well as Lug
A Royal Netherlands Navy minehunter has discovered the wreck of the German Imperial Navy mine-laying submarine UC-69, 8.5 miles off the coast of Barfleur, northern France. Tripartite-class minehunter HNLMS Makkum made the discovery in late October but the wreck was identified in November. The wreck
The Canadian government and Irving Shipbuilding announced they are extending the submission deadline by which interested shipbuilders are to submit their design bids for the Canadian Surface Combatant fleet. This is the third time the request for proposal deadline is being postponed; this time to No
Ships from the navies of Singapore and Brunei concluded the bilateral naval exercise Pelican on November 13 before heading for the ASEAN International Fleet Review in Thailand. This year’s exercise Pelican took place between November 11 and 13 and was the 36th in its series. It involved the Republic
Helping NATO’s Standing Mine Countermeasure Group 1 (SNMCMG1) clear historic ordnance off the coast of France was the final task of the crew of Belgian minehunter BNS Primula before they headed home. From October 20 to November 7, Belgians worked with their colleagues in French waters off the Norman
The Royal Netherlands Navy offshore patrol vessel HNLMS Zeeland concluded her deployment to the Dutch overseas territories in the Caribbean, returning to her homeport in Den Helder on Friday. The Holland-class vessel spent four months stationed in the region as part of a rotational Dutch Navy deploy
The US Coast Guard has formally accepted the 26th fast response cutter (FRC), Joseph Gerczak, in a ceremony in Key West, Florida, November 9. The ship will now head to Honolulu where it will be commissioned and homeported as the station’s second FRC. Sister ship ‘Oliver Berry’ was commissioned in Ho
