Portsmouth-based Royal Navy minehunter HMS Cattistock sails on Monday (4 February) for a four-month NATO mission in the Mediterranean. She will be working as part of a permanent multinational maritime force in the area called the Standing NATO Mine Counter Measures Group 2 (SNMCMG2). Ships from alli
The Ministry of Defence has today published details of how it will equip the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force over the next 10 years and how this will be funded. For the first time, the government has set out a fully-funded Defence Equipment Plan totalling almost £160 billion. The affordability
The Royal Netherlands Airforce’s newest helicopter, the NH-90, is on its way to Somalia on board HNLMS De Ruyter. It is the first overseas mission in which the maritime on-board helicopter will take part. Although in its current configuration it will not be able to carry out all mission tasks, the N
The crews of guided-missile destroyers USS Halsey (DDG 97) and USS Russell (DDG 59) finished swapping hulls at Naval Base San Diego Jan. 25. Russell arrived from its prior homeport of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam to San Diego, Jan. 9, where it will be permanently stationed. Halsey and Russell then
The Royal Navy’s state-of-the-art Type 45 destroyer HMS Dauntless will sail into her adopted port of Great Yarmouth next week (08 Feb). She will arrive at the docks at approx 10am on February 8, leaving at around 9am on February 11. And it will be a very busy schedule for the weekend, kicking off on
The head of the Royal Navy, Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, was in the Welsh capital last night (January 28) to address members of Cardiff Business Club. In an annual event organised at St David’s Hotel by the club, which brings together some of Wales’ foremost industrialists and business people, the Fir
The Fleet Flagship, HMS Bulwark, has been presented with the 2012 Royal Navy Capability Award and the Capital Ship Efficiency award. The trophies were presented to the Commanding Officer, Captain Andrew Burns Royal Navy, by Rear Admiral Surface Ships, Rear Admiral Potts, at the Surface Ship Command
Following an attack in early January on a merchant vessel 260 miles off the Somali Coast, twelve men suspected of committing an act of piracy, were transferred on January 25 by EU Naval Force warship FS Surcouf to the Mauritian authorities for prosecution. When the attack happened on 5th January, th
The Chief of the Defence Force, General David Hurley, has met with his counterparts from New Zealand and the United Kingdom for the biennial BRITANZ meeting, held on 23 January 2013. Following successful bilateral meetings in Canberra earlier this week, General Hurley accompanied UK Chief of Defence
Following a 43-year career with the Royal Navy, Sir Mark Stanhope is to stand down as First Sea Lord in April and will hand over the baton to Admiral Sir George Zambellas. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond yesterday, 24 January, made the announcement that Adm Zambellas will succeed Sir Mark as the Ch
Rolls-Royce, the global power systems company, has this week successfully completed the installation of the first MT30 gas turbine into the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, at Babcock’s Rosyth shipyard in Scotland. The MT30, at 36 megawatts (around 50,000 horsepower), is the wo
The commander of Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 60 visited Sailors aboard guided-missile destroyer USS Gonzalez (DDG 66) during a port visit Jan. 18. Capt. John Esposito and members of his staff visited the ship, where he held an all-hands call on the flight deck. Esposito told the crew what they could
New Project 20380 corvette Boiky being built by Severnaya Verf shipyard for Baltic Fleet (BF) cast off from the fitting-out berth and sailed to Kronshtadt, as the source… [mappress] Source: Russian Navy, January 24, 2013; Image: flot
One of Britain’s most respected actors dropped in on the country’s biggest engineering project: construction of the Royal Navy’s future carriers. Sir Ben Kingsley paid a surprise visit to Rosyth dockyard in Scotland, where the 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is being pieced togethe