HMS St Albans has played a key role in a major exercise in the Gulf testing the abilities of naval forces to defend the region’s scores of gas and oil platforms – vital to the UK and global economy. The Portsmouth-based frigate was Britain’s input to the week-long ‘Stakenet’ exercise, alongside the
HMS Middleton’s gun crew let rip with the minehunter’s 30mm main gun in the middle of the Gulf – probably the highlight of a demonstration day. The Hunt-class ship is one of a four-strong Royal Navy mine warfare force based at Mina Salman port in Bahrain, helping to keep the sea lanes open and promo
PLYMOUTH’S Frigate Alley will soon become ‘Landing Craft, Hovercraft, RIB and ORC Alley’ as Royal Marines units move into a new £25m home in Devonport Naval Base. Two of the commandos’ amphibious formations – 539 Assault Squadron and 10 (Landing Craft) Training Squadron – are to relocate from their
THE waters of the English Channel fall away from a Viking as a Royal Marine drives the armoured vehicle into the loading bay of HMS Bulwark. Although the Viking has been in service with the commandos for nearly a decade, this is actually a first: the amphibious assault ship is seeing whether it’s po
THERE’S nothing like a ship’s homecoming. Tears. Smiles. Hugs. Kisses. Laughs. Glasses of champers. Banners. Union Jacks. Royal Marines Band. Huge White Ensigns. A flypast. Joy. Raw emotion. Two homecomings within minutes of each other, well that’s just magical. Britain’s flagship HMS Albion complet
On August the 5th and after 88 days, the Greek frigate HS NIKIFOROS FOKAS conducted her last day of operations as part of the EU NAVFOR Task Force. Throughout her deployment she was assigned to conduct several tasks, such as: patrolling the International Recommended Traffic Corridor, escorting World
France’s aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle will next week return home for maintenance from its mission supporting NATO airstrikes on Libya… (brecorder) [mappress] Source: brecorder, August 9, 2011;
Germany dispatches the second frigate – Köln – to the Gulf of Aden under EU anti-piracy operation Atalanta, reports German Navy’s official website. Köln will leave Wilhelmshaven late in Aug. German frigate Niedersachsen was stationed off Somalia in the port of Djibouti till Aug 4, when she relinquis
The Royal Navy will be taking centre stage in the international spectacular – the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo – from Friday (5th August) to 27th August. A worldwide audience of millions (218,425 watching the live show in Edinburgh and a TV audience judged at over 100 million) for the spectacular
On the 5th of August, the German frigate FGS NIEDERSACHSEN ended her participation in Operation ATALANTA after almost five month as a part of the EU NAVFOR Task Force. On this occasion, the Force Commander, Commodore Alberto Correia expressed his great thanks for the contribution that FGS NIEDERSACH
Long-range cruise of Northern Fleet (NF) large ASW ship Admiral Chabanenko finished on Aug 6. The ship headed by Capt 1 rank Stanislav Varik took part in the FRUKUS joint exercise and returned to the homebase Severomorsk. Admiral Chabanenko had carried out transatlantic cruise to US naval base Norfo
UK minehunters HMS Chiddingfold and HMS Grimsby visited Aqaba in Jordan to round off a three-year deployment. The ships have been working in the Arabian Gulf since 2008 as part of a permanent Royal Navy presence. The visit to the Middle East country was an opportunity for the Royal Navy to cement a
Three Royal Navy ships return home this weekend bringing to a close an eventful and complex operational deployment to the Mediterranean and Middle East. The Task Force Flagship, HMS Albion, and her escorting Frigate, HMS Sutherland, both arrive back in their homeport of Plymouth on Mon 8 Aug. RFA Ca
Inflation has hit the navy hard, and the government says the Russians are partly to blame. The cost of building next generation naval warshi… By Gautam Datt (indiatoday) [mappress] Source: indiatoday, August 5, 2011;