Royal Navy minehunter HMS Penzance has completed a 10-month overhaul at Babcock’s Rosyth site in Fife, the defense contractor has announced. The refit included the replacement of both main engines, multiple glass reinforced plastic (GRP) repairs and addition and alteration packages. A team of over 5
Command and control ship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19), the US 7th Fleet flagship, arrived in Manila, the Philippines, on March 13, for the ship’s first port visit to the Philippines in three years. The Blue Ridge and 7th Fleet team carried out a cooperative deployment with Philippine Navy (PN) frigate Da
The French Navy’s sixth FREMM frigate Normandie returned from her first sea trials in late February, achieving the milestone a year after being launched at Naval Group’s Lorient shipyard. The anti-submarine warfare configured frigate tested propulsion and navigation system during the first underway
Assets from the navies of Japan, the UK and US are scheduled top take part in their second trilateral exercise later this week. The inaugural Asia Pacific exercise took place in December 2018. The drill will take place in the Western Pacific and is scheduled for kick off on March 14. Japan will be r
Royal Navy frigate HMS Argyll rescued 27 sailors from the Italian Con/Ro ship Grande America which caught fire in the Bay of Biscay on March 11. The frigate was on her way home to Plymouth after nine months away in the Asia-Pacific region when she responded to a mayday during the night from the 28,0
The Philippines defense ministry has awarded French defense contractor MBDA a contract to deliver surface-to-air missiles for its two José Rizal-class frigates currently under construction in South Korea. The contract is worth EUR 10.6 million (approx. USD 12 million) and will see the French company
Royal Navy’s Type 23 Frigate HMS Montrose arrived in Japan on March 8, becoming the fourth Royal Navy ship to visit the country in a year. HMS Montrose pulled into Tokyo for a six-day stay at Harumi Wharf before starting exercises with Japan’s Maritime Self Defence Force and the US Navy’s Seventh Fl
NRP Setúbal, the Portuguese Navy’s fourth Viana do Castelo-class offshore patrol vessel, arrived at its homeport at Lisboa Naval Base on March 9. The ship arrived at the homeport after entering service in a ceremony at the West Seas shipyards in Viana do Castelo early February. The ship and crew are
The lead ship of US Navy’s Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyers, the USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000), got underway from San Diego on March 8 to start its first operational underway. The underway represents a milestone for the new class of ships, of which only three will be built. Zumwalt’s crew recently c
Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Ballarat seized two tons of hashish worth an estimated AU$100 million in street value during a boarding operation on February 28. This is the sixth seizure of narcotics by Ballarat during her current deployment to the Middle East, which she started in October last
Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer HMS Duncan departed her Portsmouth homeport on March 8 for a six-month operational deployment which will include high-profile cooperation with the French Navy. Duncan will spend the first part of the deployment in the Mediterranean Sea, providing air defense to the Fre
Several months after returning the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier from F-35B trials off the US coast, the ship’s commanding officer took up the new role of the Royal Navy Fleet Commander. The March 5 ceremony took place in Portsmouth on board HMS Queen Elizabeth, which Vice Admiral Jerry Kyd comm
The US Coast Guard commissioned its 30th fast response cutter (FRC), in a ceremony in San Francisco, California, on March 2. The USCGC Robert Ward is the second of four planned FRCs to be stationed in San Pedro. Robert Ward, the namesake of the cutter, served as a seaman 1st class on USS Joseph T. [
The search for the Royal Australian Navy’s sunken World War II destroyer HMAS Vampire is underway off the coast of Sri Lanka, with the navies of both countries contributing hydrographic assets to the cause. Nine sailors died when the destroyer HMAS Vampire sank after enduring an intensive Japanese a
