Three days after welcoming the lead Karakurt-class corvette into its fleet, the Russian Navy commissioned first-of-class patrol ship Vasily Bykov in a ceremony on December 20. The Project 22160 patrol ship was commissioned at the Novorossiysk Naval Base on the Black Sea where it will serve as part o
Ships and submarines from the navies of Japan, the UK and US gathered in waters south of Japan for the first trilateral naval exercise on December 21 and 22. Focused on anti-submarine warfare, the exercise featured drills with Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopter destroyer JS Izumo (DDH 183)
US Military Sealift Command’s fleet replenishment oiler USNS Big Horn (T-AO 198) pulled into Naval Station Norfolk, Dec. 17, completing a 10-month deployment in the US Fifth Fleet and US Sixth Fleet area of responsibility. “Some of the missions USNS Big Horn undertook during this deployment included
A German Navy frigate and a tender are set to return their homeports of Wilhelmshaven and Kiel on Friday, after concluding their NATO deployments. Tender Rhein is returning to Kiel after serving as flagship of the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 2 (SNMCMG2) for over five months. The ship’s
Royal Navy minehunter HMS Chiddingfold was launched at BAE Systems’ Portsmouth site after undergoing what the company described as the “most extensive package of work ever carried out to the plastic hulls of any Hunt Class mine countermeasure vessels.” The vessel was refitted after returning from a
After making two narcotics interceptions in late November and early December, Royal Navy destroyer HMS Dragon has now carried out the largest drug haul in the history of the Bahrain-based Combined Maritime Forces (CMF). According to CMF, Dragon seized and destroyed just shy of 10,000 kg of illegal n
The navies of Australia, France and the US concluded a four-day ‘Ship Anti-Submarine Warfare Readiness and Evaluation Measurement’ (SHAREM) 195 exercise in the Arabian Sea on December 18. Participating ships included French navy F70AA-class air defense destroyer FS Cassard (D 614), and Royal Austral
Royal Canadian Navy vessels ranging from coastal defense vessels through frigates to replenishment oilers returned to their Atlantic and Pacific bases from operations in European, South American, and Asia-Pacific waters. Kingston-class coastal defense vessels HMCS Edmonton and Nanaimo returned to Ca
US Navy sailors attached to the amphibious ready group centered around the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) started their deployment on December 17, after getting underway from Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia. In addition to USS Kearsarge as the flagship, the group includes S
The Russian Navy commissioned its lead Project 22800 guided-missile corvette ‘Mytishchi’ in a ceremony on December 17. The corvette will join the Baltic Fleet after completing sea and state trials and testing all systems and weapons. Mytishchi is the first of over 20 planned Project 22800 ships (als
The “Argonauts” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 147 completed their carrier qualifications December 12 aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), the US Navy has announced. The carrier qualifications are the final required component for Commander Joint Strike Fighter Wing (CJSFW) to issue the squadron its sa
The US-based subsidiary of Australian shipbuilder Austal hosted a keel-laying ceremony for the future Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Mobile (LCS 26) in MObile, Alabama on December 14. The ship’s sponsor, Rebecca Byrne, wife of Rep. Bradley Byrne, R-Ala., authenticated the keel for the
US aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman returned home on December 16, becoming the first US Navy Nimitz-class carrier to complete a deployment under the new dynamic force employment concept. In all, the flattop spent some seven months on operations since first deploying from naval station Norfolk on
Royal Navy Type 23 frigates HMS Westminster and HMS Monmouth returned to their homeports in Portsmouth and Devonport, respectively, on December 14. Westminster returned after an eight-week stint in the North and Baltic Sea where she trained with other NATO and ally ships as part of NATO’s largest ex
