The UK Royal Navy has welcomed two major warships home from operations in Europe and Asia Pacific. On Friday, Type 45 destroyer HMS Diamond returned home to Portsmouth after two months of operations in the Mediterranean while amphibious assault ship HMS Albion returned to Plymouth after a ten-month
US Navy aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) arrived in Singapore on November 24 for a scheduled port visit. The carrier is visiting Singapore in company of guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG 53), and guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG 111). John C. Stennis, Mobile Bay, and S
The Mexican Navy floated out the SIGMA design-based long-range off-shore patrol vessel (Patrulla Oceánica de Largo Alcance – POLA) in a ceremony in Oaxaca on November 23. The launch ceremony of ARM Reformador – as the vessel is named – coincided with Mexican Navy Day. The 107-meter ship was floated
Additional two names for the Royal Navy’s Type 26 City-class frigates were announced on two separate occasions on November 22. UK defense minister Stuart Andrew announced that the fifth Type 26 frigate would be named Sheffield during a visit to Chesterfield Special Cylinders in Sheffield, a key supp
BAE Systems Australia, the main contractor in the Royal Australian Navy’s Hunter-class frigate acquisition project, announced that it has selected Lockheed Martin Australia and Saab Australia for combat system integration on the frigates. The decision further supports the development of an Australia
Royal Navy’s submarine-hunting Merlin helicopters recently left the flight deck of aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth for three weeks of exercises at the US Navy’s Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC). The ranges off Andros Island – south-west of Nassau – are centered on a natural
The Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier has completed the final round of F-35B trials for this year and is heading home after spending two months off the US East Coast. F-35 Lightning stealth fighter jets took off from the carrier’s flight deck on November 19, after a total of 202 takeoffs, 187 vertic
US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) got underway from its forward-deployed homeport of Naval Station Rota, Spain, On November 19 to start its eighth patrol in the US 6th Fleet area of operations. Donald Cook deployed two days after sister ship USS Carney (
The US Navy’s newest Independence-variant littoral combat ship has arrived at her future homeport of Naval Base San Diego ahead of her commissioning ceremony next year. Tulsa (LCS 16) arrived in San Diego on November 21, after completing the ship’s maiden voyage from the Austal USA shipyard in Mobil
US Navy’s guided-missile destroyer USS Shoup (DDG 86) returned to its homeport of Naval Station Everett, Wash., November 21. While on deployment Shoup supported the Oceania Maritime Security Initiative (OMSI) and participated in exercise Valiant Shield 2018. OMSI is a secretary of defense initiative
A US Navy carrier strike group centered around the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) arrived in Hong Kong for a scheduled port visit on November 21. The arrival of Ronald Reagan to Hong Kong follows China’s refusal to allow amphibious assault ship USS Wasp to visit the city in September th
The Russian Navy’s second Project 22350 frigate Admiral Kasatonov is ready to start builder’s trials in December this year, Saint Petersburg-based shipbuilder Severnaya Verf has announced. Shipyard workers and the Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate’s crew are completing final preparations for the ship’s
French Navy anti-air warfare destroyer FS Cassard rescued twelve crew members of the Panama-flagged asphalt-bitumen tanker Durban Queen in the Persian Gulf on November 20. FS Cassard was en route to Kuwait and exercise Pearl of the West when it received a distress call from the nearby tanker. Accord
Royal Navy amphibious assault ship HMS Albion has completed the final port call of a ten-month deployment to Asia-Pacific. Albion departed Gibraltar on November 20 and is expected to arrive at its Plymouth homeport on Friday. After a number of stops in the Asia-Pacific region and Middle East – Indon
