Maritime forces from the United States, 10 East African and two European nations, along with several international organizations, commenced the multinational maritime exercise Cutlass Express 2013, Nov. 11. Exercise Cutlass Express 2013, held in several operational areas in waters off East Africa, i
HMS Illustrious, part of the Response Force Task Group deployed on Cougar 13, has participated in Exercise Omani Cougar. During the six day exercise around 20 sailors were given the opportunity to switch ships for the day to experience how their Omani counterpart’s ships operate and get a chance to
Onboard RFA Lyme Bay, which is part of European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia Operation Atalanta, the Boarding teams from the Fleet Contingency Troop and K Company 43 Commando Royal Marines have taken advantage of the Lynx MK 8 that embarked from RFA Fort Austin to practice fast roping techn
The Ukrainian Navy Prydniprovya Corvette (U155) headed out to sea to carry out a range of training tasks. The corvette crew will build up the single ship navigation skills and prepare for combat operations. The ship is expected to complete gun practice against imitated air and surface targets and ex
The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group reentered the U.S. 5th Fleet Area of Responsibility (AOR) after transiting the Suez Canal, Nov. 8. The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68), along with embarked Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 11, Carrier Air Wing 11, and Destroyer Squadron 23, spent nearly three weeks in
On Sunday NATO’s counter-piracy Operation OCEAN SHIELD warship HDMS ESBERN SNARE boarded two small craft and detained nine suspected pirates, following an attack in the area the previous day. On the previous day, the Danish flagged vessel TORM KANSAS reported she was attacked unsuccessfully by pirat
The Lithuanian Autonomous Vessel Protection Detachment (AVPD), deployed with the EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia Operation Atalanta since August 2013, is tasked with the protection of the World Food Programme (WFP) ship MV Caroline Scan. Embarked on the Caroline scan around the clock, the AVPD en
Two British naval vessels, RFA Diligence and HMS Montrose, have proven that heavy duty engineering work can be done at sea, anywhere in the world. HMS Montrose and RFA Diligence joined forces for the finale of a large scale exercise named OMAR 13 (Operational Maintenance and Repair) in which HMS Mon
Exercise Steadfast Jazz concluded successfully on Nov. 8 after two weeks of intense multinational joint military training in locations across Europe. About 6,000 personnel from 28 NATO member nations as well as three-partner nations (Sweden, Finland and Ukraine) trained together in a combined multin
HMS Diamond has conducted a Families’ Day alongside in Portsmouth to allow ship’s company to showcase their ship to their loved ones prior to deployment in 2014. Two hundred and thirty family and friends experienced a busy day on board; several stances were put together by members of the ship’s comp
The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command has formally established a Regional Maintenance Center detachment in Rota, Spain, to support the destroyers scheduled to be homeported in the area, the command announced Nov. 7. The detachment will provide management, industrial, engineering, technical and contract
Just a few weeks after the Operation Commander of the EU Naval Force, Rear Admiral Bob Tarrant, issued another warning about the on-going piracy threat, there have been two more piracy related incidents off the Somali coast. The first incident happened on Tuesday 5 November, when EU Naval Force Germ
General Sir Richard Shirreff, KCB CBE, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR) paid a visit to NATO Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM) on Wednesday, 6 November 2013, and met with its Commander, Vice Admiral Peter Hudson, CBE. The two NATO leaders took the opportunity for an exchange of views
A live complex training mission connected Typhoon pilots at RAF Leuchars with air and maritime assets across four sites in the UK in the first training mission simulation of its kind. Live battlespace scenario BAE Systems used their Dedicated Engineering Network (DEN) to link simulators across four
