Sailors from HMS Ramsey visited their American minehunting counterparts to see how they do their business ahead of a US-UK-French exercise in the Gulf. The Brits joined Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 15 – known as the Blackhawks – in Bahrain to see their giant Sea Dragon helicopters find a
Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel are playing a vital role as key contributors to Pacific Partnership, a United States-sponsored humanitarian and civic assistance mission to help improve the lives of people in the Pacific Region. This year, Pacific Partnership will deliver medical, dental, ve
Within the framework of fleet replenishment ship Cantabria’s deployment, on which the vessel embarked on June 27 after an intense program of maintenance and training at Garden Island, the ship will participate in two main activities. The first one is the collaboration with the Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Navy and Royal Marines helped promote Armed Forces Day at various events across the UK over the weekend. Cities and towns across the country pulled out all the stops to show strength of support for the three Services for the national day of celebration on Saturday June 29. The Royal Navy’s
Royal Navy warships HMS Somerset and HMS Brocklesby will be visiting the Isle of Man from Thursday, July 4, in support of the opening of Tynwald. HMS Somerset, a 4900-tonne, Type 23 frigate will anchor in Douglas Bay on Thursday, July 4 for a three-day visit before returning to sea on Saturday. Alth
Last week, whilst operating off the coast of Somalia, EU Naval Force flagship Portuguese Frigate NRP Álvares Cabral and French frigate FS Guépratte both conducted a Replenishment At Sea (RAS) with RFA Fort Victoria. A RAS enables warships to replenish fuel, food and stores at sea without having to r
The Spanish AEGIS frigate BLAS DE LEZO (F-103), flag ship of COMSNMG-2 Rear Admiral Eugenio Díaz del Rio, will soon participate in an air defence and ballistic missile defence (BMD) exercise with the US Navy destroyer USS Mahan (DDG-72) in Mediterranean waters. Both ships share the AEGIS combat syst
Royal Navy of Oman Takes Delivery of First Khareef Class Warship The first warship built by BAE Systems for the Royal Navy of Oman (RNO) as part of Project Khareef for the design, build and delivery of three corvettes, has been formally handed over in a ceremony at HM Naval Base Portsmouth today. Fr
The Finnish Autonomous Vessel Protection Detachment (AVPD), deployed with the EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia Operation Atalanta since March 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 ensure
During the past week the NATO Shipping Centre received reports on two incidents involving fishing vessels in the High Risk Area. The first is a report of a pirated fishing vessel, while the second incident appears to be a SOLAS related accident. The first report confirms that pirates continue to dis
Back in 2011, a total of 16 warships, submarines and Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels supported humanitarian, embargo and combat operations off the coast of Libya, either under NATO’s Operation Unified Protector or the UK’s Operation Ellamy. These included elements of the Royal Navy’s Response Force Ta
Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 2 (SNMCMG2) has a new German Commander. Captain Marco Von Koelln (German Navy) handed over command of SNMCMG2 to Commander Mathias Seipel (German Navy) on Monday, 24 June 2013. The ceremony took place at the Hellenic Naval Base in Souda Bay, Crete, and was pr
On Saturday afternoon (22 June), EU Naval Force Italian warship, ITS Zeffiro and Chinese Navy warship CNS Mianyang, which are both conducting counter piracy operations, met at sea in the choppy waters of the Gulf of Aden. The aim of the meeting was to enable CNS Mianyang to take over escort duties o
Maritime forces from four countries began participation in the multinational naval exercise FRUKUS, in port Brest, France, June 25. FRUKUS, which is led this year by the French navy, is focused on improving maritime security through open dialogue and increased training of the participating nations,
