Ticonderoga class guided-missile cruiser USS Vicksburg (CG 69) departed Naval Station Mayport Dec. 4 to relieve USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55) later this month as the Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 flagship and to support theater security cooperation efforts in Europe. The crew recently participated in Join
Littoral combat ship (LCS) USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) arrived in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations Dec. 4, marking a key initial milestone in its 16-month rotational deployment in support of the Indo-Asia-Pacific rebalance. Building on USS Freedom’s (LCS 1) inaugural 10-month deployment from March t
This week the crew of a Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) P-3 Orion from the Royal New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) completed their support to NATO’s counter-piracy Operation OCEAN SHIELD (OOS) Task Force 508 (CTF-508). Between 13 and 30 November, the NATO partner nation’s detachment of more than 50 cr
Northrop Grumman Corporation has delivered the first operational MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopter to the U.S. Navy. The system will be used by ship-based commanders to improve the Navy’s intelligence-gathering capabilities. The MQ-8C is an upgraded version of the existing MQ-8B Fire Scout using
Lt. Earl Wilson, from the amphibious transport dock ship USS New Orleans (LPD 18) places an unserviceable American flag into the fire during an American flag retirement ceremony at American Legion Post 434. New Orleans is homeported in San Diego while undergoing a planned incremental availability ma
Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southeast awarded a $7.72 million firm-fixed-price task order Nov. 21 for the refurbishment of Taurman Avenue electrical substation at Naval Station (NS) Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Islands Mechanical Contractor, Inc., a small business based in Middleburg, Flo
The Spanish Navy’s frigate “Reina Sofía” has completed its participation in NATO’s counter-terrorist operation “Active Endeavour” in the Mediterranean Sea. The vessel departed the Standing NATO Maritime Group (SNMG-2) after participating in the operation for a month and a half and returned to its Ro
Maritime professionals from North Africa, Europe and the U.S. started another round of planning for Phoenix Express 2015 at the NATO Maritime Interdiction Operational Training Center in Souda Bay, Greece, Dec. 2. The four-day planning event, the second of three before exercise execution in spring 20
DCNS, a company involved in the European and world markets for value-added naval defence systems, is exhibiting at the Exponaval Exhibition in Valparaiso, Chile, December 2-5, 2014. DCNS combines resources and expertise spanning the naval defence value chain and entire system lifecycles. The company
Participants from Denmark, France and Germany participated together with selected units from Norway’s broad range of naval vessels in the formally named Task Group 14-3 fall exercise on the west coast of Norway. Frigates, corvettes, submarines, mine counter meassure-, patrol- and logistics vessels p
Lockheed Martin Corp is being awarded a $54,6 million modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise option year one for ship integration and test of the Aegis weapon system (AWS) for AWS baselines through advanced capability build (ACB) 12. The contract provides for Aegis shipboard integ
Lockheed Martin, Mission Systems and Training, is being awarded a $82,9 million modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise options for Aegis combat system engineering agent efforts for the design, development, integration, test, and delivery of computer program baselines and associate
Sailors from the Naval Oceanography Mine Warfare Center (NAVOCEANMIWCEN) deployed to 5th Fleet area of responsibility (AOR) as the first unit to be permanently deployed under Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (NAVMETOCCOM). The NAVOCEANMIWCEN Sailors, who deployed Sept. 1, participated in t
Australian Navy Commander Ashley Papp relinquished command of HMAS Choules, handing the weight of command to Commander Chris Aulmann on 15 November in Brisbane. HMAS Choules is a Landing Ship Dock which originally served with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary as RFA Largs Bay from 2006-2011. Choules is a la
