HMS Illustrious is the safest place to be in the Royal Navy if you’re flying after the famous carrier won a prestigious award. The Bambara Trophy is presented each year to the ship, squadron or unit which does the most to promote – and enact – safety in the world of naval aviation. The Portsmouth-ba
Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southeast gathered at their headquarters building in Jacksonville, Fla. March 5 to celebrate the 70th birthday of the Seabees. “Today is a special day,” said Commanding Officer Capt. John Heinzel. “Let’s kick this off by singing the Song of the Seabees.”
Guided-missile frigate USS Simpson (FFG 56) has the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), MQ-8B Fire Scout embarked for solo missions, a U.S. Navy first during a full deployment, March 7. The Fire Scout is the Navy’s only unmanned aircraft to operate on land and at sea. The Fire Scout is a vertical take-of
Planning conference of Russian-Ukrainian naval exercise Fairway of Peace 2012 was closed in Sevastopol. The exercise will be oriented at a joint humanitarian operation. Working groups were headed by Ukrainian Navy Deputy Commander for combat training Capt 1 rank Denis Berezovsky and the Chief of Bla
The Best Ship Contest started at Caspian Flotilla (CF) under direction of CF Chief of Staff RADM Vitaly Mikhailov on March 1. According to the contest’s conditions, at the first stage crews will demonstrate their skills and team-play during onboard drills. Estimation of the crew actions depends on i
Over the past few days EUNAVFOR warships, operating as part of the EU’s counter-piracy mission codenamed Operation ATALANTA, have provided life-saving assistance to a stricken dhow, with 12 crew and 92 passengers onboard, including a pregnant woman and 33 children. The dhow had put out a distress si
Portsmouth-based Warship HMS Iron Duke has scooped two awards for her efficiency and effectiveness on operations, marking her contribution to maritime security operations in the Gulf and operations off Libya. HMS Iron Duke, a Type 23 Frigate, returned on a high from operations in July 2011 having sp
Essex Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) embarked more than 2,000 Marines of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) and departed White Beach Naval Facility in Okinawa, Japan for the ARG’s amphibious integration training (AIT), and certification exercise (CERTEX) March 4. Amphibious assault ship USS Esse
The crew of USS Constitution will kick off their participation in the “Crews Into Shape” program from the ship’s berth in Charlestown, Mass. March 4-31. Sponsored by the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center and open to anyone employed by the DoD, Crews into Shape is a workplace-focused initiat
Forward-deployed amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42) returned to Sasebo after participating in Cobra Gold 2012 (CG12), March 5. Germantown departed Sasebo Jan. 30 to onload Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) in White Beach, Okinawa, Feb. 1 prior to beginning CG12,
Northern Fleet (NF) surface ships in cooperation with naval aircraft and a submarine have finished joint drills in the Barents Sea and returned to NF main naval base on March 1. For NF antisubmarine ships, that exercise was one of the basic combat training activities in the winter period. The task u
One out of three new Project 90600 harbor tugs has arrived in Baltic Fleet (BF) Baltiysk Naval Base. Harbor tug RB-42 will join the base’s auxiliary ship brigade. Two other tugs will be stationed in BF Leningrad Naval Base. By the end of 2012, two such tugs will be constructed for Russian Navy. Proj
EU NAFVOR warship FGS BERLIN has successfully engineered the release of an Indian flagged dhow and crew, disrupting a Pirate Action Group and destroying two attack skiffs. On 28 February 2012, EUNAVFOR Warship FGS BERLIN received a distress call from a merchant vessel reporting that they had success
U.S. Marines from High Speed Vessel (HSV) 2 Swift partnered with United Nations Police (UNPOL) to train the Haitian National Police (HNP) in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, March 1. Nine Marines from Swift are working for two weeks to conduct subject matter expert exchanges (SMEEs) with the HNP and an UNPOL tea
