SMIT Salvage, a Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) subsidiary, has received two five-year marine salvage contracts to serve as the exclusive marine salvage and engineering support contractor for the US Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). SMIT Salvage will provide the US Navy with marine salv
US Navy destroyer USS Decatur had a close encounter with a Chinese destroyer during a freedom of navigation operation in the South China Sea on Sunday. The unidentified Chinese destroyer came as close as 45 ft to USS Decatur in what was described as an “unsafe and unprofessional maneuver” by US Paci
The US Coast Guard has awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division a $97 million fixed-price contract to purchase long-lead materials for an 11th National Security Cutter (NSC). The advance procurement funds will be used to purchase major components for NSC 11, such as steel
US Navy destroyer USS Decatur (DDG-73) challenged China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea with a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) in the vicinity of the disputed Spratly Islands. On Sunday, September 30, Decatur came within 12 miles of Gaven and Johnson reefs in a region claimed by
Virginia-based Oceaneering International has been awarded a $68.8 million contract for maintenance, product improvement and design services on the US Navy’s dry deck shelter (DDS) program. The contract provides Naval Special Warfare Command with engineering services to support maintenance, product i
Construction of US Coast Guard’s new offshore patrol cutters (OPCs) is officially starting after the service awarded funds to Eastern Shipbuilding Group to begin construction of the lead OPC ‘Argus’. The contract options which were announced September 28 also include funds for long lead-time materia
The UK has once again joined the club of aircraft carrier operating nations as first F-35Bs landed on the flight deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth. Royal Navy Commander Nathan Gray and RAF Squadron Leader Andy Edgell were the first pilots to make history by landing their F-35 Lightning stealth jets on the
The US Navy will commission Virginia-class fast attack submarine USS Indiana (SSN 789) in a ceremony at the Navy Port at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Port Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday. The principal speaker will be US Representative Jim Banks from Indiana. Diane Donald, wife of retired Adm
The Mexican Navy’s Patrulla Oceánica de Largo Alcance (POLA) corvette is now 78 percent complete as the command bridge – the final Dutch-built module – arrived at the ASTIMAR 20 shipyard in Oaxaca late August. The Mexican Navy announced on Wednesday that the module had been installed and that a cere
The new flagship of US 7th Fleet’s amphibious forces carried out a live-fire exercise in the South China Sea on September 27. Joined by the embarked 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), the USS Wasp amphibious ready group (ARG) conducted an integrated Defense of the Amphibious Task Force (DATF) dri
The US Navy has awarded two contracts totaling over $9 billion for the construction of Flight III configuration Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers. Awarded on September 27, the fiscal years (FY) 2018 – 2022 multiyear procurement (MYP) contracts will see General Dynamics Bath Iron Works (G
The US Coast Guard transferred two of its decommissioned Island-class cutters to Ukraine in a ceremony at the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore, on September 27. The ceremony was attended by US Coast Guard Vice Adm. Michael McAllister, Ukrainian Navy chief Vice Adm. Ihor Voronchenko, and Ukraine’s presi
In a milestone for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, a Marine Corps F-35B flying from amphibious assault ship USS Essex carried out its first combat strike. The strike took place on September 27 in the US Central Command area of responsibility in support of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel in Afgha
Groton-based shipbuilder General Dynamics Electric Boat has delivered the 17th Virginia-class submarine to the US Navy. The future USS South Dakota (SSN 790) was delivered in a ceremony on Sept. 24. The ship began construction in 2013 and is scheduled to commission in early 2019. South Dakota is the
