Albanian Navy Iliria-class patrol boat ALS Oriku has wrapped up a full year of operations with the Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2), concluding the Albanian Navy’s first ever NATO deployment. Deploying with SNMG2 in November 2016, the Damen-built patrol boat spent over four thousand hours on p
The French Navy has received a new visual defense simulator (Simdav) at its base in Brest, the system manufacturer Naval Group announced on November 22. Brest is the second base to receive the Simdav after Toulon received one at the end of 2016. Both deliveries are part of a 5-year modernisation and
In what is obviously a response to the massive international search and recuse effort for the missing Argentine Navy submarine ARA San Juan, the German Navy published an article on its site, outlining the various systems and procedures put in place to protect submariners should a German Navy submari
Royal Navy frigate HMS Somerset scrambled recently to shadow a Russian naval destroyer as it transited the Moray Firth, returning home from the Mediterranean Sea. It was not the Kulakov’s first visit to UK waters as the destroyer was also shadowed by HMS Somerset from the same position in the Moray
The Polish Navy’s first Kormorant II-class minehunter ORP ‘Kormoran’ has passed all state and builder’s trials and was officially transferred to the navy on November 17. According to a navy announcement, the minehunter is now set to be commissioned in Gdynia on November 28, on the day of the Polish
The crew of the Italian Navy frigate ITS Virginio Fasan has arrested six pirates and seized their vessels after a chase in the Southern Somali Basin over the weekend. The suspected pirates were apprehended after they attacked a 52,000 tonne container ship and a fishing vessel on November 17 and 18.
Ships form NATO’s Standing Maritime Group 1 have concluded their Mediterranean Sea stint taking part in exercises with regional navies and supporting operation Sea Guardian. The group is now heading for the English Channel where they will attend Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) drills before resumin
A team of Royal Navy divers was called upon to destroy a 500lb wartime bomb which was first dredged up and then dropped dangerously close to a major North Sea gas pipeline. The divers embarked aboard minehunter HMS Cattistock racing to the location 50 miles off the coast of Norfolk after a Dutch tra
Russian shipbuilder Sevmash launched the Russian Navy’s first modernized, Borei-A (Project 955-A) submarine Knyaz Vladimir at its shipyard in Severodivnsk on November 17. The nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) is now set to undergo factory and state tests before entering service. Acc
The Indian Navy’s 3rd generation submarine rescue systems (SRS) will be ready for delivery in 2018, JFD – the systems manufacturer – has announced. According to the company, Deep Submergence and Rescue Vehicles (DSRVs) will be undergoing factory acceptance tests at the end of November 2017, ready fo
Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is to be commissioned by the Queen in a ceremony on December 7, the UK defense ministry announced. UK’s new defense secretary Gavin Williams made the announcement as he visited the carrier on Thursday, while at sea, sailing on trials around the s
The lead ship in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s new tanker fleet, the RFA Tidespring, has arrived in Portsmouth to prepare for her November 27 dedication ceremony, the Royal Navy announced. The 39,000 tonne tanker will be brought into service with the RFA – the civilian-manned fleet of support vessels
French Navy frigate FS Auvergne docked in the Western Australian port of Freemantle on November 15, four months into her maiden operational deployment. Departing her homeport of Toulon with an embarked NH90 helicopter in August, the FREMM frigate spent most of the time in the Indian Ocean, as part o
French Navy’s future FREMM frigate FS Bretagne completed her first set of sea trials in Lorient, North Western France. According to the international organization for cooperation on arms (OCCAR), the organization which coordinates the Italian-French FREMM frigate program, Bretagne wrapped up the fir
