US Navy’s guided-missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93) seized almost five tons of hashish from a dhow in the Gulf of Aden on December 27. According to the US Navy, the destroyer made the interception during a flag verification boarding as part of maritime security operations in the region. “We h
Anzac-class frigate HMAS Ballarat seized over 900 kilos of heroin in two separate interceptions in the Middle East, the Royal Australian Navy has announced. In two boarding operations on December 21 and 23, the frigate’s crew seized approximately AU$279 million worth of narcotics as part of the ship
US Navy coastal patrol ships USS Thunderbolt (PC 12) and USS Sirocco (PC 6) completed a week of maritime security operations in the Gulf of Oman on December 19. Maritime security operations in US 5th Fleet entail routine patrols to determine pattern of life in the maritime domain, enhance mariner-to
US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Jason Dunham (DDG 109) and USS The Sullivans (DDG 68) returned to their homeports after completing a seven-month deployment to Europe and the Middle East. On December 21, USS Jason Dunham returned to Naval Station Norfolk while USS The Sull
US Military Sealift Command’s fleet replenishment oiler USNS Big Horn (T-AO 198) pulled into Naval Station Norfolk, Dec. 17, completing a 10-month deployment in the US Fifth Fleet and US Sixth Fleet area of responsibility. “Some of the missions USNS Big Horn undertook during this deployment included
After making two narcotics interceptions in late November and early December, Royal Navy destroyer HMS Dragon has now carried out the largest drug haul in the history of the Bahrain-based Combined Maritime Forces (CMF). According to CMF, Dragon seized and destroyed just shy of 10,000 kg of illegal n
The navies of Australia, France and the US concluded a four-day ‘Ship Anti-Submarine Warfare Readiness and Evaluation Measurement’ (SHAREM) 195 exercise in the Arabian Sea on December 18. Participating ships included French navy F70AA-class air defense destroyer FS Cassard (D 614), and Royal Austral
Israeli unmanned systems specialist Elbit Systems has teamed up with Italy’s Leonardo to equip the Seagull unmanned surface vessel (USV) with mini torpedoes. The agreement, announced at the Exponaval exhibition in Chile, will see the two companies develop the USV’ capability of mounting and launchin
The Royal Saudi Naval Force (RNSF) handed over command of Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) CTF150 to the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) in a change of command ceremony at the CMF headquarters in Bahrain on December 6. Commodore Darren Garnier RCN took command from Commodore Al-Shahrani RSNF. The ceremony w
US Navy aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis is scheduled to enter Persian Gulf waters by the end of the week, ending an eight-month period of carrier strike group absence from the region. According to Wall Street Journal who first reported the news, this is the longest period of US Navy aircraft ca
Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri held a keel laying ceremony for the first Qatari Navy Doha-class corvette at its Muggiano shipyard on Tuesday. The ceremony was attended, among others, by Brig. Mubarak Al Sulaiti, Deputy Chief of the Flotilla, on behalf of the Chief of the Navy, welcomed by Angelo Fu
Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon has seized three tons of hashish in a Persian Gulf operation, the Royal Navy informed. The Portsmouth-based destroyer was on patrol in the Middle East when they came across a suspicious dhow – a type of vessel common to the Middle East – in a notorious drug sm
French Navy anti-air warfare destroyer FS Cassard rescued twelve crew members of the Panama-flagged asphalt-bitumen tanker Durban Queen in the Persian Gulf on November 20. FS Cassard was en route to Kuwait and exercise Pearl of the West when it received a distress call from the nearby tanker. Accord
Qatari Emiri Naval Forces recently completed Eastern Sailor 19, an exercise conducted annually with the US Navy and US Coast Guard. Eastern Sailor 19 is an annual, bilateral surface exercise between the US Navy and the Qatar Emiri Naval Forces serving to expand levels of cooperation between the two
