British and American battlefield medics practised wartime operations and procedures off the coast of the United Arab Emirates aboard the UK flagship HMS Ocean. A specialist US medical team joined the helicopter assault group for the casualty drill, one of the tests of the Plymouth-based warship in h
One French ship was replaced by another in the Mediterranean Sea operation Sophia after FS Commandant Bouan took over from FS Commandant Ducuing on February 6. Both ships are D’Estienne d’Orves-class avisos most commonly used for anti-submarine defence and high sea escort missions. Commandant Ducuin
Royal Navy patrol ship HMS Mersey returmed home to Portsmouth on Friday completing a 13-month mission supporting efforts to tackle people trafficking and drug smuggling. The River-class patrol ship left Portsmouth in January 2016, heading for the Caribbean before travelling east to the Mediterranean
Off the west coast of Africa frigate HMS Portland takes on fuel from tanker RFA Gold Rover – the very last time the oldest vessel in the UK’s Naval Service will provide ‘black gold’ to fuel front-line operations. The 11,000-tonne support vessel is due to decommission in the UK next month – 43 years
Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker Tidespring arrived in Japan on February 9 for a scheduled stop on its way to UK waters. RFA Tidespring is the lead ship of Tide-class tankers built for Great Britain by the South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. As the first of four ships that
The first Royal Navy establishment overseas in nearly half a century will be ready for sailors and marines to move into by November, the Royal Navy said. Workers are on track to complete the future HMS Jufair in Bahrain that will provide accommodation, welfare and support facilities for up to 300 mi
U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) joined over 2,800 service personnel from Romania, Bulgaria, Canada, Greece, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine for the at-sea portion of exercise Sea Shield on February 8. Sea Shield is an annual, Romania-led multinational exercise
Weeks after receiving a $54 million contract for Trident (D5) MK 6 guidance system production, Charles Stark Draper Laboratory has landed another $58.5 contract modification for the same task. The contract for the guidance system production includes failure verification, test, repair and recertifica
Spanish Navy sailors supporting EUNAVFOR’s operation Atalanta aboard offshore patrol vessel ESPS Relampago recently took an opportunity to train with AMISOM’s marine unit close to the port of Mogadishu. The training included briefings and exercises on boat handling, search and rescue, first aid and
French Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle has entered dry dock in the Toulon navy base to start its mid life refit. The undertaking will be led by DGA (French armament procurement agency), the French Navy’s Fleet Support Department and the aircraft carrier’s crew in collabo
NATO ships from Turkey, Italy and Greece are currently sailing in the Mediterranean Sea making observations that will help improve maritime situational awareness. The three ships are tasked under operation Sea Guardian, a newly launched NATO operation which has three man tasks, maritime situational
Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Argus departed Falmouth Docks and started a busy training programme on January 23 under the command of Captain Peter N Selby. Having completed a scheduled maintenance period (SMP) at A & P Falmouth, she began deck landing training (DLT) with 845 Squadron right away. On the
The largest vessel in the Royal Dutch Navy’s fleet recently became the first ship to have its hull cleaned with robot technology. Dutch company Fleet Cleaner announced that the Karel Doorman cleaning was a trial completed in December 2016. The company removed the fouling of the vessel using a hull c
To battle submarines in the Baltic Sea, you need to have a torpedo developed specifically for the Baltic Sea, Swedish torpedo developers have said. In a recent article posted on the Defence Materiel Administration website, Sweden’s torpedo developers explain what a process to develop and produce a n
