German Navy’s air-defense frigate FGS Sachsen will depart its homeport to become the new flagship of NATO’s Standing Maritime Group 2. Sachsen will be taking the place of Dutch De Zeven Provincien-class frigate HNLMS De Ruyter which has been at the helm of SNMG2 since September this year. The lead s
Royal Navy’s former aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious will leave Portsmouth one final time today and sail for the scrapyard after 32 years of service with the Royal Navy. Sailors on board HMS Queen Elizabeth and public at the Round Tower in Old Portsmouth will bid farewell to the aircraft that they a
Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) has contracted Saab for the development and production of torpedo integration systems (TIS) for the Swedish Navy’s new A26 submarines. According to the company, the order also includes an upgrade of existing systems on the Visby-class corvettes and Gotla
British shipbuilder BAE Systems announced Wednesday that it has awarded further manufacturing equipment contracts for the Type 26 Global Combat Ship. With the contracts awarded to six companies, the total investment to date in the Type 26 supply chain was brought to more than £380m, BAE Systems said
German marine technology school (MTS) Parow has officially received EX Ensdorf, a hollow rod steering boat that was once part of the German Navy’s HL 352 class of minehunters. The Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw), gave its approval for t
Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Tiderace has been named in a December 1 ceremony at the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) shipyard in Okpo, South Korea. Tiderace is the second of four naval tankers DSME is building for the UK Ministry of Defence. UK Chief of Materiel, Vice Admiral Simon
Sailors and ships deployed to EUNAVFOR’s counter piracy operation off the Horn of Africa have bid farewell to the Dutch frigate and operation Atalanta flagship, HNLMS Tromp, as she concluded her deployment and headed for the Dutch port of Den Helder. The De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate started her
Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigate HMS Sutherland escorted the Russian Navy’s Udaloy-class destroyer as it started a transit through the English Channel. The Devonport-based frigate deployed from its base in Plymouth early on Saturday morning (3 December) to a position at the western edge of the Channel t
Spanish Navy’s offshore patrol vessel BAM Relampago took members of the Somaliland Coast Guard on board for maritime training off the coast of Somaliland on September 3. The training consisted of radar and search and rescue (SAR) drills including helicopter evolutions. UN Office on Drugs and Crime (
The Royal Netherlands Navy frigate and current flagship of the EU mission off the Horn of Africa, became the first operation Atalanta warship to dock in either Somalia or Somaliland as the ship came alongside Berbera Port on Sunday, December 4. Onboard were EUCAP Nestor’s head of operations, Chris R
A Russian SU-33 aircraft crashed on December 3 while attempting to land on the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, according to a report by The Aviationist. The Russian Ministry of Defense has confirmed that the Su-33 fighter jet skidded off the dock after the arresting cable broke. The pilot sustai
Norwegian ship services company Bergen Group Services AS has been contracted to carry out an inspection and survey project on the Norwegian Navy minesweeper KNM Rauma. The company said the project would start in early January 2017 and would take 12 weeks to complete. Bergen completed a similar proje
HMS Echo, a Royal Navy multi-role survey vessel, will be taking the place of sister ship HMS Enterprise which has represented UK’s contribution to the European migrant-crisis mission in the Mediterranean Sea. During her time spent with operation Sophia, Enterprise has saved over 9,000 lives of aroun
One of the Royal Navy’s new Wildcat helicopters has provided an added dimension to the final test of training for around 140 officer cadets at Britannia Royal Naval College. The provision of search and rescue, winching and operational over-watch pushed the Cadets to the limit as they completed a fic