The Royal New Zealand Navy’s diving support and hydrographic survey vessel has arrived in New Zealand after a 46-day voyage from Norway. The former offshore support vessel MV Edda Fonn underwent conversion work in Denmark before heading for Wellington, via Panama. Future HMNZS Manawanui will officia
German Navy corvette FGS Ludwigshafen am Rhein and her crew of 64 will depart naval base Warnemünde on May 17 to start an eight-month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea. The corvette will support the maritime task force of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, currently led by the Brazilian
US Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf (WMSL 750) and vessels from the Philippine Coast Guard conducted joint search-and-rescue exercises at sea, west of Manila, May 14. The Bertholf, a 418-foot National Security Cutter based in Alameda, California, trained with the Philippine Coast Guard patrol vessels BRP
Spanish Navy frigate ESPS Mendez Nunes broke off from the US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its carrier strike group (CSG) as it headed for the Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tension between the US and Iran. The Spanish frigate’s withdrawal from the carrier strike group was first reporte
The Royal Navy has contracted Swedish defense company Saab to deliver its AUV62-AT anti-submarine warfare (ASW) training system. The AUV62-AT autonomous underwater vehicle is a training solution allowing ASW units to train in a range of scenarios. This procurement follows a period of testing and eva
A keel-laying ceremony for the first in a new class of US Military Sealift Command operated oilers was held at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in San Diego on May 13. Kevin Graney, NASSCO president welcomed ship namesake, Rep. John Lewis (D Ga.), and ship’s sponsor, actress Alfre Woodard who at
The US Pacific Air Forces hosted exercise Northern Edge 2019 (NE19) kicked off on and above central Alaska ranges and the Gulf of Alaska on May 13. Personnel from US military units stationed in the continental United States and from US installations in the Indo-Pacific will participate with approxim
A 19-ship exercise organized by the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM)-Plus concluded in Singapore on May 13. Co-organised by Singapore and the Republic of Korea under their co-chairmanship of the ADMM-Plus Experts’ Working Group on Maritime Security, the “Maritime Security Field Training Exerc
Former US Coast Guard cutter Sherman arrived at the port of Colombo, Sri Lanka, on May 12, eight months after it was formally handed over to the South Asian country in August 2018. The ship is scheduled to be commissioned by Sri Lankan president Maithripala Yapa Sirisena in the near future. Once it
The Spanish Navy-hosted mine countermeasures exercise ESP Minex 19 concluded in the Western Mediterranean Sea on May 10, after two weeks of evolutions. ESP Minex 19 is an advanced annual exercise for mine countermeasures units and surface, submarine, and air mining and force protection assets. Parti
The Egyptian Navy’s third Gowind 2500 corvette Al-Moez (981) was launched in a ceremony at the Alexandria shipyard on May 12. In addition to being the third unit in the class, Al-Moez is the second of a total of four ships to be built locally by Egypt. The first unit, ENS El Fateh, was delivered [&h
US Navy aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) and ships from its carrier strike group entered the US 5th Fleet area of operations on May 9 after transiting the Suez Canal. The Abraham Lincoln CSG (ABESCG) arrived in the Middle East a little earlier than initially planned, following an announceme
The Royal Australian Navy’s Arafura-class Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) program reached a new milestone on Friday as the keel for the lead ship in the class was laid at at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in Adelaide. Chief of the Royal Australian Navy, Vice Admiral Michael Noonan AO, RAN positioned a coin
US Navy’s Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarine USS Rhode Island (SSBN 740) carried out a successful test flight of one unarmed Trident II D5 missile on May 9. On the same day, the US Air Force launched a Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Both tests
