Having spent less than two months idle in the port during her routine maintenance period, the Italian aircraft carrier ITS Cavour now rejoined the EUNAVFOR Med operation Sophia. The Italian light aircraft carrier ITS Garibaldi assumed Cavour’s role on November 25, 2015. Now that the original mission
Commander of Combined Task Force 152 met with the UK Second Mine Warfare Battle Staff (2MWBS) onboard the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Cardigan Bay while the ship was in Manama, Bahrain. 2MWBS is comprised of a team of 17 specialists drawn from multiple warfare and engineering disciplines from regular and
Defence and security company Saab announced January 20 that it will supply a coastal surveillance and border protection system to Croatia. According to Saab, the system is scheduled to be operational by June 2016. The coastal surveillance system will provide real-time information from radar sensors,
In 2015 Swedish Navy joined an organization called the European Amphibious Initiative (EAI) formed by five EU nations in 2000. The initiators were France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK. The aim of this organization is to strengthen the interoperability of European forces and optimize and
Royal Navy’s Fleet Amphibious flagship HMS Bulwark has sailed into 2016 with a new captain and several trophy additions. Captain James Parkin succeeded Captain Nick Cooke-Priest who departed the ship for a post in the Ministry of Defence in London. Parkin joined the Royal Navy as a Warfare Officer i
Danish Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organisation (DALO) has procured imaging sonar technology from maritime security company, Sonardyne International Ltd, UK to support Danish Navy’s Mine Counter Measure activities. The Solstice side-scan sonar will be fitted to Saab Seaeye’s Double Eagle SAROV
German Navy’s combat support ship FGS Frankfurt am Main and the corvette FGS Ludwigshafen am Rhein left their homeports January 11. They will take part in Operation Sophia, EUNAVFOR’s mission of stopping human trafficking and saving lives in the central Mediterranean Sea. Looking forward to the upco
The UK Royal Navy’s Ice Patrol ship has just completed a historic five week patrol to the East Antarctic and Ross Sea. HMS Protector is the first Royal Navy, or UK Government, vessel to have visited the region in 80 years or to have traveled so far south having dipped below 77 degrees latitude. Her
Spanish ESPS Numancia, based at Naval Station Rota, left her homeport in the morning of January 18 to relieve the frigate Canarias which was deployed in the Mediterranean Sea with EUNAVFOR’s Operation Sophia. The frigate sailed off to her area of operations after a ceremony which was presided over b
Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet ship formation led by the destroyer Bystry visited the port of Shanghai within the combat task performance in the Pacific Ocean on January 17. The other two ships in the formation are the oil tanker Boris Butoma, and the rescue vessel Altai. All three are commanded by Re
Indonesian shipyard PT PAL has launched the first of two SIGMA 10514 Perusak Kawal Rudal (PKR) guided-missile frigates designated for the Indonesian Navy (TNI AL). The ships were modularly constructed in the Netherlands and Indonesia in collaboration with Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding (DSNS). The
Buckingham Palace, the London residence of the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, has agreed Princess Royal Jetty as the new name for the berth at Portsmouth Naval Base which will accommodate the 65,000-tonne HMS Queen Elizabeth. The jetty, currently known as Middle Slip Jetty, is being strengt
The Force Commander of the Chinese Escort Task Group 576, Rear Admiral Chen Qiangnan, was welcomed on board ITS Carabiniere by Rear Admiral Stefano Barbieri on January 17. Rear Admiral Qiangnan, on board the Luhu-Class destroyer CNS Qingdao, met with ITS Carabinere at sea. After a tour of the Italia
The Spanish Navy frigate ESPS Victoria, currently deployed in operation Atalanta, visited a total of 30 craft off the coast of Somalia during the second week of January. These endeavors were part of the European Union mission, and are intended to ascertain that piracy in the area is fully under cont