Royal Navy’s type 23 frigate, HMS Richmond returned home to the Naval Base Portsmouth on December 11 after a nine-month deployment. Sailing more than 40,000 miles, the Portsmouth-based Type 23 frigate travelled as far as the Indian Ocean on security patrols, where her crew intercepted their first ma
Russian Navy’s destroyer ship Smetlivy fired warning shots at a Turkish fishing vessel in the Aegean Sea on December 13. The Russian Ministry of Defence said the destroyer was forced to open warning fire in order to avoid a collision between the two vessels. At the moment of the incident, the destro
The Royal Navy has carried out its second drugs bust in the Mediterranean in just two weeks with HMS St Albans seizing around 320kg of cannabis. The Type 23 frigate stopped the drug smugglers during a routine security patrol and prevented around £1 million worth of narcotics reaching European market
The aft island, the final section of the UK’s second aircraft carrier took to the sea yesterday, December 10. The control tower of the ship is being transferred to Babcock’s dockyard in Rosyth, Scotland. The 750-tonne section, which will control aircraft operations on HMS Prince of Wales, left BAE S
The Royal Netherlands Navy’s De Zeven Provinciën-class air defence frigate HNLMS Tromp docked in Rotterdam December 9. The frigate arrived at Rotterdam’s Wilhelmina Pier to mark the 350th anniversary of the Netherlands Marine Corps, held December 10, 2015. The anniversary is marked by a parade which
The German frigate FGS Mecklenburg-Vorpommern collided with the container ship Nordic Bremen in Kiel Canal, Germany on December 9. The collision took place near Rendsburg in the 98-kilometer-long Kiel Canal in bad weather conditions around 4 am. According to German Navy, no one was injured in the ac
Damen Shipyards Group unveiled their new rigid hull inflatable boat, the RHIB 1050, at this year’s Europort event in Rotterdam. The 10.5 x 3.35-metre multi-mission vessel can serve as an independent platform or as support for a larger patrol vessel. The RHIB 1050 was developed at Damen Shipyards Har
The Royal Moroccan Navy has taken delivery of a Damen Stan Tug, officially named Al Mounkid. The 22-metre long vessel, named Al Mounkid, takes the honour of being the first tug to join Morocco’s naval fleet. The Royal Moroccan Navy fleet incorporates frigates, offshore patrol vessels, training vesse
Two Standing NATO Maritime Group Two (SNMG2) ships, the flagship, FGS Hamburg, and HDMS Absalon, arrived for a port visit to Haifa, Israel on December 7. The crews of the ships will have opportunities to interact with their Israeli counterparts. On conclusion, NATO and Israeli naval forces plan to p
Improved weather conditions in the Central Mediterranean Sea have led more migrants to embark on the dangerous voyage towards European coasts. In order to avoid the further loss of life at sea, operation Sophia vessels saved 374 migrants in the last couple of days. According to EUNAVFOR Med’s press
Royal Navy amphibious assault ship, HMS Bulwark, has returned to Plymouth from operations in the Mediterranean after leading a major Royal Navy deployment. The Plymouth-based ship was leading this year’s exercise Cougar comprising exercises with the French Navy off Corsica and then Exercise Trident
A French flag officer embarked in the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle took command of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command’s Task Force 50 on December 7. The commander will be leading coalition naval strike operations for Operation Inherent Resolve, the purpose of which is “to fig
UK’s Defence Secretary Michael Fallon visited defence companies in Scotland December 7 to highlight the impact last month’s Strategic Defence and Security Review will have on the economy. Over the next decade, the MOD plans to spend around £8 billion on conventional warships for the Royal Navy, all
INDRA NAVY is a bilateral maritime exercise between the Indian and Russian navies that was initiated in 2003. The 8th edition of INDRA NAVY is being conducted in the Bay of Bengal from December 7 – 12, 2015. The primary aim of this exercise is to increase interoperability between the two navies and
