On Friday 22 November 2013 a delegation from EU Naval Force’s flagship HNLMS Johan de Witt visited the Chinese Force Commander and his staff on board the Chinese flagship CNS Jing Gang Shan in the Gulf of Aden. The visit was an opportunity to discuss counter piracy operations. The Royal Netherlands
HMS Illustrious departed Singapore en route to the Philippines on Friday, November 22. During 48 hours alongside Sembawang naval shipyard in Singapore, over 500 tons of disaster relief aid was loaded into the hangar by the men and women serving in HMS Illustrious, a team from the Department for Inte
Naval Shipyard Gdynia S.A. has completed the overhaul of the warship ORP Bałtyk (fuel tanker with the ship’s side number Z-1). The scope of overhaul included among other things: maintenance of the hull, superstructure, open decks and tanks. Furthermore, the shipyard carried out repairs of the main c
Babcock has begun work to deliver an upgrade and maintenance programme on HMS Sutherland, which will see the Type 23 frigate receive extensive upgrades and improvements that will significantly increase the ship’s sustainability and fighting capability. Sutherland docked down on Friday, 22 November,
HMS Dragon returned home to Portsmouth on Friday (November 22) from eight months on operations in the Indian Ocean and eastern Mediterranean. Hundreds of friends and family turned out to welcome the ship back home joined by Portsmouth Military Wives Choir and the Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines
Royal Navy Warship HMS Grimsby made two enjoyable but short visits to the North East as part of a regional engagement programme and in support of a traditional celebration close to the heart of all sailors, Trafalgar Day. The 450-tonne Mine Countermeasures Vessel was first alongside at Victoria Quay
Royal Naval fliers have been training on how to land on the ever-moving deck of a warship as they get closer to landing their ‘wings’ flying qualification. Aircrew from 702 Naval Air Squadron left their base at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton in Somerset to join Plymouth frigate HMS Monmouth and p
USS Chancellorsville Finishes Combat Systems Upgrades Naval Sea Systems Command completed the first-ever Air Defense Cruiser Aegis Baseline 9 combat systems upgrade for USS Chancellorsville (CG 62), March 29. The upgrade, part of the Navy’s Cruiser Modernization program, began in April 2012 at BAE S
Having participated in the NATO exercise Joint Warrior, HMS Blyth began her Operational Sea Training (OST) package in late October. This meant undergoing a demanding programme of world renowned intensive training, designed to train crews in a series of realist challenging scenarios. The first two we
A Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose based Merlin Mk 1 flight is en route to the Philippines. The seventeen strong team, currently embarked in Portsmouth based amphibious helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious, were in the latter stages of the UK Response Force Task Group’s Cougar 13 autumn deployment whe
UK Royal Fleet Auxiliary, RFA Lyme Bay is heading for home having completed a 32 day tour of duty with Operation Atalanta – the European Union’s counter piracy operation off the coast of Somalia. RFA Lyme Bay departed the UK in mid August to form part of the Cougar 2013 Response Force Task Group (RF
In the early morning of Tuesday 19 November, EU Naval Force warship ITS Libeccio carried out a replenishment at sea (RAS) with the American auxiliary ship, USNS Arctic. The RAS, which was conducted in coordination with the US Fast Combat Support Ship, required the two ships to sail very close togeth
Advanced Acoustic Concepts (AAC), a joint venture between DRS Technologies and Thales, successfully demonstrated advanced mine-hunting capabilities with the US Navy during the 2013 Fleet Experimentation (FLEX) Unmanned Systems (UxS) Campaign. By towing the unmanned high resolution synthetic aperture
HNLMS Johan de Witt and RFA Lyme Bay have participated in the US led international exercise ‘Cutlass Express’. The exercise, which was held in several operational areas in the waters off East Africa, is a maritime exercise, designed to improve cooperation, tactical expertise and information sharing
