Vessels
New FREMM frigate for French Navy launched in Lorient
French shipbuilder DCNS has launched Bretagne, the French Navy’s fifth FREMM multi purpose frigate. The September 16 float out is an important achievement for DCNS as it shows that the shipbuilder is capable of delivering six of the frigates to the French Navy by 2019, the company said. Apart from F
Egypt receives second Mistral-class helicopter-carrier
The Arab Republic of Egypt has received the second and last Mistral-class helicopter carrier it acquired from France in October 2015. The change of flag ceremony for the amphibious assault ship which Egypt named Anwar El Sadat took place on September 16 and was attended by the two Chiefs of Staff of
India launches second Visakhapatnam-class destroyer INS Mormugao
Indian shipbuilding company MDL has launched the nation’s second indigenously built Visakhapatnam-class destroyer INS Mormugao. Weighing 2844 tonnes at launch, the destroyer entered water for the first time during a September 17 ceremony in Mumbai. Also called Project 15B, the ships are an improved
Video: US Navy’s 13th LCS hits water for first time
USS Wichita, the U.S. Navy’s 13th littoral combat ship was launched during a September 17 ceremony at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard in Marinette. Lockheed Martin, the company leading the industry team that builds the Freedom variant of LCS ships has shared a video of LCS 13 hitting the w
Panama hosts multinational naval exercise UNITAS 2016
The Panamanian Navy is host to this year’s iteration of exercise UNITAS which is attended by the United States, Panama, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Peru and the United Kingdom. The ten-day exercise kicked off September 18 and will includ
British frigate breaks off international exercise to save Canadian fisherman
Royal Navy frigate HMS Monmouth abandoned the scenario during a Canadian-hosted anti-submarine exercise in order to help a Canadian fisherman in the North Atlantic. The Plymouth-based ship was around 100 miles east of Nova Scotia when she picked up a mayday. The crew of the trawler Double Mischief r
Dutch offshore patrol vessel nabs two tonnes of cocaine
Royal Netherlands Navy offshore patrol ship HNLMS Groningem has seized two tonnes of cocaine after intercepting a small fishing boat in the Caribbean Sea. Five crew members were detained and transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard together with the found contraband. A U.S. maritime reconnaissance plane
US Navy secretary names two new destroyers Jack H. Lucas and Louis H. Wilson Jr.
U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the names for two new Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in a ceremony at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on September 17. DDG 125, will be named Jack H. Lucas in honor of the Marine Corps hero and Medal of Honor recipient while DDG 126 would be named Louis H. Wil
US Navy to christen USS Wichita LCS
The U.S. Navy is set to christen its newest Freedom-variant littoral combat ship, USS Wichita (LCS 13), during a ceremony on Saturday, September 17 in Marinette, Wisconsin. “The christening of the future USS Wichita brings this warship one step closer to joining our nation’s growing fleet,” said Ray
US Coast Guard awards Offshore Patrol Cutter construction contract
The U.S. Coast Guard has awarded Eastern Shipbuilding Group a $110.29 million contract for the production of the lead Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) and up to eight follow-on cutters. If the Coast Guard opts to build all nine cutters the contract will be worth $2.38 billion. The OPC acquisition will r
Sea phase of Australian Kakadu exercise gets underway
Naval units taking part in the Australian-hosted multinational maritime exercise have sailed out of Darwin to begin the sea phase of Exercise Kakadu. The ships separated into three multi-national task groups once outside the harbor and will spend the next eight days undertaking a graduated program o
Austal to build two more expeditionary fast transport vessels for US Navy
The U.S. Navy has awarded Austal a $248.8 million contract for the design and construction of another two expeditionary fast transport vessels, EPF 11 and EPF 12. Austal said that this amount included contracts for long-lead time materials that were previously announced. The new contract follows a 2
Australian Navy minehunters head for Solomon Islands and Render Safe 2016
Two Royal Australian Navy minehunters, HMAS Huon and HMAS Diamantina, spent the past four weeks training together before they set sail for their south-west Pacific deployment and support to operation Render Safe 16. This year’s iteration of Render Safe will be taking place in the vicinity of the Sol
USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier gets PIA halfway through
U.S. Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) reached the halfway point of its Planned Incremental Availability (PIA) September 13, pierside at Naval Air Station North Island. PIA is a reoccurring part of a ship’s life cycle, scheduled approximately every 36 months. It’s