The Princess Royal officially opened the new home of UK Hydrographic Office in a ceremony on April 26. Construction of the new headquarters for the 850 data analysers, hydrographers, cartographers, environmental experts and scientists took 18 months to complete and was ready for operations in Januar
Future HMS Glasgow, the first of the new class of Royal Navy Type 26 frigates, is beginning to resemble a ship as her manufacturing progresses on the Clyde. The new City-class ships will be the successor to the Duke-class Type 23 frigates currently in service. She’ll comprise more than 60 blocks in
While the first block of a new offshore patrol vessel (OPV) for the Argentine Navy was already assembled in Concarneau, French defense minister Florence Parly visited the site of shipbuilder Piriou to mark the official start of construction under the EUR280 million contract. The visit took place on
Two brand new Russian Navy ships got underway from the Severnaya Verf in St. Petersburg on April 21 to start their trials in the Baltic Sea. The second Project 22350 frigate Admiral Kasatonov got underway for another round of trials after making its at-sea debut in December 2018. For corvette Gremya
The US Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat (GDEB) a $269.3 million contract for work on missile tubes for the ballistic missile submarines of the US and UK. The contract will see GDEB manufacture 42 missile tubes and missile tube outfitting material for the US Navy’s
Shipbuilders German Naval Yards Kiel (GNYK) and Damen have been invited to submit their final bids for the German Navy’s MKS 180 multi-purpose warship project. According to GNYK, the invitation was issued by the German defense ministry on April 12. The shipyard will now have three months to prepare
French Navy aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle and its carrier strike group are set to sail to India where they will be joined by Indian Navy aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya and other units for what was described as the largest naval exercise between the two countries ever. The drill, which is
German shipbuilder Lürssen is set to host a keel-laying ceremony for the first of a second batch of Germany Navy K130 (Braunschweig-class) corvettes at its Peene shipyard in Volgast on April 25. The keel-laying for future FGS Köln comes two months after construction under the program got underway in
The French Navy’s seventh FREMM frigate was floated out Naval Group’s Lorient shipyard on April 18. In addition to being the seventh unit in the class, FREMM Alsace is also the first of two air-defense variants that will be delivered to the navy under the program. Alsace was launched thirteen months
US Navy’s guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) arrived in Varna, Bulgaria, April 15 for the first port visit of its Black Sea tour. The ship transited the Bosphorus Strait to enter the Black Sea on April 14. The navy did not say how long the destroyer would stay in the region but the 1936 [&he
The French defense procurement agency has accepted delivery of the fourth and final d’Entrecasteaux-class multi-mission ship from the Kership joint venture. Dumont d’Urville, as the unit is called, was delivered to the French Navy in a ceremony on April 5. Like its predecessors, the ship will sail f
The UK defense ministry is seeking proposals for the development of an autonomous version of an existing extra large unmanned undersea vehicle (XLUUV). The development would be part of a Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) multi-year themed competition which will seek to develop a platform to un
Two groups of ships assembled around aircraft carriers from the navies of the US and France gathered in the Red Sea for a three-nation passing exercise (PASSEX) on April 15. France’s Charles de Gaulle carrier strike group, composed of Marine Nationale’s FS Charles De Gaulle (R 91), F70AA-class air d
The Italian Navy has taken delivery of FREMM frigate Antonio Marceglia from shipbuilder Fincantieri at its Muggiano, La Spezia, shipyard. The eighth frigate in its class overall and the fourth in multipurpose configuration was delivered on April 16. The future ITS Antonio Marceglia was delivered aft
