HMS Westminster smashed the actions of three pirate groups in a fortnight – sending the boats to the bottom of the Indian Ocean. The Portsmouth-based warship treated the skiffs to a Viking funeral, blasting them out of the water with her guns and those of her Merlin helicopter. With orange-red flames billowing up in a [...]
Today the Republic of the Seychelles agreed to accept for prosecution 11 suspected pirates who were captured by EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) frigate HNLMS Van Amstel on Friday 11 May. The 11 suspected pirates had pirated an Iranian dhow with 17 innocent Iranian fishermen onboard at the beginning of May and it is thought [...]
Defence ties between Australia and Indonesia continue to strengthen with the conclusion of the biennial patrol boat exercise CASSOWARY. Royal Australian Navy Armidale Class Patrol Boats HMA Ships Ararat and Larrakia joined with Indonesian Armed Forces patrol boats KRI Kakap and KRI Tongkol for the exercise off Darwin. Officer Conducting the Exercise, Commodore Braddon Wheeler, [...]
USS Essex (LHD 2) is returning to San Diego May 17, after completing 12 years as the Navy’s only permanently forward-deployed amphibious assault ship in Sasebo, Japan. The crew of USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) took over Essex April 23. “Essex departed San Diego in 2000, to serve as a forward-deployed asset to 7th Fleet,” [...]
Earlier today, following the decision taken on 23 March 2012 by the Council of the European Union to allow the EU Naval Force to take disruption action against known pirate supplies on the shore, EU forces conducted an operation to destroy pirate equipment on the Somali coastline. The operation was conducted in accordance with the [...]
The 11th naval escort taskforce of the Navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) successfully completed the 450th escort mission on the morning of May 13, 2012, local time. Up to now, the Chinese naval escort taskforce has completed the escorting missions for a total of 4,640 Chinese and foreign ships with a 100% [...]
On 11 May EU NAVFOR frigate HNLMS Van Amstel released a fishing dhow and her Iranian crew off the coast of Somalia. The dhow had been pirated 10 days earlier and was being used to carry out pirate attacks on merchant vessels. Yesterday afternoon, during a surveillance flight 400 nautical miles off the Somali coast, [...]
Sailors assigned to the Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate USS Underwood (FFG 36) rescued six Peruvian fishermen drifting in a disabled vessel off the coast of Peru, May 10. The fishermen were isolated at sea for ten days after developing mechanical problems with their vessel. They were unable to radio for help after their 12-volt batteries [...]
The Finnish Coastguard reported to Falmouth that they had received a satellite telephone call from a sailor aboard a Finnish registered yacht reporting that himself and a friend were in a distress situation aboard their 35 foot yacht. The yacht and the two sailors departed the Azores on the 7th May. Their position is 840 [...]
U.S. Pacific Fleet’s humanitarian and civic assistance (HCA) mission, known as Pacific Partnership, deployed aboard U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) May 3, 2012, for a four-month deployment to the host nations of Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia. Mercy was originally scheduled to deploy May 1, 2012. The ship’s underway was delayed [...]
