Other Navies News

04.30.2010 French frigate sinks Somalia pirate mother ship and skiffs
A French patrol ship has sunk a pirate mother ship and two speedboats about 500 nautical miles from the coast of Somalia. On Thursday evening FS Nivoz stopped and searched the suspect flotilla. Finding on board the mother ship pirate paraphernalia, the French moved the vessel's 11 crew to their ship and sank it along with the two skiffs.

04.29.2010 Indian Navy commissions first indigenous 'stealth' frigate
The Indian Navy on Thursday commissioned the INS Shivalik, the first of three new indigenous stealth frigates. The 6,200-ton, 142.5 by 16.9 meter frigate has low radar visibility. Special aerodynamics, as well as the equipment and materials used in building the warship makes it very difficult to monitor its movements.

04.29.2010 Pirates drive 4 ships to Somali coast
Pirates have driven 4 ships they had captured in the Indian Ocean and in the Aden bay to the Somali coast. Among them are 3 Thai fishing ships that were hijacked 1200 miles from the Somali coast on April 18 and driven to the pirates' base near the port city of Garacad.

04.27.2010 61 Kommunara Shipyard can be transformed into state concern
On Apr 26 dozens of shipwrights from 61 Kommunara Shipyard (Nikolayev, Ukraine) picketed the building of regional administration claiming to repay wage arrears and determine perspective of the shipyard's further development.

04.27.2010 USS Mobile Bay Completes Extensive Modernization Upgrades
USS Mobile Bay (CG 53), the second cruiser to undergo the most comprehensive upgrade and modernization program in the history of the U.S. Navy, completed its 10-month shipyard availability April 19 and will soon be reintegrated back into the fleet.

04.27.2010 Supreme Rada ratified BSF prolongation agreement
On Apr 27 Supreme Rada [Ukrainian parliament] ratified agreement between Russia and Ukraine about prolongation of Russia's Black Sea Fleet (BSF) based in Ukraine. The parliamentary session was full of incidents and brawls.

04.27.2010 UN approves anti-piracy resolution
The UN Security Council approved a Russian proposal to consider piracy as crime on Tuesday. Earlier, pirates couldn't be prosecuted due to the absence of legislature in this respect. The Council asked UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to work out a report on measures for the legal prosecution of pirates.

04.27.2010 Storm sinks 8 Chinese vessels
8 Chinese vessels sank in the Yellow Sea on Tuesday due to a storm. 29 sailors were rescued, the number of missing remains unknown, Xinhua news agency reports. Rescue operations are still underway. Meteorologists forecast foul weather for another two days and warn vessels to stay in harbors.

04.27.2010 Spanish frigate destroys pirate base off Somali coast
The Spanish frigate Victoria destroyed a floating pirate base near the coast of Somalia. This was reported by the press service of the Naval Forces of the European Union which is leading the fight against piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

04.26.2010 South Korea warship sunk by 'strong impact'
First inspections of the bow of a South Korean warship show it was hit by an outside impact of considerable force. The Cheonan sank and was split in half after a mystery blast on March 26 close to the disputed border of the two Koreas, leaving 40 sailors confirmed dead and six still unaccounted for.

04.26.2010 Boeing Delivers Super Hornet Flight Trainers
Boeing and teammate L-3 Link Simulation & Training today announced that they delivered two F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Tactical Operation Flight Trainers (TOFT) to the U.S. Navy at Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana, Va., in February, and declared them "Ready for Training." The devices offer aircrews the same Operational Flight Program used in the Boeing-built Super Hornet aircraft.

04.26.2010 Iran tests five missiles
Iran on Sunday test fired five new types of locally-made coast-to-sea and sea-to-sea missiles in the last stage of its "Great Prophet 5" war games in the Persian Gulf. The missiles were fired simultaneously and hit a single target all at the same time.

04.26.2010 Somalia pirates attack 4 ships in one day
Somalia pirates tried to seize four ships on Sunday. Japanese, Malaysian, Yemen tankers and an Indian freighter managed to escape the attacks. According to the International Sea Bureau Somalia pirates made 217 attacks and seized 47 ships in 2009.

04.26.2010 EU expects Ukraine to join anti-piracy mission
European Union expects Ukraine to join EUNAVFOR Somalia/Operation Atalanta anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden. The council of EU foreign ministers welcomed growing portion of third countries taking part in the operation and expects Ukraine to attend as well.

04.26.2010 Ukrainian C2 ship Slavutich called at Romanian port Constanta
On Apr 23 Ukrainian command and control (C2) ship Slavutich visited the port of Constanta (Romania) along with BLACKSEAFOR ships. During the cruise Slavutich carried out a number of drills under activation program of BLACKSEAFOR international naval force.

04.23.2010 Royal Netherlands Navy Takes Delivery of Its First NH90NFH
NHIndustries is pleased to announce the delivery of the first NH90NFH helicopter to the Royal Netherlands Navy during an official ceremony held today at AgustaWestland's Vergiate plant in Italy. The Royal Netherlands Navy has ordered a total of 20 NH90NFH aircraft.

04.23.2010 Iran in Day 2 of large-scale military drills in Persian Gulf
Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Friday started the second stage of a three-day military exercise in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. During the first stage of the military drills, code-named The Great Prophet 5, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps covered the expanse of the Persian Gulf waters using high-speed boats.

04.22.2010 N. Korea corvette sunken by "live mine"
S. Korea's Cheonan corvette has been sunken by a "live mine". N. Korea deployed naval suicide bombers one of which attacked the vessel. Cheonan went down in the Yellow Sea near the North Korean border.

04.22.2010 Iran starts large-scale military drills in Strait of Hormuz
Iran's Revolutionary Guards launched on Thursday a three-day military exercise in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. On Wednesday ground, air, and naval units would take part in the drill designed to "ensure security in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, and the Gulf of Oman". Tests will be held with an array of indigenous missiles and other weapons.

04.22.2010 Timoshenko calls to deny ratification of BSF agreement
MPs from Party of Yulia Timoshenko (PYT) invoked convening of the special session of Supreme Rada [Ukrainian parliament] on Sat, Apr 24. The session's subject is going to be agreement signed by Russian and Ukrainian presidents about prolongation of Black Sea Fleet deployment in Sevastopol, Crimea.