The operation, which is believed to be a UK record in terms of the weight of ship that was skidded, took place in Babcock Rosyth Facilities over 10 hours. Tom Niven, Build and Assembly Manager for the Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA), stated: “While we’ve completed a few of these skidding operations on the QEC Carriers,… Continue reading TWO HALVES OF PRINCE OF WALES JOINED TOGETHER
Category: On Watch
BRITISH WARSHIPS GEAR UP FOR “TRIDENT JUNCTURE” EXERCISE
HMS Ocean sailed from Livorno while HMS Bulwark sailed from Toulon straight into the warm up phase of Exercise Trident Juncture. Both vessels have spent months preparing for the ambitious exercise which will see around 36,000 personnel from more than 30 nations taking part in locations around Italy, Spain and Portugal. Ocean visited Livorno to… Continue reading BRITISH WARSHIPS GEAR UP FOR “TRIDENT JUNCTURE” EXERCISE
HMS DEFENDER DEPLOYS TO MIDDLE EAST ON SECURITY OPERATIONS
Crowds of family and friends gathered along the shoreline in Old Portsmouth to wave farewell to the 190 crew, as they left their home port, to take over from sister ship HMS Duncan and spend nine months working with allies in the Middle East and Gulf. The ship’s role will be to safeguard the seas… Continue reading HMS DEFENDER DEPLOYS TO MIDDLE EAST ON SECURITY OPERATIONS
EXERCISE BLACK ALLIGATOR REACHES EXPLOSIVE CLIMAX
The men of 42 Commando led the way through the mock town in a nine-day battle which brought the curtain down on Exercise Black Alligator, the most action-packed live-firing training Royal Marines get anywhere in the world. Around 1,200 Royal Marines Commandos, Royal Marines Reservists, commando gunners of 29 Regiment Royal Artillery, battlefield engineers of… Continue reading EXERCISE BLACK ALLIGATOR REACHES EXPLOSIVE CLIMAX
HMS AMBUSH COMPLETES SIX-MONTH OPERATIONAL DEPLOYMENT
The high-tech hunter-killer submarine left Faslane in May to spend the summer conducting UK operations in addition to taking part in NATO activities and exercises. “HMS Ambush has proven her capabilities as one of the most advanced submarines in the world and this successful deployment is proof that the Astute-class can operate anywhere in the… Continue reading HMS AMBUSH COMPLETES SIX-MONTH OPERATIONAL DEPLOYMENT
WORK BEGINS ON HMS TRENT
Work began yesterday Friday the 9th of October, on the third and final ship in the trio, HMS Trent, at the BAE yard in Govan as defence procurement Philip Dunne pressed the button to start a plasma cutter at work on sheets of steel. HMS Forth is already 50 per cent assembled in the neighbouring… Continue reading WORK BEGINS ON HMS TRENT
MV22 OSPREY RETURNS TO HMS OCEAN
The landing was the first step in demonstrating the partnership between the amphibious helicopter platform and the US Marines Corps (USMC) ahead of the major NATO exercise, Trident Juncture, which gets underway in a few weeks time. The USMC MV22 Osprey, callsign ‘Elvis’, visited HMS Ocean in the Atlantic off Portugal at the start of… Continue reading MV22 OSPREY RETURNS TO HMS OCEAN
846 NAS ‘CRAWL WALK, RUN’ AND FLY ON DECK LANDING TRAINING
For a number of 846 NAS aircrew this was the first time in over three years they had operated with a ship due to being on exchange with the RAF whilst undergoing conversion training from the Sea King Mk4 to the Merlin Mk3 at RAF Benson. Utilising the infamous ‘crawl, walk, run’ phrase, the first… Continue reading 846 NAS ‘CRAWL WALK, RUN’ AND FLY ON DECK LANDING TRAINING
FIRST SEA LORD EXPERIENCES F-35B SIMULATION
With the Introduction to Service of the F-35B Lightning II jets starting to ramp up, and the first carrier construction at an advanced stage, the manufacturers Lockheed Martin brought a cockpit demonstrator to London. The demonstrator provided visitors with the unique opportunity of flying the aircraft and seeing its capabilities first hand as well as… Continue reading FIRST SEA LORD EXPERIENCES F-35B SIMULATION
HMS BULWARK AND HMS OCEAN SET SAIL FOR COUGAR 15 DEPLOYMENT
HMS Ocean deployed with Royal Marines from 45 Commando and Merlin, Apache and Chinook helicopters from the Fleet Air Arm, Army Air Corps and RAF, where the Navy’s helicopter carrier will join a task group of 70 warships from across NATO and host the task force commander Rear Admiral Tony Radakin. Joining her will be… Continue reading HMS BULWARK AND HMS OCEAN SET SAIL FOR COUGAR 15 DEPLOYMENT