Yesterday Royal Navy frigate HMS Somerset and minehunter HMS Cattistock, together with an RAF aircraft, monitored a Russian convoy of two warships and two merchant vessels passing close to the UK.
On Sunday RFA Tideurge shadowed the Russian destroyer RFS Severomorsk heading west through the Channel. The destroyer later met up with a Russian convoy coming from the Mediterranean. On Monday the group passed eastward through the Dover Strait with HMS Somerset closing the Severomorsk and a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft monitoring the group from above. HMS Cattistock also was involved in the operation, arriving in Harwich today.
This is probably the final ‘Syrian Express’ convoy, the group sailed from Tartus on 2nd March and is returning to Russia with evacuated military equipment. The group comprised the Udaloy-class destroyer, a Rapoucha-class landing ship, RFS Shabalin and the cargo ships MV Sparta IV and MV Siyane Severa. This is routine work for the Royal Navy and the transport convoys are unlikely to pose much of a threat.
The fall of the Assad regime in Syria in December 2024 resulted in a temporary increase in the number of Russian ships in the Channel and North Sea, with each movement monitored by the RN in a combined effort with the French, Belgian and Netherlands navies. This is a reminder to the Russians that their military will not be allowed close to the UK without a strong response and will be closely watched.
RFA Tidesurge seen passing west through the English Channel monitoring the Russian destroyer on 16th March (Photo: Dover Strait Shipping – FotoFlite).The Udaloy-class destroyer, RFS Severomorsk is another Russian antique that entered service in 1987.HMS Cattistock and RFS Alexander Shabalin. Launched in 1979, HMS Cattistock is the older of the two ships.HMS Somerset up close with the Severomorsk and Wildcat airborne. Photo taken from RAF P-8A Posiedon.
On Wednesday, March 12th, the delivery ceremony for the minesweeper “Noumi” and the presentation of the Self-Defense Force Flag were held at the Tsurumi Plant of the Japan Marine United Corporation Yokohama Office. JMSDF photo.
The Chinook is a hugely versatile aircraft and is perfectly carrier-capable (Picture: MOD)
Chinooks from 27 Squadron have swapped their usual land base for sea, operating from the Royal Navy’s flagship, HMS Prince of Wales.
The helicopters from RAF Odiham have been taking part in Exercise Hathi Pol, an interoperability exercise between the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.
The aim of the helis’ involvement is to achieve Embarkation Qualifications on the carrier while highlighting the Chinook Force’s requirement to operate in a multi-domain environment.
The Chinook is an extremely capable and highly versatile support helicopter that can be operated from land bases or ships into a diverse range of environments, from the Arctic to the desert or jungle.
Chinooks can be armed, and are fitted with a suite of self-defence equipment allowing them to operate across the battlespace.
While they are mainly used for carrying troops, they are also vital for resupply and battlefield casualty evacuation missions.
The Chinook has a triple-hook external load system, an internal cargo winch, roller conveyor and large reserves of power, meaning it can lift a wide variety of complex underslung or internal loads, including vehicles.
The view from the cockpit as a Chinook approaches HMS Prince of Wales (Picture: MOD)
Each aircraft can carry up to 55 soldiers or marines, or up to approximately 10 tonnes of mixed cargo.
Secondary roles include search and rescue and supporting a wide variety of specialist tasks, including the Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (MACA) commitment.
A Chinook crew comprises two pilots and two crew members, supplemented by specialists depending on the requirements of the mission.
The RAF’s current operational Chinook fleet comprises Mk 5, Mk 6 and Mk 6A aircraft, fitted with digital glass cockpits to a common standard.
The Mk 6 was acquired as a UK-specific variant of the CH-47F and also introduced a Digital Automatic Flight Control System (DAFCS).
According to the RAF, this greatly enhances handling and safety, particularly when operating in recirculating dust or snow conditions.
When the aircraft is not in the air or being prepared for flight, its main blades are tethered (Picture: MOD)
The Chinook HC.Mk 5 results from an upgrade of the extended-range Mk 3, the so-called Fat Tank aircraft, which carries double the fuel load of a standard Chinook.
The earlier Mk 4 Chinooks are being further upgraded to Mk 6A standard with the addition of DAFCS.
The 14 oldest Chinooks, some of which are more than 35 years old, will be replaced by the state-of-the-art H-47(Extended Range) from 2027 onwards in a phased retirement.
The H-47(ER) offers a modern capability that will allow the RAF to operate even closer with partner nations, including the United States.
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely (DDG-107) steams in formation beside the FS Forbin (D 620) in the Red Sea, June 7, 2024. US Navy Photo
Guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely (DDG-107) left Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, Va., Saturday for a deployment to U.S. Northern Command. The warship embarked with a Coast Guard law enforcement detachment will patrol U.S. and international waters, Navy officials confirmed to USNI News.
Gravely is heading to the waters off the Gulf Coast as part of the military’s response to President Donald Trump’s executive order and national emergency declaration to secure the U.S. border, according to a Navy press release.
“In support of U.S. Northern Command’s mission to restore territorial integrity at the U.S. southern border, Gravely reinforces the nation’s commitment to border security by enhancing maritime efforts and supporting interagency collaboration,” reads the release. “The ship’s deployment highlights the Department of Defense and Navy’s dedication to national security priorities, contributing to a coordinated and robust response to combating maritime-related terrorism, weapons proliferation, transnational crime, piracy, environmental destruction, and illegal seaborne immigration.”
The ship will operate mainly in NORTHCOM’s area of response, in the waters around Florida, Alabama and Louisiana, U.S. Fleet Forces Commander Adm. Daryl Caudle told reporters Monday. There could be other West Coast-based destroyers that operate off the coast of San Diego.
“But you can think of operations in the Gulf of America being a predominant part of [southern border enforcement] for the East Coast ship, and then on the West Coast ship, you can think of the area in and around the San Diego area, and that traffic area coming in between Mexico and the United States,” he said.
The Navy is still working on where Gravely will operate, but it will be for southern border protection, Caudle said.
The Navy consistently works with U.S. Southern Command as part of the global force management, Caudle said. The difference with Gravely is that it is part of Maritime Command Elements East and West being activated in response to the executive order.
However, the two missions have similarities, and the two combatant commands will work together, he said. Gravely will predominantly sail in NORTHCOM waters, but the warship could also go into SOUTHCOM’s area of response as needed.
“So you’re going to see a seamless transition and force sharing of naval assets across the SOUTHCOM, NORTHCOM boundary to ensure that the mission is complete and we’re not thwarted by a unified command plan boundary between NORTHCOM and SOUTHCOM,” he said.
Gravely is able to do broad tasking, Caudle said, so the ship will be able to adjust to the needs required by NORTHCOM. Similarly, USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116), which was sent to Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to assist with the set up the base as an additional prison for those being deported from the U.S., could be shifted to other tasks depending on SOUTHCOM’s needs, Caudle said.
In July, Gravely returned to Norfolk after a nine-month deployment as part of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group. East Coast destroyers following deployments are often tasked with short missions while awaiting scheduled maintenance periods. In 2020, the Navy surged destroyers to SOUTHCOM for an anti-trafficking mission. In 2021, the Navy established a group of destroyers that could surge to take on anti-submarine operations in the North Atlantic using destroyers that were awaiting repairs.
MCM UUV in the mission bay of an Independence-class Littoral Combat Ship. US Navy Photo
The Littoral Combat Ships carrying the first two operational mine countermeasure packages deployed earlier this month after more than a decade of fits, starts and failed systems, USNI News has learned.
USS Santa Barbara (LCS-32) and USS Canberra (LCS-30) quietly left San Diego, Calif., on March 10th with the long-awaited mission packages that will replace the Navy’s aging mine hunting ships and aircraft, Navy officials confirmed to USNI News last week.
Assembled from a variety of separate systems, the MCM package stitches the components together, using the combinations of helicopter-borne and remote systems to find and neutralize sea mines from the surface to deep water.
Countering sea mines, the weapons responsible for more damage to U.S. Navy warships than any other weapon since World War II, have been the responsibility of some of the Navy’s oldest platforms. The promised MCM mission package is reaching the fleet 10 years later than planned. In the intervening decade, the Navy has delayed the retirement of the 1980s Avenger-class minehunters, fiberglass-coated wooden ships that have been forward-deployed to Japan and Bahrain, and the MH-53E Sea Dragon MCM helicopters that tow heavy minesweeping sleds. The helicopters have been in service since 1983.
Now, with the deployment of Santa Barbara and Canberra, the Navy is swapping out the forward-deployed Avengers in the Middle East and Japan, LCS program manager Capt. Matt Lehman and PEO USC mine warfare senior leader Sam Taylor told USNI News last week.
“We just deployed the two ships with the MCM mission package, which we’re really excited about on the mission package side,” Lehman said. “We’ve got one more to go this year.”
USS Canberra (LCS-30) approaches the mouth of the harbor at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division in California to undergo a Combat Systems Assessment Team event on Oct. 31, 2024. US Navy Photo
The first set of systems in the MCM package that will replace the Avengers center around the embarked MH-60S helicopter and the MCM Unmanned Surface Vehicle — a multi-use system that tows the AQS-20C sonar developed for the package and hosts other systems.
For the Navy, which is currently procuring small USVs for lethal sea strike roles, the MCM package is the first in the service to incorporate an unmanned vessel into a program of record and include an autonomous capability.
Mine hunting is often tedious and dangerous, a reality that pushed the Navy to get the sailor out of the minefield and have technology assist in analyzing sonar data. Current Avengers are built out of wood and the crew is vigilant to minimize the magnetic signature that could set off specific types of mines. They’re crewed by sailors with the experience to tell the difference between a mine and a sunken refrigerator.
“We are changing the way we’ve done business over the years, and it’s a radical change,” Lehman told USNI News. “We’re the first USV to [reach initial operational capability] anywhere in the Navy. We are incorporating autonomous operations into this whole thing where we had not done that before.”
Initially set for an initial operational capability in 2015, the MCM package went through a development process punctuated by stops and program failures. For example, the first craft that would tow the AQS-20 sonar to hunt the bulk of mines suffered reliability problems and was scrapped. The service also canceled a plan for the MH-60S to tow the AQS-20. After years of program changes, the package has coalesced around a few core main systems, Taylor said.
From the embarked MH-60, the AN/AES-1 Airborne Laser Mine Detection System uses lasers to detect mines closer to the surface. Once detected, the helicopter can deploy the AN/ASQ-235 Airborne Mine Neutralization System that lowers a torpedo-sized tube that carries expendable destructor vehicles to neutralize a mine.
AQS-20C Sonar. Raytheon Image
On the surface, the MCM USV carries both the AQS-20C sonar to detect mines and an Unmanned Influence Sweep System that detonates influence mines — sea mines that detonate when they detect specific sounds or magnetic signatures.
The next system due for the package is the AN/WSQ-46 Barracuda Mine Neutralization System which can detonate near-surface mines.
“Barracuda will be doing the neutralization for the near-surface region from right now, from probably USV,” Taylor said.
The modular structure of the package, contained in a few standard shipping containers, allows it to be used on LCS, from the shore or on vessels of opportunity.
“I definitely have a requirement for the vessel of opportunity, and they are constructed in a way that we can go ashore on other vessels,” Lehman said.
Ten years ago, the LCS package would have also taken on other threats like beach mines, but the Navy has scaled back the scope of the initial mine packages. The Navy has also developed a more robust expeditionary MCM capability with a reliance on unmanned underwater vehicles and traditional explosives ordnance disposal sailors.
An MH-60S Knight Hawk helicopter from the Laser Hawks of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 26, Detachment 2, equipped with the Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS) conducts flight operations in August 2014. US Navy photo.
To support the MCM package, the mine men for the mission package have been incorporated into the LCS’s company and train at the schoolhouses in Mayport and San Diego, Taylor and Lehman told USNI News.
Lehman and Taylor did not provide details about the deployment, but Stars and Stripes reported last year that Santa Barbara, Canberra and USS Tulsa (LCS-16) would be stationed in Bahrain. As the LCS arrive in Bahrain and Japan, the remaining handful of Avengers will be decommissioned. The MH-53Es are set to sundown over the next year, USNI News understands.
Overall, the Navy is on track to acquire 24 of the mission packages that can grow as new systems and software become available.
Lehman and Taylor said new autonomous technology and rapid acquisition will allow the program to grow quickly.
“Some people go whole careers without seeing changes like this. In [this] warfare area, we’re seeing huge changes,” Taylor said. “It’s a good thing to highlight that we’re making good, positive changes in this by, putting these unmanned systems out there.”
80 years ago, the “long hulled” Essex-class fleet carrier USS Randolph (CV-15) is seen with damage to her aft flight deck as the result of a Japanese Yokosuka P1Y Ginga “Frances” kamikaze attack crashing into her at Ulithi Atoll, 11 March 1945, as photographed from a USS Miami (CL-89) floatplane. The vessel alongside is the “heavy-hulled” Vulcan class repair ship USS Jason (ARH-1), a remarkable class of vessel that kept the fleet in action.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-344531
USS Randolph (CV 15), damage to her after flight deck resulting from a kamikaze hit on 11 March 1945. Note, the burned aircraft. 80-G-274104
If you are curious how big that hole is, it measured 56 feet fore and aft and 58 feet athwartships.
From her 66-page report on the attack and damage, which beyond the structural damage, left 26 killed, 3 missing, and 105 wounded:
USS Randolph (CV-15), a Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat fighter of VF-12 parked on the port catapult, March 1945. Note the plane’s tail markings, unique to this ship. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-K-5339
Randolph earned three battle stars for World War II service and, after reclassifying as CVA-15 (1952), was given first a SCB-27A and then a SCB-125 modernization, then reclassified again as CVS-15 (1959), she served well into the Cold War, recovering Astronauts Virgil Grissom and John Glenn in 1962.
She was inactivated in 1969 to help pay for operations in Vietnam, stricken in 1973, and subsequently scrapped just after the fall of Saigon.
A Maritime Self-Defense Force frigate has made a port call in Western Australia as Japan bids for a contract to build Australia’s new fleet of general-purpose frigates.
The Mogami-class frigate Noshiro arrived at the HMAS Stirling naval base near Perth on Australia’s west coast earlier this week, the Australian Defense Department confirmed Thursday. The vessel made a port call at Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory, from Feb. 28 to March 3, according to the MSDF.
Maritime Self-Defense Force frigate Noshiro arrives at the HMAS Stirling naval base near Perth on Australia’s west coast on March 11, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Australian Defense Department)(Kyodo)
In November last year, the Australian government shortlisted the Mogami-class frigate and Germany’s MEKO A200 frigate as candidates to replace its navy’s Anzac-class frigates, in a program worth up to AU$10 billion ($6.3 billion) over the next decade.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the MSDF invited Australian military officials aboard the Noshiro at the HMAS Stirling naval base.
It is believed that MSDF officials explained the advantages of the frigate’s high-stealth performance due to the few surface irregularities in the Mogami-type hull, and the advantage of being able to operate with a smaller crew compared to the German MEKO A200 vessels, according to the sources.
The frigate produced by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. can be operated by a crew of around 90, half as many as similar vessels.
The Australian government is planning a large-scale increase of its navy’s combatant fleet in the next decade, amid China’s increased military presence in the Indo-Pacific region.
SSNS Wally Schirra (T-AKE 8) departs Hanwha Ocean shipyard after a seven-month overhaul at Gyeongsangnam-do, Republic of Korea, March 12, 2025. Hanwah Ocean Photo
A Lewis and Clark dry cargo ship departed Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje shipyard on Wednesday, marking the completion of South Korea’s first maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) service of an American naval vessel amid the Navy’s efforts to find yards in the Indo-Pacific to repair ships in theater.
“The Republic of Korea’s ability to conduct large-scale maintenance to USNS ships within the Indo-Pacific Theater demonstrates the strong strategic partnership between the Republic of Korea and the United States,” said Rear Adm. Neil Koprowski, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Korea, in a release on the MRO completion.
USNS Wally Schirra (T-AKE-8) pulled into the South Korean shipyard last summer shortly after Hanwha Ocean gained a Master Ship Repair Agreement (MRSA) certification from the Navy, which validated the company’s ability to tackle MRO projects on American vessels. A company release from the time claimed that the project would take three months, contrary to the seven months stated in the Military Sealift Command release.
According to MSC Far East, this is the first time an American vessel of this size has conducted a regular overhaul in South Korea. The maintenance period saw Hanwha Ocean shipyard workers tackle 300 work items that covered hull corrosion and the replacement of Wally Schirra’s rudder.
MSC highlighted Hanhwa Ocean’s ability to reverse engineer certain components when schematics were not available, citing the shipbuilder’s “resilient supply chains, advanced automations and skilled workforce.”
“Maintenance in theater reduces downtime and costs, while enhancing operational readiness. This is a landmark achievement to be celebrated as a symbol of our strengthened partnership and ironclad commitment to the ROK-U.S. alliance,” said Koprowski in the release.
Assigned to the U.S. Navy’s Combat Logistics Force, Wally Schirra’s maintenance in South Korea kept the supply vessel in-theater, Cmdr. Patrick Moore, commanding officer, MSC Office-Korea, highlighted this new MRO option from Hanwha Ocean as an “additional means to deliver repair of military logistics vessels in order to sustain the readiness necessary to support Fleet operations.”
Hanwha Ocean bought out Philly Shipyard in a $100 million deal last July and promised “big time” investments. In South Korea, the company manages both commercial customers and submarines for the Republic of Korea Navy. Seoul’s shipbuilding capabilities, specifically through Hanwha Ocean and Hyundai Heavy Industries, are second only to China in global rankings. American policymakers have eyed South Korean shipbuilding amid Washington’s efforts to revitalize U.S. shipbuilding.
The MRO effort also comes amid the service’s maintenance initiatives across Indo-Pacific shipbuilders. India’s Mazgaon Dock Shipbuilders, Ltd and Larsen & Toubro Ltd gained their MRSA certifications in the summer of 2023. In the Philippines, American officials have eyed local facilities at Subic Bay for MRO. Hanwha Ocean competitor Hyundai Heavy Industries – owners of the world’s largest shipyard in Ulsan – inked their MRSA last July. Japanese yards have also been eyed for similar agreements.
Russian, Chinese and Iranian warships drilling in the Gulf of Oman this week. Iranian State Media Photo
Russian, Chinese and Iranian naval ships are drilling together in the Gulf of Oman as part of an annual exercise. Meanwhile the Russian Pacific Fleet’s flagship, cruiser RFS Varyag (011) and corvette RFS Sovershenny (333) departed Vladivostok on Tuesday for a deployment to the Asia Pacific.
The Maritime Security Belt 2025 drill saw ships from the Russian Navy, the Chinese Peoples’ Liberation Army Navy, Iranian Navy and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy gathering together at Iran’s Chabahar Port on Sunday before setting out on Monday for the sea phase of the drills.
The Russian surface action group comprising corvettes RFS Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov (339) and RFS Rezkiy (343) and fleet oiler Pechenga, all assigned to the Russian Navy Pacific Fleet, which had set out on Feb. 3 for its deployment to the Asia-Pacific and Middle East. PLAN ships participating in the exercise are destroyer CNS Baotou (133) and fleet oiler Gaoyouhu (904), both from the PLAN’s 47th Chinese Naval Escort Task Force. Iran is deploying a total of 10 ships from the Iranian Navy and IRGCN for the drills including Iranian Navy frigates IRIS Alvand (71) and IRIS Jamaran (76), IRGCN corvette Shahid Sayyad Shirazi (FS313-03) and IRGCN patrol craft Shahid Nazeri. The Azerbaijan Republic, South Africa, Oman, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Qatar, Iraq, the UAE, and Sri Lanka have sent observers to the drills according to Iranian press reports.
A Russian Ministry of Defense release on Monday stated that the exercise was first held in the waters of the Arabian Sea in 2018. This year it involves about 15 ships, support vessels and combat boats, as well as naval aviation helicopters. The objectives of the exercise are: ensuring maritime security, countering maritime threats, and preventing the spread of terrorism.”, read the release.
A Wednesday release by the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that over the past two days, warships of the three countries conducted day and night-firing of large-caliber machine-guns and small-arms at targets simulating enemy uncrewed surface vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles and also during the exercise ship crews searched a ship captured by mock terrorists while special operations units of the three countries conducted joint operations in rescuing the hijacked ship.
The PLAN’s 47th Chinese Naval Escort Task Force, comprising of Baotou, Gaoyouhu, and frigate CNS Honghe (523) left Zhoushan, Zhejiang on Dec. 15, 2024, for its deployment to the Gulf of Aden and the waters around Somalia. China has been sending the Naval Escort Task Force since 2008 to protect Chinese ships from pirates in the region with the task force usually made up of a destroyer, a frigate and a fleet oiler. Along with anti-piracy escort missions, the Chinese Naval Escort Task Force also detaches its ships to represent the PLAN in naval exercises and defense shows in the vicinity of its deployment area of operations.
Both Japan and South Korea also have maintained their own anti-piracy task forces in the region, with South Korea dispatching the Cheonghae unit, a rotational deployment comprising of a Republic of Korea Navy destroyer with naval special forces embarked on it, to the region since 2009. In 2011, the unit rescued a South Korean tanker that had been hijacked by pirates off Somalia, rescuing all 21 crew members, killing eight of the 17 pirate that hijacked the ship. Five more pirates were captured, and four escaped. Japan initially deployed two Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers for anti-piracy missions in 2009 along with also deploying two JMSDF P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft to operate out of Djibouti supported by a maintenance element and a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force force protection unit in the same year. Japan switched to a single destroyer rotation in 2016, on the basis that piracy activity had significantly decreased while in November 2023, the Japanese government reduced the P-3C deployment to one aircraft, stating that improved facilities at Djibouti now meant that a P-3C could be returned to operational service quickly, eliminating the need for a second back-up aircraft.
On Tuesday, Russian Navy Pacific Fleet flagship, cruiser Varyag and corvette Sovershenny departed Vladivostok to perform missions in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the fleet’s press release on that day which also stated that when leaving the Golden Horn Bay and in the Sea of Japan, the ships carried out training for the crews to repel air attacks, including UAVSs and from unmanned boats, “As part of the upcoming deployment, the cruiser Varyag and the corvette Sovershenny will conduct exercises to search for and destroy enemy submarines, as well as combat exercises as part of the detachment. In addition, joint activities with aircraft of the Pacific Fleet naval aviation will be practiced,” stated the release.
