HMS Tamar with her new dazzle paint scheme in the water in Falmouth. Royal Navy picture.
Monday, April 8, 2024 – 19:54. Nuku’alofa, Tonga
A Royal Navy Ship, HMS Tamar is visiting Tonga for six days this week until Saturday 13 April, on a mission to strengthen the UK-Tongan partnership through providing support on different shared objectives.
The British High Commission in Tonga reported that the ship will work to uplift and inspire marginalised and under-represented groups, while in Tonga. The ship’s port call will also focus on gender and inclusion through events held for women in uniform, charities and school groups.
The crew will work with the Tonga Red Cross and the Tongan National Visually Impaired Association (TNVIA).
The mission also has a focus on climate resilience with the Oceans 7 Ministers, followed by discussions on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief with the National Disaster Risk Management Office and other key stakeholders.
On its current deployment, the HMS Tamar has been countering illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, with a number of patrols around Fiji.
They will conduct monitoring in Tonga’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Crown Prince Tupouto’a ‘Ulukalala and Princess Sinaitakala were invited to a formal lunch onboard, and meeting the Executive Officer and second in command, Lieutenant Commander Jim Langley and the crew.
Tonga’s Prime Minister the Hon Hu’akameiliku and senior members of the cabinet will also visit the ship, joined by some Commonwealth partners from New Zealand and Australia.
Thr British High Commissioner to Tonga, HE Lucy Joyce said that the visit demonstrates the enduring strength of the UK and Tonga’s relationship.
“We are able to showcase the vessel to many of our partners here – progressing key shared objectives on climate change, defence and inclusion while also focusing on some of the next generation of Tongans with several school groups visiting the ship”
She said that Defence is an important part of the UK-Tonga relationship with Tonga supporting the UK and allied forces in WWII; and Tongan marines serving in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the coalition forces.
HMS Tamar is an Offshore Patrol Vessel, and the fourth of five of the Batch 2 River- class vessels. They can perform a variety of roles, from fisheries protection and maritime security to providing humanitarian assistance in the wake of a disaster.
This is the first time for HMS Tamar to visit Tonga. Her sister ship HMS Spey provided humanitarian assistance and other support following the January 2022 Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha’apai volcanic eruption and tsunami.
Both vessels are stationed in the Indo-Pacific region as part of the UK’s commitment to the region.
USS Ohio 1904 She was laid down at the Union Iron Works shipyard in San Francisco in April 1899, was launched in May 1901, and was commissioned into the fleet in October 1904. She was armed with a main battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns and could steam at a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph).
Ohio initially served in the Asiatic Fleet, from 1905 to 1907, when she returned to the United States. In December that year, she joined the Great White Fleet for its world cruise, which lasted until early 1909. She served with the Atlantic Fleet for the next four years conducting a peacetime training routine. In 1914, she was sent to Mexico to protect American interests in the country during the Mexican Revolution. She served as a training ship during America’s involvement in World War I from 1917 to 1918. Thoroughly obsolete by that time, Ohio was decommissioned in July 1919, and was ultimately sold for scrap in March 1923 under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Ohio_(BB-12)
The guided-missile destroyer USS Decatur (DDG 73) (far right) sails in formation as part of interoperability drills between the Pacific Surface Action Group (PAC SAG) and Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group (BHR ESG) in the South China Sea Sea, Oct. 13, 2016. The drills are meant to enhance readiness of cruiser-destroyer ships to rapidly integrate with an amphibious task force to provide increased capability for amphibious operations in support of crisis response or disaster relief. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer
(Bloomberg) –The US, Australia, Japan and the Philippines will hold joint military drills in the South China Sea on April 7 amid heightened tension between Manila and Beijing in the disputed waters.
In a joint statement, the four nations’ defense chiefs said their combined armed forces will conduct a maritime cooperative activity within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone to strengthen interoperability. The southern division of the Chinese Liberation Army will organize a maritime and air patrols on the same day, according to a statement Sunday.
“Every country should be free to conduct lawful air and maritime operations,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd James Austin said in the statement. “These activities with our allies Australia, Japan, and the Philippines underscore our shared commitment to ensuring that all countries are free to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows.”
Sunday’s drills will happen days before Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meet with President Joe Biden at the White House on April 11 to discuss cooperation in the areas of economy as well as peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region.
A Philippine official on Friday said the leaders will tackle recent incidents in the South China Sea. In the latest confrontation between Chinese and Philippine ships last month, Manila said a Filipino civilian boat was severely damaged and some of its crew members were injured when two China Coast Guard ships fired water cannons at it. The China Coast Guard said it acted in “a reasonable and professional manner.”
“Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and the United States uphold the right to freedom of navigation and overflight, and respect for maritime rights under international law, reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,” the joint statement said.
The four nations also affirmed their position that the 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Tribunal Award that favored the Philippines over China in their maritime dispute as final and legally binding. The award was given by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, a non-UN intergovernmental organization located in The Hague.
A tug escorts the HMAS Adelaide, a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Canberra-class landing helicopter dock ship, as it docks at Station Pier in Melbourne on March 19, 2024.WILLIAM WEST / AFP / Getty Images
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The move reflects Australia’s recognition of the evolving security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, particularly the increasing assertiveness of China.
The U.S. will be selling three nuclear-powered submarines to the RAN while also sharing technical expertise to help Australia build nuclear submarines.
The U.S. should welcome this effort and ensure that its own defense spending priorities are strategically focused.
In February, Australia announced that it plans to dramatically increase the size of its navy over the next decade. If successful, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) would more than double the number of its major surface combatant ships, from 11 to 26 vessels. This would be the largest the RAN has been since the end of World War II.
The move reflects Australia’s recognition of the evolving security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, particularly the increasing assertiveness of China. If the Australian government follows through with sufficient funding, this decision will also show that Australia’s defense spending flows from its national defense strategy, and that it is avoiding the unfocused defense spending that has plagued some other U.S. partners and allies (and for that matter, the United States itself).
Taiwan, for example, has struggled to keep its defense spending focused on its strategic goals. Despite announcing a new Overall Defense Concept based on asymmetric warfare that has been widely praised by defense experts, Taiwan’s armed forces have over-allocated resources toward expensive and vulnerable prestige systems, leaving essential asymmetric platforms well suited to resisting an amphibious invasion underfunded. In contrast, Australia’s decision to focus its spending on surface combatants that can protect its northern coast is a wise spending choice and deserves praise.
Australia’s defense overhaul comes at a pivotal moment, as geopolitical shifts and technological advancements reshape the nature of warfare. The rising threat of cyberwarfare and more advanced missile systems are quickly erasing the relative geographical isolation Australia has enjoyed from Asia. The 2023 Australian Defense Strategic Review recommended a “strategy of denial,” a defensive approach to stop adversaries from coercing and threatening with the use of force within a given area. The review recommended the development of nuclear powered submarine programs, quick acquisition of long-range strike missiles, improvements for the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter and F/A-18F Super Hornet aircraft to operate long-range anti-ship missile systems, and expansion of the shipyard workforce.
Now, the Australian government aims to double its fleet of combat-ready ships by investing an additional US$7.3 billion over the next decade. Included in the plan is the acquisition of six new Hunter-class frigates. These frigates will be among the most advanced anti-submarine warships in the world, and will incorporate advanced technology like the U.S. Navy’s Aegis combat management system. The plan also includes the acquisition of six optionally manned vessels—warships that do not need to be crewed.
This comes on the heels of the U.S., United Kingdom, and Australia announcing the AUKUS partnership in 2021, an agreement with the goal of developing an Australian nuclear-powered submarine program. Under the agreement, the U.S. will be selling three nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarines to the RAN while also sharing technical expertise to help Australia build nuclear submarines on its own in the future.
To ensure the success of its ambitious new plans, Australia will need to address past shortcomings in defense procurement and ensure that investments translate effectively into operational capabilities. Over the years, Australia’s defense projects (not unlike many of the United States’) have faced numerous hurdles, ranging from cost overruns to delays, often overshadowed by political considerations and local job creation agendas. Now, former senior security officials are calling for a streamlined procurement process to overcome these problems.
Ideally, some of the funding would come with the next defense budget release in April, but it seems that the new spending will not begin until 2027. Australia’s new plans will only work if adequately funded, and Australian policymakers might consider moving this timeline forward if they want to avoid the spending decision mistakes others have made.
Australia’s strategic recalibration reflects the country’s proactive approach to safeguarding its national interests in an era marked by unprecedented challenges and uncertainties. Australia has fought alongside the U.S. in every war since World War I and is one of Washington’s closest allies. This new initiative shows that Canberra is taking the threat from China seriously and continues to be committed to the alliance with the United States.
The U.S. should welcome this effort and ensure that its own defense spending priorities are strategically focused by emphasizing the procurement of warships, planes, and munitions relevant to the Indo-Pacific in its spending plans.
The Australian E-7A Wedgetail landed at RAF Lossiemouth, where it was greeted by personnel from the Royal Air Force (Picture: RAF)
RAF Lossiemouth has extended a warm welcome to a crew from the Royal Australian Air Force as they stopped off at the end of their six-month deployment in Eastern Europe.
The RAAF E-7A Wedgetail aircraft, one of the most advanced airborne early warning systems in the world, landed in Moray for a stopover on its way back to Australia after being deployed on Operation Kudu.
Operation Kudu saw the E-7A airborne early warning and control (AWACS) aircraft support the multinational effort to provide early warning for potential threats from Russia outside of Ukraine.
This deployment saw the Wedgetail log around 250 hours of flight time, with each mission averaging five hours.
Up to 100 Australian Defence Force personnel were deployed to Ramstein Air Base in Germany in support of the E-7A’s mission.
“I commend our people on their hard work and commitment, channelling our ethos of being a ready, resilient and resourceful force,” said Australia’s Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Robert Chipman.
“I wish all our returning personnel a safe journey home and an enjoyable time reconnecting with family and friends.”
Operation Kudu will continue throughout 2024 with up to 90 Australian personnel providing training to Ukrainian armed forces personnel in the UK.
The ship was built at the Newport News Shipbuilding Company of Newport News, Virginia, from her keel laying in April 1915, her launching in January 1917, and her commissioning in December that year. She was armed with a battery of twelve 14-inch (356 mm) guns in four three-gun turrets, and was protected by heavy armor plate, with her main belt armor being 13.5 inches (343 mm) thick.
The ship remained in North American waters during World War I, conducting training exercises to work up the crew. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the ship served in the Pacific Fleet. In May 1941, with World War II and the Battle of the Atlantic raging, Mississippi and her two sister ships were transferred to the Atlantic Fleet to help protect American shipping through the Neutrality Patrols. Two days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Mississippi departed the Atlantic to return to the Pacific Fleet; throughout her participation in World War II, she supported amphibious operations in the Pacific. She shelled Japanese forces during the Gilbert and Marshall Islands and the Philippines campaigns and the invasions of Peleliu and Okinawa. The Japanese fleet attacked American forces during the Philippines campaign, and in the ensuing Battle of Leyte Gulf, Mississippi took part in the Battle of Surigao Strait, the last battleship engagement in history.
After the war, Mississippi was converted into a gunnery training ship, and was also used to test new weapons systems. These included the RIM-2 Terrier missile and the AUM-N-2 Petrel missile. She was eventually decommissioned in 1956 and sold to ship breakers in November that year.
The ship was named for World War II Pacific fleet commander Chester W. Nimitz, who was the Navy’s third fleet admiral. Nimitz had her homeport at Naval Station Norfolk until 1987, when she was relocated to Naval Station Bremerton in Washington State (now part of Naval Base Kitsap). Following her Refueling and Complex Overhaul in 2001, her homeport was changed to NAS North Island in San Diego, California. The home port of Nimitz was again moved to Naval Station Everett in 2012. In January 2015 Nimitz changed homeport from Everett back to Naval Base Kitsap.[4] File:USS Nimitz Air Power Demonstration.webm USS Nimitz Air Power Demonstration With the inactivation of the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) in 2012, Nimitz is now the oldest American carrier in active service. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nimitz
KORSOR, Denmark, April 4 (Reuters) – A Danish frigate deployed to the Red Sea as part of a U.S.-led operation suffered malfunctioning of its weapon systems when attacked by drones operated by Houthi militants last month, the captain said on Thursday as the ship arrived in Denmark.
The failure, which until Thursday had only been reported by local defense media Olfi citing a confidential report by the ship’s captain, prompted the government to dismiss its top military official Flemming Lentfer on Wednesday.
Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the dismissal was a result of a breach of trust, after Lentfer failed to inform the ministry in detail about the incident on March 9 when the frigate Iver Huitfeldt was attacked by Houthi militants.
Despite the malfunction, the frigate shot down four drones, the vessel’s captain and commanding officer Sune Lund told Reuters.
“We had some system failure, or system degradation, which challenged a bit our engagement,” Lund said without elaborating.
“But at no time during the engagement were we left defenseless. We had redundancies on board, so we were able to continue fighting and neutralizing the threats.”
The armed forces posted a dramatic video on social media showing the downing of the drones, the first time a Danish warship had been in direct combat since 1943.
The frigate, which returned to Korsor naval base on Thursday, had been deployed as part of the U.S.-led Operation Prosperity Guardian to help safeguard commercial sea traffic in the Red Sea. It was recalled early from the mission.
Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen and head of the Danish Navy Command Henrik Ryberg had on departure assured that the ship was ready and capable of the mission.
“Leaving the naval base, everything was good,” Lund said, adding that the reason for the failure was still being investigated.
“I feel confident that all steps have been taken in order to mitigate the challenges that we faced during the night,” he said.
Separately, an activated but faulty missile launcher on another Danish navy vessel docked next to Iver Huitfeldt on Thursday triggered the closure of airspace and shipping traffic in the Great Belt strait, one of the world’s busiest sea lanes and the main maritime access to the Baltic Sea.
A founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Denmark scaled back its military capabilities after the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s.
The Nordic country has announced a major boost in military spending to achieve a NATO target of 2% of gross domestic product, from 1.4% last year.
(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
USS Nebraska and USS ConnecticutUSS Nebraska (Battleship # 14) Underway off New York City, 22 July 1910, shortly after she had received her cage mainmast.
USS Nebraska (BB-14) was a Virginia-classpre-dreadnoughtbattleship of the United States Navy, the second of five members of the class, and the first ship to carry her name. She was built by the Moran Brothers shipyard in Seattle, Washington, with her keel-laying in July 1902 and her launching in October 1904. The completed ship was commissioned into the US Navy in July 1907. The ship was armed with an offensive battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns and eight 8-inch (203 mm) guns, and she was capable of a top speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph).
Nebraska joined the Great White Fleet after it reached the west coast of the United States in 1908 and continued with it during its circumnavigation of the globe. From 1909 to 1914, the ship conducted normal training and ceremonial duties with the Atlantic Fleet. She was deployed twice to Mexico during the Mexican Revolution, in mid-1914 and mid-1916, before being decommissioned briefly in 1916. She was reactivated shortly before the United States entered World War I in April 1917, and was thereafter used as a training ship and later as a convoy escort. After the war, she transported American soldiers back from France, and in 1919 she was transferred to the Pacific Fleet, though she remained in service for less than a year, being decommissioned in July 1920. The 1922 Washington Naval Treaty mandated her disposal, which was effected in November 1923, when she was broken up for scrap.
Connecticut served as the flagship for the Jamestown Exposition in mid-1907, which commemorated the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown colony. She later sailed with the Great White Fleet on a circumnavigation of the Earth to showcase the US Navy’s growing fleet of blue-water-capable ships. After completing her service with the Great White Fleet, Connecticut participated in several flag-waving exercises intended to protect American citizens abroad until she was pressed into service as a troop transport at the end of World War I to expedite the return of American Expeditionary Forces from France.
For the remainder of her career, Connecticut sailed to various places in both the Atlantic and Pacific while training newer recruits to the Navy. However, the provisions of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty stipulated that many of the older battleships, Connecticut among them, would have to be disposed of, so she was decommissioned on 1 March 1923, and sold for scrap on 1 November 1923.
Meanwhile, Mr. Martin said that the two former Royal New Zealand Navy inshore patrol vessels (IPVs) that were delivered to Cork last May to replace the decommissioned LÉ Orla (P41) and LÉ Ciara (P42) are expected to become operational later in 2024, following a programme of work, crew familiarisation, and training.
Marine advisors have been appointed to support the procurement of a multi-role vessel (MRV) to replace the Naval Service’s decommissioned flagship, LÉ Eithne which departed the navy’s base in Cork Harbour last month and awaits to be recycled from an EU approved facility. AFLOAT also adds above at the city’s north quays, the bow of Arklow Fame, previously reported in 2016 as the last vessel to be dry-docked (asides static museum ship Jeanie Johnston) then the state’s largest such facility in Dublin Port, before ‘finally’ forced to close in 2017, in order to facilitate major infrastructure works, since completed. Currently, the only ‘ship’ dry-dock in the Republic is the Rushbrooke based Cork Dockyard (Doyle Shipping Group) which is used by the Navy.Credit: Irish Examiner-twitter
According to the Tánaiste, Micheál Martin, who is also the Minister for Defence, provided an update on the newbuild replacement, said the work of the marine advisors will inform, “in due course”, a tender competition in line with the public-spending code.
At the time, the 84m vessel was only towed within the harbour as Afloat that day tracked the former flagship taken to a nearby up river-side berth alongside Cork Dockyard. This was rather apt given that this ship-repair/maintenance facility (part of the Doyle Shipping Group) was the former shipbuilding site of Verolme Cork Dockyard (V.C.D.) that built the Helicopter Patrol Vessel (HPV) at Rushbrooke, west of Cobh.
Meanwhile, Mr. Martin said that the two former Royal New Zealand Navy inshore patrol vessels (IPVs) that were delivered to Cork last May to replace the decommissioned LÉ Orla (P41) and LÉ Ciara (P42) are expected to become operational later in 2024, following a programme of work, crew familiarisation, and training.
The former Taoiseach also added that there are also a number of initiatives to counter staffing challenges. Among these, he said, was phase three of a Naval Service recruitment drive.
More from EchoLive.ie, which has a report on these developments.
