Royal Navy and US Navy.

Recent joint exercises in the North Atlantic involving the British Royal Navy and U.S. Navy, as well as forces from the U.S. Marine Corps. As seen in the image , warships, aircraft, and Landing Craft Air Cushions, or LCACs, deployed from the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, or IWOARG, teamed up with the Royal Navy’s flagship, the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, as well as vessels from other navies. 

Aircraft from the 'Chargers' of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 26 and Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 162 fly in formation above the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth as a landing craft air cushion from Assault Craft Unit (ACU) 4, transits alongside during a photo exercise on May 17th.

Divers from the team that brought HMS Victory into drydock on the 12th of January, 1922.

 

HMAS Supply, the Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment (AOR), transferring fuel to HMAS Anzac off the east coast of Australia.

 

USS Trueman Strike Group.

 The Truman strike group includes five U.S. ships — the cruiser San Jacinto and the guided missile destroyers Cole, Bainbridge, Gravely and Jason Dunham. Also with them is the Royal Norwegian Navy frigate HNoMS Fridtjof Nansen. The Truman left its homeport of Norfolk, Virginia, on Dec. 1, and entered the Mediterranean Sea on Dec. 14. It had been scheduled to continue on into the Gulf region.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2021/12/28/uss-harry-truman-carrier-strike-group-stays-in-mediterranean-amid-ukraine-russia-fears/ 

Daring Class Destroyer HMAS Vampire doing her thing, as she approaches HMAS Melbourne for a RAS in 1966.

 

USS Plunger.

USS Plunger on her way out of the New York Navy Yard, sometime before October 1909.

At that time she was assigned to the First Submarine Flotilla, based at the New York Navy Yard, joining sister-ships USS Porpoise (SS-7), and USS Shark (SS-8).

Is it a ship, is it a plane?

 The Lun class Ekranoplan, an ambitious project that now lays at rest on the shores of the Caspian Sea

Should more innovations like these be the main focus of militaries around the world? Why or why not?

The Lun-class ekranoplan is a ground effect vehicle (GEV) used by the Soviet and Russian navies from 1987 until sometime in the late 1990s

Although it may look similar to a traditional aircraft, ekranoplans like the Lun are not classified as aircraft, seaplanes, hovercraft, or hydrofoils. Rather, crafts like the Lun-class ekranoplan are classified as maritime ships by the International Maritime Organization since the craft glides just above the surface of the water at about 13 feet (4m)

Contrary to it's classification by the IMO, its speed was comparable to an aircraft. Eight turbofan engines mounted on the Lun-class provided a maximum cruising speed of 295 knots (340 mph, 550 kph). This speed is extremely advantageous when equipped with 6 cruise missiles for anti-surface warfare, or for quickly transporting equipment

Although multiple were planned, only one Lun-class ekranoplan was built for the Soviet/Russian navy; which now lays to rest along the Caspian Sea.

The Lun-class (harrier) ekranoplan (NATO reporting name Duck) was a seaplane designed by Rostislav Evgenievich Alexeev and used by the Soviet and Russian navies from 1987 to sometime in the late 1990s. This ground effect aircraft used the extra lift generated by its large wings when close to the surface of the water (about four meters or less). Lun was one of the largest seaplanes ever built, with a length of 73 m (240 ft), rivaling the Hughes H-4 Hercules ("The Spruce Goose") and many jumbo jets.

50 years young!

On this day in 1943, The Colossus Class Carrier HMS VENERABLE was launched at Cammell Laird, Birkenhead.

Living up to her initial name she was finally decommissioned in 1997, after serving the Royal Navy then as HNLMS KAREL DOORMAN and then as Armada_Arg as ARA Veinticinco de Mayo. 

Danish Arvak Naval Tug upgraded to a Battle Tug.!

The gun isn't mounted on the boat, it is being transported - it's a StanFlex module. The boat is a Royal Danish Navy tug - is equipped to ferry one StanFlex-module at a time, possibly if a module is offloaded from one ship to be mounted on another ship at a different berth in the same harbour.

 

USS Boxer (CVA-21) operating off North Korea in July 1953. Her flight deck crew is respotting aircraft in preparation for recovery of her last strike. Another aircraft carrier and the battleship USS New Jersey (BB-62) are steaming ahead of Boxer.

 

USS Kansas City LCS 22. Being barged downriver to the BAE Corp. where she'll be placed into a floating drydock. The drydock would be sunk on launching Kansas City.

 

HMS Warrior.

 On this day in 1860, Britain’s first Ironclad, HMS WARRIOR, was launched on the Thames. The result of an arms race with France she was obsolete by 1871 and spent much of her career in reserve. 

She was restored and returned to HMNB Portsmouth in 1987.  HMS WARRIOR, the first ironclad ship built for the Royal Navy, launched 1860, became the oil fuel hulk C.77 at Pembroke Dock from 1929 to 1979. 

She was towed into the Milford dry dock for initial repairs, before her full restoration at Hartlepool, after which she became a museum ship at Portsmouth. 

USS O'Kane.

 Illicit weapons seized from a stateless fishing vessel in the North Arabian Sea are arranged for inventory aboard guided-missile destroyer USS O'Kane's (DDG 77) flight deck, Dec. 21, 2021. 

In a statement dated December 22, US Naval Forces Central Command, or NAVCENT, informed that they have seized approximately 1,400 AK-47 assault rifles and 226,600 rounds of ammunition.

https://www.dvidshub.net/news/411792/us-navy-seizes-1400-assault-rifles-during-illicit-weapons-interdiction.

HMS Andromeda.

 On this day in1975, the Frigate HMS ANDROMEDA was involved in 1st collision of 56 between British and Icelandic ships during the third and final cod war. The Cod Wars concluded the following year with the UK conceding a 200 mile zone to Iceland in order to retain the GIUK gap (Greenland, Iceland, and the United Kingdom) for NATO. 

In 1975, during the Third Cod War, the Icelandic gunboat Týr rammed Andromeda on 28 December, damaging her guardrail and a chaff launcher. On 7 January 1976, Andromeda was involved in another ramming, this time with the gunboat Þór. Both warships were damaged, with Andromeda receiving a 12 feet (3.7 m) dent as a result of this collision, and had to return to Devonport for repairs.

HMS Cumberland.

 British Guinea-Pig Ship's Atomic Test_x000D_ The British Royal Navy's "hush-hush" trials cruiser HMS Cumberland is seen during anti-atomic tests in the Mediterranean. A small quantity of radioactive liquid representing atomic bomb fall-out was sprayed on to the ship's structure to test the efficiency of the wash down system. This system involves the continual washing of all weather surfaces of the ship during and after exposure. Experiments have shown that fission matter is less likely to adhere to a surface while it is subjected to salt water wash down. While the system is operating the ship's company remains under cover and continues to control weapons and con the ship from between decks._x000D_ The trials were watched by two US Navy representatives and an Admiralty spokesman said the radiation hazard for the ship's company was "less than that from a luminous watch". September 1955.

Project 941 (Typhoon).

 

The former U.S. Navy ship of the line USS Vermont at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York (USA), in 1898.

 

HMS Bounty and USS Niagara. The HMS Bounty, right, and USS Niagara sail the waters of Lake Erie off Cleveland for the Battle of Lake Erie Re-enactment, 7 2010.

 

The story of HMS Penelope.

 THE STARBOARD SIDE OF H.M.S. "PENELOPE" after heavy attack by enemy aircraft in the Mediterranean: There are hundreds of holes, from fragments of the bombs dropped near her whilst in Malta Harbour, and these were all plugged before she sailed for Gibraltar.

 

The port side showing the pegs inserted in her hull where the outer skin was punctured by fragments of shell splinters.

New Type 26 Frigates Armament.

 It has been confirmed that the ‘Future Cruise/Anti–Ship Weapon’ will be fitted to the Royal Navy’s Type 26 Frigates. The vessel will also be armed with a five inch main gun as well as Sea Ceptor anti-air missiles. 

Stealth vs velocity: for the Future Cruise/Anti-Ship Weapon (FC/ASW) France favours an hypersonic (Mach 7) missile while the UK prefers a stealthier one. 

Possible solution could be a supersonic anti-ship missile and a stealthier deep-strike missile both sharing common components.

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/type-26-frigate-to-be-armed-with-cruise-anti-ship-missiles/

USS Birmingham.

 Cleveland-class light cruiser USS Birmingham (CL-62), escorted by tugboats, in Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne, Australia, 1945, on her way back to the States, after the end of WWII.

Battle of North Cape.

 On this day in 1943, the last capital ship big gun engagement between the Royal Navy and the German navy took place at the Battle of North Cape where Admiral Bruce Fraser took on and sank the Scharnhorst with HMS DUKE of YORK and several escorts. Only 36 of 1,968 crew were able to be rescued.

                                                                  HMS Duke of York.

Gun crew of HMS Duke of York

                                                                     Scharnhorst

HMS Protector parked up for christmas at Rothera, Antarctica .

 

To all members and visitors, Admin wishes you all a Happy and Peaceful christmas and New Year.

The life of USS Oregon (BB-3).

 Hull of the USS Oregon, (ex BB-3) now designated IX-22 at anchor in Port Merizo, Guam after World War II. This photo was taken June 28, 1948. After the start of World War II, the Navy decided in late 1942 to scrap the ship for the war effort, but after work began the Navy requested the ship's return for use as an ammunition hulk for the upcoming invasion of Guam in 1944. She remained off the island through the mid-1950s before being sold for scrap in 1956 and broken up in Japan.

Today HMS Protector became the first Royal Navy ship to enter both polar circles within the same year. Also met up with Sir David Attenborough for the first time to the West of Adelaide Island.