Sydney ferry Bellubera and British carrier HMS Indefatigable. Bellubera is still partly in her war colors, Dec 23, 1945

 

FGS Oldenburg (F263) entering Portsmouth with tug SD Bountiful.

 

USS Augusta (CA 31) is commissioned January 30, 1931 in Virginia. Augusta was in service for 28 years and was awarded three battle stars for her World War II service.

 

HMS Vanguard (S28) Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarine outbound from Port Canaveral, Florida - January 30, 2024

 

USS ANTIETAM CG54 left Yokosuka for the last time 26 Jan to transfer to Pearl Harbour; she'd been based in Japan since Feb 2013. US Navy plans to decommission the ship during FY24. With SHILOH's departure last Sept this leaves only ROBERT M SMALLS CG62 as a Japan-based US cruiser

 

USS Pinckney (DDG 91) Arleigh Burke-class Flight IIA/MOD guided missile destroyer on the move in San Diego - January 30, 2024

 

Busier than St James' Park... The people of Tyneside packed aboard 'their' ship as HMS Northumberland paid her final visit before a spot of maintenance. 2,500 visitors looked around the Type 23, which stayed open an hour later than planned - and still had to turn people away.

 

Installation of a Royal Navy sea fort near the Thames Estuary. The forts called the 'Maunsell Sea Forts' were part of the air defense system, and were also intended to detect mining attempts from the air.

 

USS Bataan at NATO pier complex at FA Souda Bay, Greece.

 

Japanese guided missile destroyer JS Chökai

 

From top to bottom: RFA Reliant (A84), HMS Victorious (R38), RFA Olynthus (A122) (later RFA Olwen) and HMS Leander (F109) seen off Singapore possibly around Christmas 1966.

 

USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55) Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser leaving Norfolk, Virginia on independent deployment with the 4th fleet (per USN) - January 28, 2024.

 

Former USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) Kitty Hawk-class aircraft continuing to be dismantled in Brownsville, Texas - January 28, 2024

 

HMS Diamond used a Sea Viper missile to shoot down another Houthi drone heading directly towards the ship in the Red Sea yesterday. EO camera recording of the interception. This is the 9th aerial target destroyed by the ship during this deployment.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1751600641045094776 

RFA Stirling Castle has completed FOST and arrived in Faslane this morning for the first time. Will soon begin work in support of the Mine and Threat Exploitation Group (MTXG).

 

Yesterday the crew of HMS Diamond had to once again shoot down a Houthi attack drone illegally targeting the ship.

 

Sweden has just commissioned a new Signals intelligence gathering ship The missile boat HMnSN Ystad of the Norrköping classArtemis. Will operate in the Baltic - primarily collecting SIGINT from Kaliningrad and St Petersburg areas of Russia.

 

On this day, and the 2 weeks that followed in 1991, Royal Navy Lynx Helicopters from HM Ships: BRAZEN, GLOUCESTER, CARDIFF & MANCHESTER neutralised 25% of the Iraqi Navy at Bubiyat Channel using the Sea Skua anti-ship missile.

 

Rothesay class frigate HMS Lowestoft in Amsterdam 1979.

 

USS Gerald R Ford (CVN 78) entering the Strait of Gibraltar 2024.

 

80 Years ago the River Class Frigate, HMS Tweed is sunk by U-Boat with the loss of 83 men (44 survivors). HMS Tweed was employed in the Atlantic as part of Op STONEWALL to intercept blockade runners in to German occupied France.

 

View of part of about 100 destroyers in mothballs at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, one of the ships identified is USS ELLIS (DD-154), April 1923.

 

USS Momsen (DDG 92) Arleigh Burke-class Flight IIA guided missile destroyer leaving San Diego

 

RFA Fort Victoria laid up outboard of RFA Tiderace in Cammell Laird wet basin this week. (MoD insists both these ships are 'in maintenance') RFA Proteus having Lloyds Rules inspection in dry dock but she is due back out of the yard soon.

 

HMS Invincible passing Gibraltar on her way to Mediterranean deployment 1985.

 

On this day in 1949, USS Norton Sound (AV-11) successfully fired a Republic-Ford LTV-N-2 Loon guided-missile off Point Mugu, California. This is the first guided-missile launch conducted by the USN.

 

The SNLE Le Vigilant has joined basin 8 of the Brest BN for the continuation of its maintenance and modernization work. A major maintenance project which will renew its operational potential for the next 10 years.

The 4 German Navy Brandenberg frigates to be modernised and upgraded.

 

USS Carney shot down another anti-ship ballistic missile fired at her from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen today.

 

Autonomous mine hunting operations have a taken a step forward thanks to the hard work and efforts of RN MTXG's Mission System Team 3. They have spent the past 12 months running trials and ops on the Clyde to test a range of new equipment and tech.

 

On this day in 1989 the Royal Navy announced the end of the issue of Blue Liner duty free cigarettes, phased out by 1991. Sailors were entitled to 300/month & could take 200 on leave or 25 overnight which they drew from stores on the production of a stamp. Today smoking at sea is banned.

 

Britain needs to review the size and reach of its armed forces, a senior member of the US administration has warned, as the world becomes increasingly dangerous with conflicts in multiple arenas. The US navy secretary said during a visit to London that more investment should be considered for the Royal Navy and it may also be necessary to strengthen the Army.

 

HMCS Goose Bay coming out of refit wearing the RCN's Battle of the Atlantic Anniversary paint scheme, January, 2024.

 

The Military Sealift Command (MSC) oiler USNS Leroy Grumman (T-AO 195) underway in the Mediterranean Sea. January 11, 2003.

 

From left to right are USS Lexington (CV-2), West Virginia (BB-48) with Tennessee (BB-43) astern, then Mississippi (BB-41) with Colorado (BB-45) astern, and presumably the light cruiser Raleigh (CL-7) at far right, based on the boats in the left foreground.

 

HMS Yarmouth with the Goffa's party!

 

USS Antietam (CG 54) Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser ending an 11-year homeport stint in Yokosuka, Japan heading to new homeport of Pearl Harbor - January 26, 2024

 

On this day in 1972, Guatemala threatened to invade British Honduras now Belize. 2500 miles away Fleet Carrier HMS ARK ROYAL was ordered at full speed to the area. Off Bermuda she launched 4 Buccaneers to assert Royal Navy air power from over 1200 miles away and prevent any incursion

 

HMS Northumberland arrived on Tyneside this morning, escorted by Tynemouth RNLI Lifeboat.

 

HMS Kent returned to Portsmouth 19. 1. 24.

 

The Auxiliary cruiser Warun (5) along with the patrol ship Sökaren (47) of the Swedish navy 1943.

 

The U.S. Navy’s newest Overlord Unmanned Surface Vessel Vanguard (OUSV3), was recently launched from Austal USA’s shipyard in Mobile, Alabama. Vanguard is the first USV for the Navy purpose-built for autonomous operations from the keel-up.

 

USS Pinckney (DDG 91) Arleigh Burke-class Flight IIA guided missile destroyer leaving San Diego with DDG partial MOD 2.0 upgrade , January 24, 2024

 

In the last days, information was circulating that a Russian Tarantul-class corvette has been struck at the port of Russian-occupied Sevastopol by Ukrainian USVs. It was first brought up by the “Atesh” resistance group in Russian-occupied Crimea and caused the Russian regime to increase counter operations against them. Satellite pictures showing the Sevastopol Bay back up the story that the Russian war ship has been indeed hit.