HMNZS Aotearoa and FGS Baden Württemberg conduct replenishment at sea operations in the East China Sea.

 

Today, 110 years ago in 1914 HMS Hermes was sank in the Channel by U-27 whilst delivering seaplanes. She was a Highflyer Class Cruiser and was lost with 21 of her crew killed. Remember.

 

The Maritime Trade Unions Nautilusint and the RMT Union have summarily rejected the latest RFA pay offer. Anger is palpable and further industrial action is likely. Unions still want 2023-4 settlement addressed but Govt refusing. The latest offer part funded by giving up leave vouchers plus bonus only if the RFA met certain targets.

 

USS Russell (DDG 59) returned to Naval Base San Diego Oct. 15, following an eight-month deployment with the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group (TRCSG) to the U.S. 3rd, 5th, and 7th Fleet areas of operation.

 

The Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Washington (SSN 787) was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation (PUC) for “outstanding performance in action while conducting operations within U.S. SIXTH Fleet” during their recent six-month deployment. Capt. Timothy Poe presented the award to Washington’s crew on behalf of the President during the submarine’s change of command ceremony July 19 at Naval Station Norfolk.

 

Russian spy ships conducting detailed surveys of underwater infrastructure in the North Sea and Baltic Sea.

 

USS Klakring FFG-42 and USS Doyle FFG-39 under construction. 1982.

 

Today, 20 years ago in 2004 the last decommissioned submarine at Pounds Scrap Yard in Portsmouth, HMS ORACLE, left for scrapping in Turkey. She never made it, foundering off Gibraltar. Decommissioned subs were a familiar sight at Pounds on the approach to Portsmouth.

 

USS Gravely (DDG-64), USS Carney (DDG-64 and USS Porter (DDG-78) alongside in HMNB Clyde, Faslane, Scotland.

 

HMS Iron Duke alongside in Portsmouth - withdrawn from exercise Strike Warrior to prepare for next tasking.

 

German Navy Type 212 attack submarine U34 (S184).

 

Tank landing ship USS Sumter ( LST-1181).

 

PM Keir Starmer says "the Royal Navy will expand its presence in the Pacific Ocean" in a move to counter China’s growing influence. Unlikely to be much difference - ie. the continued effective but 'soft power' presence of 2 x OPVs and already planned CSG25 deployment to the Pacific region next year.

 

Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla overseeing a fleet review of Royal Australian Navy ships in Sydney, Australia - October 22, 2024

 

Cuba's beleaguered navy, the Las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Cuba (FAR), continues to field locally produced vessels. The latest type of note, first observed in 2021, is a torpedo boat. Recent photos provide new details of this unique craft.

 

Former crew of HMS Swiftsure were invited to take a last look at the boat before the breakers move in. The S-boat, which left service is 1992, is the first RN nuclear-powered submarine to be dismantled and recycled.

https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news/2024/october/22/20241022-crew-take-final-look-at-old-s-boat-before-submarine-dismantling-programme-begins 

The construction of the USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) aircraft carrier has been delayed multiple times, and is now scheduled for delivery in 2025:

 

The U.S. Navy achieved a breakthrough in combat readiness today as it successfully demonstrated the Transferrable Reload At-sea Method (TRAM) on an underway warship in open ocean for the first time. Sailors aboard the Ticonderoga-class cruiser Chosin (CG 65) used the hydraulically- powered TRAM device to load an empty missile canister into the ship's MK 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) while off the coast of San Diego on Oct. 11.

 

XV Patrick Blackett outbound from Portsmouth this morning to resume technology trials and experimentation programme.

 

USS Lake Erie, CG-70 leaving Japan for the last time.

 

On this day 1971 the Ton Class Minesweeper HMS Belton, who was part of the Fisheries Protection Squadron, dragged her anchor in a gale at Lochmaddy, Scotland. Due to 50 Ton Class still being in service she was declared a total loss and cannibalised for spares.

 

Although not a dockyard, the military port of Cairnryan in SW Scotland was built in the 1939/45 was as a back up facility in case Dockyards were damaged. Used as a major shipbreaking centre 1947/50 and then 1970/91. Here is HMS Ark Royal arriving for break up in November 1980. On the beach seaping oil is her half sister Eagle two years after her arrival. On the jetty is the former trawler Ross Revenge which escaped break up and became and still is the Radio Caroline ship and after an incredible career, she is broadcasting on occasions from the Blackwater estuary Essex.

 

On this dsy in 1953, USS Leyte suffered an explosion in her port catapult machinery room while under conversion to an antisubmarine carrier in Boston. 37 men died and 28 were injured in the accident. It remains the largest loss of life ever on Boston's waterfront.

 

RNZN says crew of HMS Tamar has recovered the navigation log book from wreck of HMNZS Manawanui off Samoa.

 

Congressman Rufus Rodriguez apparently asked the US Government, through Amb. Carlson, Defense Sec. Austin, and State Sec. Blinken, to donate the Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Philippine Sea to the PH Navy once it has been retired from the US Navy.

 

On this day 60 years ago in 1964, HMS Lynx arrives at the Falklands as a response to an illegal landing by an Argentine light aircraft claiming sovereignty. HMS Lynx was launched in 1957 and sold to Bangladesh in 1982 where she remained in active service until 2014.

 

HMS Tamar thanked for helping New Zealand comrades after loss of survey ship in Samoa.

 

Boeing Unveils XLUUV

https://seawaves.com/boeing-unveils-xluuv/ 

Northern Fleet Project 949A Antey/Oscar II-class SSGN Orel (K-266) in the Project 7454-class floating dry dock PD-50.

 

Sea-based X-band radar (SBX).

https://www.militaryfactory.com/ships/detail.php?ship_id=Sea-Based-X-Band-SBX1

RFA Tidespring replenishing HMSPWLS, seen from HMS Iron Duke.

 

Future USS Jeremiah Denton (DDG 129) Arleigh Burke-class Flight III guided missile destroyer with mast now in place in Pascagoula, Mississippi, October 2024.

 

Harbour tugs manoeuvring USS Stark toward the dock at Ingalls Shipbuilding after the ship underwent repairs for damage sustained when it was struck by two Iraqi-launched Exocet missiles while on patrol in the Persian Gulf. The battleship Wisconsin (BB 64) is in the background. 1988.

 

HMS Tamar is still on patrol at the HMNZ Manawanui wreck site off Samoa. Samoa's Marine Pollution Advisory Committee claims approx 200,000 litres of diesel has leaked from the vessel since it sank but RNZN disputes this.

 

HMS Swiftsure the first ex-Royal Navy nuclear submarine to be disposed of enters the final dismantling phase.

 

On this day 30 years ago the Royal Navy era of operating Diesel Electric submarines ended as HMS Unicorn entered HMNB Devonport for the final time after diving for the last time earlier that day. HMS Unicorn and her sisters were transferred to Royal Canadian Navy where she still serves.

 

Future Russian Navy Project 955A Borei-A-class ballistic missile submarine Knyaz Pozharskiy (K-555) coming into Severodvinsk after sea trials - October 15, 2024.

 

HMS Dauntless leaving Portsmouth to participate in the exercise Strike Warrior.

 

USS Harry S Truman, USS Jason Dunham, USS Stout and USS Gettysburg transiting Strait of Dover today heading in to the North Sea to participate in exercise StrikeWarrior USNS Arctic also taking on oil at Loch Striven