Category: Headlines

Belgian-Dutch minehunter programme: Keel N° 2 laid

After the keel for the first Belgian boat (as yet unnamed) was laid at the beginning of December 2021, the keel for the HNLMS Vlissingen, the first Dutch boat, was also celebrated in mid-June at the Naval Group in Lanester/Lorient. In accordance with the contract concluded in 2019 with Belgium Naval & Robotics as a consortium of the French Naval Group and the Belgian ECA Group, twelve mine defence units including a "toolbox" each with a total of around one hundred system-integrated drones are to be delivered for both countries. Who is doing what Naval Group is the prime contractor and is responsible for the development...

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The first yacht from Kiel

Today, the planks of the state yacht Hohenzollern would certainly have a lot to tell. However, the proud ship only covered very few nautical miles under her keel. The state yacht Hohenzollern was intended as a peaceful ship - built to represent the splendour and claim to power of the German Empire and its monarch. She did this on many voyages, and the mighty of Europe met on her time and again in a relaxed atmosphere. But on one of her voyages, the then brand-new ship caused trouble. On board in 1881, accompanied by his chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Emperor Wilhelm I met with a group of...

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British OPV on 5-year deployment to the Western Pacific

Their five-year trip to East Asia, or Indo-Asia-Pacific Deployment, began nine months ago. The two OPVs, HMS Tamar and HMS Spey (Modified River class), are certainly not big ships, but with a length of 81 metres and a displacement of 1,800 tonnes, they have to "shimmy" their way through in stages. Departing from Portsmouth in September, it has so far travelled via Colombia, the Panama Canal and up the US west coast to Hawaii. In January, the Chinese South Pacific was on the programme with reconnaissance and monitoring of unauthorised maritime activities, such as the ship-to-ship transfer of North Korean-flagged vessels (UN Security Council embargo). This was followed in February by participation in the "Bersama...

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Russian naval tug hit off the Snake Island

According to Ukrainian state information, the Russian naval tug SB-739 "Spasatel Vasily Bekh" (project 22870, 1,200 tonnes) was hit and set on fire by Ukrainian missiles on the night of Friday, 17 June 2022. The ship is said to have been transporting personnel, weapons and ammunition to the occupied Snake Island. Enemy units were said to be busy rescuing survivors. It is quite conceivable that Ukraine's comments on the "demilitarisation" of the tugboat referred to the sunk naval flagship "Moskva". If the sinking of the SB-739 is confirmed, analysts assume that it is now the fourteenth unit to be lost due to Ukrainian interference.

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Submarines: a game of cat and mouse at sea

State-of-the-art underwater detection also poses a threat to conventional submarines. Submariners have to face up to this. The steel hunter glides almost silently through the pitch-black depths. Tense concentration prevails in the submarine's command centre. The commander has ordered a crawl. Only the whispering of the crew occasionally drowns out the low hum of the detection and weapon deployment systems. The sonar operators the barely perceptible signals from distant active sonar systems. Locating a submerged submarine in the relatively shallow Baltic Sea is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Confident, relaxed and with a quiet smile on their faces, the crew face this attempt to find them....

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