Royal Navy River class vessel HMS Forth has deployed to Gibraltar as part of work to establish the operators' manual for the class.
One of five Batch-2 River class vessels, HMS Forth began operations in April. The ship is currently undertaking training, patrols and preparations to head to the South Atlantic later this year.
Forth is due to deploy to the Falklands later this year to replace HMS Clyde as the islands’ permanent guardship.
The offshore patrol vessels are designed for counter-piracy, anti-smuggling, fishery protection, border patrol, counter terrorism and maritime defence operations.
The Italian Navy is being refreshed with two new ships ordered, while in the past six months steel was cut for a new frigate, an enhanced frigate was delivered and Horizon-class frigates passed a design review.
Singapore’s navy has introduced the Combatant Craft Underwater vessel, a multi-mode swimmer delivery vehicle designed to enhance its Naval Diving Unit’s ability to conduct covert maritime special operations.
After estimating that the first Columbia-class submarine would be delivered 16 months late, the US Navy has recently confirmed that an additional month will be required to complete its construction.
Naval vessels are at high risk when in harbour, port or dockside and the threat from asymmetric attacks has been shown in the Ukraine war against Russian ships. A demonstration of combined systems in the UK hoped to show a potential solution to defence, government and commercial delegates.
After troubled progress with the Littoral Combat Ship programme, the US Navy plans to commission USS Pierre (LCS 38) this autumn.
The frigates are based on Babcock’s Arrowhead 140 design but are substantially changed and include a range of Turkish weapons such as radars, sonar, guns and electronic warfare systems.
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