The Royal Navy late Thursday withdrew two vessels off Jersey Island, thus easing tensions with France over fishing rights and a demonstration by trawlers in demand of access to waters under a different legal status since Brexit.
As a sea-faring nation, surrounded by the South Atlantic, the Falkland Islands have become a final resting place for many ships over time. Many of these were merchant trading vessels that suffered accidental damage at sea due to adverse sailing conditions, such as the Lady Elizabeth, one of the most iconic symbols of the Islands, located in Whalebone Cove at the east end of Stanley harbor.
The Royal Navy's HMS Forth has taken bomb disposal specialists to South Georgia as part of a mission to protect the island's wildlife. The ten-day environmental mission set out to remove bombs and ordnance left behind during the Falkland Islands conflict involving the Argentine armed forces in 1982.
The dismantling of the Indian Navy's former flagship, Viraat, (ex HMS Hermes) has been kept on hold by the country's Supreme Court, which also issued notice to the company that bought the ship from the government to be made into scrap. The Supreme Court's order comes on a petition by a group that offered to buy the decommissioned carrier and convert it into a museum.
The HMS Protector, the only Royal Navy's ice patrol ship, has returned to sea after a £14m revamp to improve her ability to work in Antarctica. Extra weight was added to the vessel during the work has improved her ice-breaking capability, the Navy said.
The French Mayor Frederic Couvillier, of the city of Boulogne-sur-Mer, has threatened the UK with a “Falklands War” pertaining the dispute over the fishing waters with the European Union. Furthermore, the mayor warned of the threat of an armed conflict in light of the looming Brexit deadline.
The British Ministry of Defense said four Royal Navy patrol ships will be ready on Jan 1 to help protect Britain’s fishing waters in the event of a post Brexit no deal.
Work has begun on a huge hall for the Royal Navy’s next-generation Type 31 frigates – to build two ships side-by-side. Standing at 147 meters long, the hall at Rosyth includes 30-metre high ‘megadoors’ and will be able to accommodate two of the 138.7-metre vessels being assembled at the same time side by side.
Royal Navy helicopters have flown vital reconnaissance missions over devastated Honduras as relief operations continue in the wake of Hurricane Eta and Iota. Severe flooding and landslides following the two catastrophic storms have left millions of Hondurans displaced and isolated without food and clean water.
Commodore Jonathan Lett of the Royal Navy officially took over as the new Commander of British Forces for the South Atlantic Islands November 20. He replaces the outgoing Commander, Brigadier Nick Sawyer as head of Mount Pleasant Complex in the Falkland Islands.