The crew of HMS Montrose have spent the end of Christmas week on the remote Pacific Easter Island – famous for its huge stone statues. It’s thought to be the first time this century a British warship has visited the Chilean territory, which is about the size of Sheffield – but home to fewer than 8,000 people.
Innovation, partnership and technology transfer are the main themes as the UK is showing a strong commitment to the UK/Chilean defense relationship by sending HMS Montrose a Royal Navy Type 23 Frigate to support the bicentennial celebrations and Exponaval 2018 in Valparaiso, Chile.
UK Defence Minister Stuart Andrew has announced the name of a future world-beating British warship as HMS Sheffield. Built on centuries of history, the state-of-the-art submarine hunter will be the fourth ship to carry the name and will be Britain’s fifth state-of-the-art Type 26 frigate.
UK Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson has secured the protection of British home waters by announcing he will retain three of the Royal Navy’s patrol ships. The future of the Batch 1 Offshore Patrols Vessels (OPVs), HMS Tyne, HMS Mersey and HMS Severn, which currently support the Fishery Protection Squadron, have been secured ahead of the Brexit negotiations for Britain to withdraw from the European Union.
A year after the disappearance of the Argentine Navy’s submarine ARA San Juan, the crew of HMS Clyde, one of the British ships that participated in the search operation, yesterday showed their respects in an act of remembrance from the Falkland Islands. The act was given hours before the Ministry of Defense and the Argentine Navy confirmed that the Norwegian ship Seabed Constructor made the discovery.
The Falkland Islands patrol ship HMS Clyde is on her usual patrol area during the austral summer which is South Georgia, 700 miles away. The remote archipelago is as far south of the Equator as Newcastle upon Tyne is north of the invisible line around the globe – but without the benefit of the Gulf Stream, endures far less clement weather.
An international team of builders is preparing to ship an entire kit of parts from the UK to create a new wharf in the Antarctic. The work is part of the £100m upgrade of the Rothera research station to accommodate its new vessel, the RSS Sir David Attenborough. Almost 4,000 tons of equipment and materials will be shipped 11,000km next month.
Speaking in Birmingham at the Conservative Party conference, the Defense Secretary outlined that one of Britain’s new cutting-edge Type 26 frigates will be called HMS Birmingham, becoming the fourth Royal Navy ship to bear that name.
A ceremony has been held in Clydebank to mark the centenary of the launch of one of Britain's largest warships. The battle-cruiser HMS Hood was launched at John Brown's shipyard in Clydebank on 22 August 1918. Until the commissioning of the new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, there had never been a bigger British warship than The Mighty Hood.
Ten British ships sunk during the Second World War and designated as war graves have been plundered for scrap metal by Chinese pirates, an investigation by The Mail on Sunday has found. They include HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Exeter which was involved in the River Plate battle against the Graf Spee, closely operating from the Falkland Islands.