HMS Duncan Ended Her Black Sea Visit

15 Nov 2015

CDY_1516

HMS Duncan heads to the Mediterranean Sea. TCSG-312 passes by.

Royal Navy warship HMS Duncan made an official visit to Romania between 8 and 11 November 2015.

HMS Duncan entered the Black Sea on 7 November and exited on 15 November.

The visit of HMS Duncan to Constanta, Romania was not just a cordial visit. The Embassy of the United Kingdom and Great Britain and Northern Ireland in collaboration with the UK Trade and Investment Defence and Security Organization organized 9 November on Board of HMS Duncan an exhibition promoting British defence industry technologies.

During the event UK Ambassador Paul Brummell thanked the 13 UK companies participating the event and emphasised that UK companies can provide technology and products that may help Romania to fulfil its ambitious plan to modernise its navy.

Romanian Navy currently operates two Royal Navy Type 22 frigates ROS Regina Maria (ex London) and ROS Regele Ferdinand (ex Coventry). These ships were overhauled in UK before their delivery to Romania in 2003 -2004 period. But further upgrade is needed. Armed with only guns and torpedoes these ships lack long-range offensive weapons and adequate air defence systems.

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Joint Warrior 2015-1 Naval Component

15 Apr 2015

 

JW151v2

Monsieur Louis, Martin-Vézian from Contemporary Issues & Geography (CIGeography) prepare this wonderful picture where you can visualize easily all nations and all warships taking part in Joint Warrior 2015-1 exercise.

According to media sources there are 55 warships taking part in Joint Warrior 2015. The below list has 55 of them.

 

Thanks to:

Sjoforsvaret, for reminding me about HNOMS Thor Heyerdahl,

Herr Thomas Wiegold, for information on Germany Navy,

Mister Nils K Haugen for correcting the name of HNOMS Skjold.

Any further corrections and additions are always welcome.

Number Name Type Nationality
F930 BNS Leopold I Frigate Belgium
M921 BNS Lobelia Mine hunter Belgium
337 HMCS Frederıcton Frigate Canada
F357 HDMS Thetis Frigate Denmark
F362 HDMS Peter Willemoes Frigate Denmark
F363 HDMS Niels Juel Frigate Denmark
L16 HDMS Absalon Frigate Denmark
A630 FS Marne Auxiliary France
D 644 FS Primauguet Destroyer France
M642 FS Cassiopee Mine hunter France
A1442 FGS Spessart Auxiliary Germany
A514 FGS Werra Auxiliary Germany
A516 FGS Donau Auxiliary Germany
M614 FS Styx Mine hunter France
M1093 FGS Auerbach Mine hunter Germany
P6122 FGS Puma Fast Attack Craft Germany
P6123 FGS Hermerlin Fast Attack Craft Germany
P6125 FGS Zobel Fast Attack Craft Germany
P6126 FGS Frettchen Fast Attack Craft Germany
P6129 FGS Wiesel Fast Attack Craft Germany
P6130 FGS Hyäne Fast Attack Craft Germany
F575 ITS Euro Frigate Italy
F802 HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën Frigate Netherlands
M1063 FGS Bad Bevensen Mine hunter Germany
M857 HNLMS Makkum Mine hunter Netherlands
P843 HNLMS Groningen Patrol Netherlands
S802 HNLMS Walrus Submarine Netherlands
A535 HNOMS Valkyrien Auxiliary Norway
F314 HNOMS Thor Heyerdahl Frigate Norway
M864 HNLMS Willemstad Mine hunter Netherlands
P960 HNOMS Skjold Corvette Norway
P963 HNOMS Skudd Corvette Norway
S303 HNOMS Utvaer Submarine Norway
M352 HNOMS Rauma Mine hunter Norway
F331 NRP Álvares Cabral Frigate Portugal
F104 SPS Méndez Núñez Frigate Spain
F496 TCG Gökova Frigate Turkey
F497 TCG Göksu Frigate Turkey
623 ORP Mewa Mine hunter Poland
S359 TCG Burakreis Submarine Turkey
A135 RFA Argus Landing ship UK
F82 HMS Somerset Frigate UK
L12 HMS Ocean Landing ship UK
L3007 RFA Lyme Bay Landing ship UK
M269 TCG Anamur Mine hunter Turkey
M109 HMS Bangor Mine hunter UK
M33 HMS Brocklesby Mine hunter UK
M108 HMS Grimsby Mine hunter UK
M39 HMS Hurworth Mine hunter UK
S120 HMS Ambush Submarine UK
13 USNS Medgar Evers Auxiliary USA
68 USS Anzio Cruiser USA
69 USS Vicksburg Cruiser USA
75 USS Donald Cook Destroyer USA
78 USS Porter Destroyer USA
M107 HMS Pembroke Mine hunter UK

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Joint Warrior 2015 (Updated)

14 Apr 2015 2 Comments

F497

F-497 TCG Gökova currently taking part in Exercise Joint Warrior 2015.

F496

F496 TCG Göksu currently taking part in Exercise Joint Warrior 2015.

M269

M269 TCG Anamur currently taking part in Exercise Joint Warrior 2015.

 

According to media sources there are 55 warships taking part in Joint Warrior 2015. I was able to identify 53 of them.

Thanks to Sjoforsvaret for reminding me about HNOMS Thor Heyerdahl.

Any corrections and additions are always welcome.

Number Name Type Nationality
M921 BNS Lobelia Mine hunter Belgium
F930 BNS Leopold I Frigate Belgium
337 HMCS Frederıcton Frigate Canada
L16 HDMS Absalon Frigate Denmark
F363 HDMS Niels Juel Frigate Denmark
F362 HDMS Peter Willemoes Frigate Denmark
F357 HDMS Thetis Frigate Denmark
M642 FS Cassiopee Mine hunter France
D 644 FS Primauguet Destroyer France
M1093 FGS Auerbach Mine hunter Germany
M1063 FGS Bad Bevensen Mine hunter Germany
A516 FGS Donau Auxiliary Germany
P6126 FGS Frettchen Fast Attack Craft Germany
P6123 FGS Hermerlin Fast Attack Craft Germany
F261 FGS Madgeburg Corvette Germany
P6122 FGS Puma Fast Attack Craft Germany
A1442 FGS Spessart Auxiliary Germany
A514 FGS Werra Auxiliary Germany
P6125 FGS Zobel Fast Attack Craft Germany
F575 ITS Euro Frigate Italy
P843 HNLMS Groningen Patrol Netherlands
M857 HNLMS Makkum Mine hunter Netherlands
F831 HNLMS Van Amstel Frigate Netherlands
M864 HNLMS Willemstad Mine hunter Netherlands
S802 HNLMS Walrus Submarine Netherlands
M352 HNOMS Rauma Mine hunter Norway
P963 HNOMS Skudd Corvette Norway
A535 HNOMS Valkyrien Auxiliary Norway
P960 HNOMS Skudd Corvette Norway
S303 HNOMS Utvaer Submarine Norway
F314 HNOMS Thor Heyerdahl Frigate Norway
623 OPR Mewa Mine hunter Poland
F331 NRP Álvares Cabral Frigate Portugal
F104 Méndez Núñez Frigate Spain
M269 TCG Anamur Mine hunter Turkey
S359 TCG Burakreis Submarine Turkey
F497 TCG Göksu Frigate Turkey
F496 TCG Gökova Frigate Turkey
M33 HMS Brocklesby Mine hunter UK
M108 HMS Grimsby Mine hunter UK
P283 HMS Mersey Mine hunter UK
L12 HMS Ocean Landing ship UK
M107 HMS Pembroke Mine hunter UK
A135 RFA Argus Landing ship UK
L3007 RFA Lyme Bay Landing ship UK
S120 HMS Ambush Submarine UK
F82 HMS Somerset Frigate UK
13 USNS Medgar Evers Auxiliary USA
68 USS Anzio Cruiser USA
75 USS Donald Cook Destroyer USA
78 USS Porter Destroyer USA
69 USS Vicksburg Cruiser USA

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Turkish Participants To Joint Warrior 2015-1

3 Apr 2015

F496

TCG Gökova

The Turkish Navy is participating to the Joint Warrior 2015 exercise with frigates F-496 TCG Gökova, F-497 TCG Göksu, submarine S-359 TCG Burakreis and mine hunter M-266 TCG Anamur.

TCG Göksu is currently part of NATO’s naval task force SNMG-2 and TCG Anamur is with the NATO’s mine warfare task force SNMCMG-2.

Exercise Joint Warrior is a semi-annual training exercise conducted in the coastal waters off the United Kingdom. The training, led by the United Kingdom, is designed to provide NATO and allied forces a multi-warfare environment in which to prepare for global operations. Participating countries aim to improve interoperability and prepare forces for future combined exercises.

The exercise will run form Saturday 11 April until Friday 24 April and will feature 55 war ships and submarines, 70 aircraft and around 13,000 personnel from 13 participating countries.

After the completion of the exercise TCG Gökova and  TCG Burakreis will take in Flag Officer Sea Training in Plymouth between 4 May and 12 June 2015.

 

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Warships In The Eastern Mediterranean (Part 2)

17 Sep 2013 14 Comments

This is the list of the naval vessels in the region i.e. east of Crete as of 17 September 2013:

Russian Navy:

  • 548 Admiral Panteleyev, destroyer
  • 810 Smetlivy, destroyer
  • 712 Neustrashimy, frigate
  • 127 Minsk, large landing ship
  • 142 Novocharkassk, large landing ship
  • 055 Admiral Nevelskoi, large landing ship Back in the Black Sea
  • 077 Peresvet, large landing ship Back in the Black Sea
  • 110 Aleksandr Shabalin, large landing ship Back in the Marmara Sea
  • 151 Azov, large landing ship, in the Baltics
  • SSV-201 Priazove, intelligence gathering ship
  • PM-138, repair ship
  • MB-304, tug
  • Pechenga, tanker
  • 152 Nikolay Filchenkov, large landing ship

US Navy:

  • DDG-52 USS Barry, destroyer
  • DDG-107 USS Gravely, destroyer
  • DDG-61 USS Ramage, destroyer
  • DDG-55 USS Stout, destroyer
  • LPD-17 USS San Antonio, amphibious transport dock
  • T-AO-195 USNS Leroy Grumman, supply ship

German Navy:

  • P-6126 FGS Frettchen, fast attack craft, UNIFIL
  • P-6129 FGS Wiesel, fast attack craft, UNIFIL
  • A-53 FGS Oker, intelligence gathering ship

Royal Navy:

  • L-3008 RFA Mounts Bay, auxiliary landing ship, Cougar 2013
  • D-35 HMS Dragon, destroyer

Brazilian Navy

  • F-45 União, frigate, UNIFIL

Bangladeshi Navy

  • F-18 BNS Osman, frigate, UNIFIL
  • P-911 BNS Madhumati, large patrol craft, UNIFIL

Indonesian Navy

  • 365 KRI Diponegoro, corvette, UNIFIL

Greek Navy

  • P-69 HS Ypoploiarchos Kristallidis, fast attack craft, UNIFIL

French Navy

  • D-621 FS Chevalier Paul, frigate

Italian Navy

  • D-553 ITS Andera Doria, destroyer

Any additions and corrections to the list are welcomed.

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Warships In The Eastern Mediterranean

12 Sep 2013 2 Comments

As the bulk of the Royal Navy’s Response Force Task Group passes through the Suez Canal, and Russia sending two more warships southwards, it is time to update the list of the ships in East Mediterranean

This is the list of the naval vessels in the region i.e. east of Crete:

Russian Navy:

  • 548 Admiral Panteleyev, destroyer
  • 127 Minsk, large landing ship
  • 142 Novocharkassk, large landing ship
  • 055 BDK-98, large landing ship
  • 077 Peresvet, large landing ship
  • 151 Azov, large landing ship
  • SSV-201 Priazove, intelligence gathering ship
  • PM-138, repair ship
  • MB-304, tug
  • Pechenga, tanker
  • 810 Smetlivy, destroyer – ETA 3 days
  • 152 Nikolay Filchenkov, large landing ship – ETA 3 days

US Navy:

  • DDG-52 USS Barry, destroyer
  • DDG-107 USS Gravely, destroyer
  • DDG-61 USS Ramage, destroyer
  • DDG-55 USS Stout, destroyer
  • LPD-17 USS San Antonio, amphibious transport dock
  • T-AO-195 USNS Leroy Grumman, supply ship

German Navy:

  • P-6126 FGS Frettchen, fast attack craft, UNIFIL
  • P-6129 FGS Wiesel, fast attack craft, UNIFIL
  • A-53 FGS Oker, intelligence gathering ship

Royal Navy:

  • L-3008 RFA Mounts Bay, auxiliary landing ship, Cougar 2013
  • L-3007 RFA Lyme Bay, auxiliary landing ship, Cougar 2013
  • L-15 HMS Bulward, landing ship, Cougar 2013
  • F-236 HMS Montrose, frigate, Cougar 2013

Brazilian Navy

  • F-45 União, frigate, UNIFIL

Bangladeshi Navy

  • F-18 BNS Osman, frigate, UNIFIL
  • P-911 BNS Madhumati, large patrol craft, UNIFIL

Indonesian Navy

  • 365 KRI Diponegoro, corvette, UNIFIL

Greek Navy

  • P-69 HS Ypoploiarchos Kristallidis, fast attack craft, UNIFIL

French Navy

  • D-621 FS Chevalier Paul, destroyer

Italian Navy

  • D-553 ITS Andera Doria, destroyer

Any additions and corrections to the list are welcomed.

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Why Turkey Rejected UK’s Global Combat Ship

10 Jun 2012 3 Comments

Well, marketing is not selling. The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the contractor BAE paid a high price to learn this elementary lesson in selling.

Actually they did a good marketing campaign to gain favor among Turkish decision makers. BAE attended every important defence related exhibition in 2011. During these events the representatives of BAE tried to spread the scope of the project as much as possible and they took time to talk to bloggers like yours truly in order to make their message heard.

The UK government invited the representatives of large Turkish companies and high ranking defence bureaucrats to UK to discuss potential business opportunities.

When the Turkish president was visiting UK, he was given a tour on board of the new RN Type 45 destroyer HMS Dauntless to show the results of British shipbuilding industry.

Yet all these – and probably other – efforts failed to convince Turkey to join the Type 26 / Global Combat Ship project. Why?

I think, the UK side failed to deliver the positive change Turkey would gain by joining this project in clear and precise terms.

In this case the Type 26 / GSC project was already in an advanced stage when Turkey was asked to join. As it was late to join, the Turkish participation would have increased the cost. Or Turkey would have had to review its requirements in accordance existing plans prepared by BAE for the British Navy. But the requirements and the traditions of Turkish Navy is very different from the requirements and the traditions of the RN so that a compromise is not feasible.

In sales, every successful sales happens because the buyer comes to believe the product or service will make a positive impact. And the buyer needs to see that the value of the product or service he wishes to buy outweighs its price. It seems that the Brits missed this single important point of a successful sales effort.

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Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope in Ankara

18 Apr 2011

Adm Stanhope and Adm Yiğit. Official Turkish Navy Photo.

Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, the First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff of the United Kingdom visited his counter part Admiral Yiğit Uğur and the Chief of Turkish General Staff General Işık Koşaner today.

Neither the Turkish Navy nor the Turkish General Staff released any public statements about the visits and topics discussed.

Besides the usual relations between the two countries the has been a marked discussions on naval cooperation.

UK – Turkey: Naval Industry Inward Mission (Part 1)

UK – Turkey: Naval Industry Inward Mission (Part 2)

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>Turks To Help Britain Built It’s Type 26 Frigate

15 Feb 2011

>News from the 3 day Inward Mission from Turkey Naval sector organised by UKTI DSO has started to leak.

It was meant a way to promote business to business relations between Turkey and UK, especially on naval projects. I have already reported about it here and here.

The first informations surfacing on the media however caught me on the wrong foot. According to the article published on 14 Feburary 2010 on Wall Street Journal, Turkey and UK may work on the Britain’s next generation frigate Type 26:

LONDON—The U.K. and Turkey are negotiating a military pact that would see the two European powers take part in joint exercises and share expertise, a person familiar with the matter said.
The agreement underscores how the U.K., Europe’s most active military, is eager to work more closely with allied militaries amid budget cuts. In October, the British government announced cuts to the military budget of 7.5% over the next four years.

An accompanying Security and Defense Strategy Review placed great emphasis on alliances and partnerships to “enhance capability.”

Britain hopes to have completed its memorandum of understanding with Turkey by July, this person said. Much of the deal will hinge on joint exercises. For instance, the U.K. could train helicopter pilots in Turkey, whose hot and mountainous terrain replicates Afghanistan.

Further down the line, the two countries are looking at cooperating on equipment programs.

One “possibility” is that the Turks would help build Britain’s Type 26 Frigate, a type of naval ship due to enter service in the early 2020s. Britain also wants to offer more places to train Turkish officers at its Royal College of Defence Studies and the Turks will invite British personnel to their training courses.

A spokesman for the Turkish defense ministry couldn’t be reached for comment Sunday.

Well that would be a first. I know that parts of British warships are sometimes constructed at foreign yards for cost saving measures and when I first about the Inward Mission, I thought that UK would offer help to Turkey in warship construction, not the other way around.

But may be times are changing.

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>UK – Turkey: Naval Industry Inward Mission (Part 2)

11 Jan 2011 3 Comments

>So what about the future?

What can be expect from the up coming event promoting business to business relations between Turkey  UK?

One currently ongoing defence project is procurement of Sea Sentor reactive soft-kill torpedo defence system from UK company Ultra for Milgem class. Ultra, with its Turkish partner Koç Bilgi ve Savunma Teknolojileri is developing a torpedo counter measure system for Turkish Type 214 class submarines.

It is a known fact that BAE Systems Surface Ships, is very much interested in selling Type 45 air defense ship as whole or its components for the TF-2000 project. During the 3. Naval Systems Seminar, BAE SSS made one presentation about Type 45 destroyer. The presentation was dull and the presenter was unimpressive, so that I got the feeling that BAE Systems was not interesting in promoting their ships at that time. Later they did some spin doctoring for damage control. This shows that they mean business.

Thales Naval Electronic Warfare (ex Marconi) offer their Sealion ESM system for the mid life modernization project of Ay class (Type 209/1100) class submarines. Currently four of six submarines use the older generation DR 2000 ESM system from the same company.

Rolls-Royce is interest in supplying the main propulsion systems for the TF-2000 project independent from BAE systems bid.

A safe bet for a possible cooperation would be the LPD project. I believe that this project will receive green light towards the end of 2011 and Brits are in the game. Royal Navy participated to Egemen 2009 amphibious exercise, which can be regarded as a show case of various amphibious ships, with Ocean class LPH, Albion class LPD and Bay class LSD.

With the recently announced reductions in the Royal Navy, Britain can offer a buy one new and get one used for free/at reduced price type deal in Turkey’s LPD project.

I do not see much prospect of cooperation in different class of warships such as submarines, fast attack craft, mine hunters etc. expect for very specialized sub systems, sensors or weapons. The prize projects for UK companies are without the doubt TF-200 air defence frigate and docked amphibious ship. Whether UK companies can succeed in penetrating into a market they have long neglected and a market that has shrunk is size remains a major question mark.

Click for Part 1

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