A couple of images from Regional Presence Deployment 2026-2 (RPD-26-2) of the Royal Australian Navy @Australian_Navy during which the frigate HMAS Toowoomba is working with a number of allied navies. Here we see Philippine Navy frigate BRP Diego Silang conducting officer of the
When he's not slaving over a hot keyboard at the helm of the magazine, @IBallantyn dabbles in naval history and here's some interesting extracts from his books 👇on the end of the German battleship Bismarck in WW2 (pic). He also discussed the Bismarck Action on our Warships Pod
A perishin' good photo from Exercise Arctic Dolphin 26 in Norwegian waters shows the German Navy fleet replenishment ship FGS Main testing the periscope skills of a would be submarine captain. Part of what the UK used to call the Perisher when it ran its own such course - and we
Some big signalling here in images released via @CENTCOM of the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group of the @USNavy as representatives of the USA and Iran held talks in Oman. A case of following Teddy Roosevelt's maxim of speaking softly and carrying a big stick...major force
Broadside from the Editor, trying to outdo the mag's Odin's Eye lead commentary team...
@NavyLookout @LukePollard Actually it wouldn't be so pathetic if the following had not happened: the 17 year failure to order any frigates; the accelerating departure of knackered T23 frigates from service years before new frigates are in service; the decision to sell T26s to the Norwegians off the RN
Here's the @RoyalNavy Hunt Class Mine Counter-measures Vessel (MCMV) HMS Ledbury @HMSLedbury outbound from @HMNBDevonport Plymouth yesterday afternoon. Still going strong almost 45 years since commissioned (built by Vosper Thornycroft). Second of her class, only a few of which
On offer in the new edition of the magazine is a fascinating chat between @timbenbow1 and @drfarls that punctures the myth of @RoyalNavy trying to hang on to its battleships post-WW2 out of sentimentality. Quite the contrary! Here's the first page as a taster.
Available in shops
Here's the German Navy @deutschmarine Berlin Class replenishment ship FGS Bonn outbound from @HMNBDevonport Plymouth yesterday
afternoon. One of three Berlin Class vessels able to supply warships with everything they need (almost) - fuel, ammo, food and engineering stores. Plus
President Trump finally weighs in on the Chagos/Diego Garcia affair...Amazing that it has taken so long.
Shockingly, our “brilliant” NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital U.S. Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER. There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of
With all the headlines about Russia's alleged 'Shadow Fleet' and similar, including dramatic intercepts in recent weeks of tankers in the Caribbean and North Atlantic, here's a taster of a look at the topic. As published at the end of 2024 (ahead of the majority of mainstream
A Russian naval aviation Tupolev Tu-142 (Bear F) long-range maritime patrol and anti-submarine aircraft has been intercepted by a pair of Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) F-35A fighter jets on Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) duty. Occurring Just over a week ago, it was the first
Our Odin's Eye comment on such woeful hubris from a less than spectacular ex-UK Secretary of State for Defence:
'Just embarassing to boast about this - the fact that he sent a barely armed patrol ship, and not much of a 'gun boat', to allegedly do the job of an amphibious task
As Defence Secretary I sent a gun boat to Venezuela to defend neighbouring Commonwealth country Guyana. Maduro is a dictator who stole the election and it's very good he's been removed.
With US strikes, and it seems Special Forces intervention on the ground in Caracas - capital city of Venezuela - plus that country's leader allegedly 'captured' (according to President Donald J. Trump) then flown out, US Navy forces of one kind or another are likely to have been
Tanks for Ukraine delivered via global sealift: as the war approaches its fourth anniversary, here's ex-Australian Army M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks being loaded onto a commercial vessel. The image was take some weeks ago and these (plus other former Aussie M1A1s) are likely now… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2005204824120295876
It was very clever of Santa to trick NORAD into thinking he'd used the traditional sleigh and reindeer method entirely. In fact, his globe-girdling present-delivery feat - or at least part of it - for 2025 was achieved via the United States Navy nuclear-powered submarine USS… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2004519425773351128
A US Navy destroyer of the Arleigh Burke Class in the Gulf of Guinea launches a Tomahawk Class Land Attack Missile (TLAM) at terrorist targets in Nigeria. US defence sources said more than a dozen TLAMs were fired, at Islamic State lairs. The Christmas Day operation was
Check out our earlier post on this topic
1/3 Moving things along after expressing his desire for new 'battleships' earlier this year President Donald J. Trump has anounced a new class...named in honour of himself. They will, according to POTUS, be 'A.I'-controlled' and aim to 'inspire fear in America's enemies all over
Major American warship builder @WeAreHII has welcomed President Trump's 'intent to construct a new class of American-designed battleships.' HII added: 'We are proud to have built the Navy’s most technologically advanced surface combatants and our shipbuilders are committed to… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2003409009374535866
1/3 Moving things along after expressing his desire for new 'battleships' earlier this year President Donald J. Trump has anounced a new class...named in honour of himself. They will, according to POTUS, be 'A.I'-controlled' and aim to 'inspire fear in America's enemies all over
2/3 In this depiction (below, left) the Defiant blasts away with lasers and guns and must surely be packed with missiles. At an envisaged 35,000 tons, that is some 13,101 tons less (standard displacement) than the US Navy's WW2 era Iowa Class battleships (below, right). They
3/3 If you want to read about old school battleships and also what new ones - in reality very large, well-armed modern cruisers - might be capable of, then we can offer a series by top contributors @MtarfaL @drfarls @JamesBosbotinis and Usman Ansari (the latter telling the story
Illustrating the fundamental importance of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary's role in defending the UK by keeping an anti-submarine warfare frigate at sea.
⛽️ Stocking up to ensure that HMS St Albans is always ready for action. Here’s RFA Tideforce carrying out the first full RAS of the deployment. This ‘Replenishment At Sea’ will ensure that she is fuelled and ready for operations. #StockingUpForChristmas #BigShop
Here's HMS St Albans outbound from @HMNBDevonport Plymouth yesterday morning. One of the few remaining @RoyalNavy Duke Class (Type 23) frigates in service, she was deploying allegedly on Towed Array Patrol Ship (TAPS) duty.
That means using a sonar reeled out at distance behind
Twitter feed image.
To get you all in a Christmas mood, here's the new edition of the magazine, officially out there tomorrow but you may find it in a news seller or supermarket already. And also going out globally, plus available direct in hard copy and/or digital variants https://sundialmedia.escosubs.co.uk/subscribe/warships.htm
A sailor tests a Mk 38 25mm gun during a live fire exercise aboard Wasp Class amphibious assault ship USS Essex earlier this week in the Pacific. Photo: MCSS Kenyatta Headley/US Navy.
Did Adolf Hitler escape to South America in this U-boat? That's one of the questions considered by host @IBallantyn and guest @Roger_Moorhouse during a dive into the war between the Allies and German submarines in WW2 for our new podcast episode: 'Churchill’s Peril: U-boat
This image shows U-977 off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, being consigned forever to the deep during a weapons test in November 1946, courtesy of an improved steam torpedo fired by USS Atule (left of image). It took ten seconds for the U-boat to be gone after being hit amidships at a
The Damen Landing Ship Transport (LST) 100 design has been selected by the USA's Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) to fulfil a need for the US Marines to utilise more, smaller vessels as they gear up for a island war in Indo-Pacific at some future date.
According to Damen 'up
Here's the Russian Navy Kilo Class missile-armed diesel-electric submarine RFS Krasnodar (entered service late 2015) in waters off the UK, with the naval tug RFS Altay (middle right). Commissioned 1988, note Altay's interesting profusion of aerials for a simple 'tug'. Monitoring
Here's the last HMS Formidable of the @RoyalNavy - a WW2 era aircraft carrier, left - along with a depiction of the next ship of the name, right, a Type 31 general-purpose frigate, whose keel has just been laid in the Babcock facility at Rosyth on the Forth, Scotland. There are
The forthcoming episode of our podcast is a deep dive into the world of U-boats in WW2, with host @IBallantyn talking to guest @Roger_Moorhouse whose latest book is 'Wolfpack' @HarperCollinsUK The episode is called 'Churchill’s Peril: U-boat Wolfpacks' and is out this week! In…
THE CASE FOR NUCLEAR & CONVENTIONAL SUBMARINES IN THE ROYAL NAVY - by our Editor @IBallantyn The UK needs nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) and Air-independent Propulsion (AIP) conventional boats. Or, go down the Japanese route to field a SSK that does not use an AIP…
And a fine welcome at Portsmouth for the destroyer HMS Dauntless and aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales as they too returned from the UKCSG 2025 deployment, deserving of their own BZ for a job well done. Photos by our contributor Derek Fox.
The Royal Navy Duke Class (Type 23) frigate HMS Richmond inbound to @HMNBDevonport this afternoon following completion of the eight-month Carrier Strike Group 25 deployment. Vid includes saluting guns firing and a Merlin flyby. BZ to the ship's company for all their defence…
