Navy Lookout

President Donald Trump has ordered the US Navy to develop a plan to abandon electromagnetic aircraft launch systems on future Ford-class aircraft carriers and return to steam catapults. The wider memorandum contains some sensible measures to address America’s serious naval shipbuilding problems, but imposing a fundamental engineering redesign on an aircraft carrier already un...

The first of Poland’s new Miecznik-class frigates, ORP Wicher, has been launched in Gdynia, marking a major milestone in the renewal of the Polish Navy and another success for the British-designed Arrowhead 140 frigate. The 140-metre warship was lowered into the Bay of Gdańsk today using a semi-submersible barge following a complex operation to move […]

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HMS Dragon and RFA Lyme Bay have arrived in Mombasa for maintenance, resupply and crew rest after several months deployed in the Middle East. The visit takes the two ships temporarily away from preparations for a potential multinational operation in the Strait of Hormuz. HMS Dragon sailed from the UK on 10 March, in the […]

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The US Navy has begun seeking a new generation of submarine payload launchers designed to deploy uncrewed systems as well as weapons. The move raises questions about how far the Royal Navy’s future SSN-AUKUS boats will share in the evolving American approach to undersea payloads. On 29 July, the USN signalled interest in launchers able […]

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The RN’s autonomus mine hunting systems will be deployed on board up to three new Offshore Support Vessels (OSV) or ‘motherships’ procured in partnership with Norway. Recent work by Dstl and NDP provides the clearest indication yet of what the ships may need to look like, suggesting something much closer to a large commercial offshore […]

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