March 23, 2020 – USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) departed Naval Base San Diego, March 23, and is now underway to Los Angeles in support of the nation’s COVID-19 response efforts. “This global crisis demands whole of government response, and we are ready to support,” said Capt. John Rotruck, Mercy’s Military Treatment Facility (MTF) commanding officer. “Mercy brings a team of…
Read MoreDay: March 23, 2020
SNMG1 Trains With Charles de Gaulle CSG
March 23, 2020 – French carrier strike group and its flagship, the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, trained with the Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1) for four days last week. Their combined exercises ran between 19-22 March bringing together warships from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom on the east coast of Denmark. Naval…
Read MoreFord Completes Flight Deck, CATCC Certifications
March 23, 2020 – “Man all flight quarters stations!” These words were heard across every space on USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) last week as she prepared to launch “cat” and recover “trap” aircraft from Carrier Air Wing EIGHT (CVW 8), in order to complete Flight Deck Certification (FDC) and Carrier Air Traffic Control Center (CATCC) Certification, Mar. 20.…
Read MoreHMS Defender Returns From Persian Gulf With No Replacement
March 20, 2020 – HMS Defender returned to HM Naval Base Portsmouth this morning after a hugely successful 222 days away from home. Due to crew shortages, no replacement was deployed. Her crew of 270 and embarked helicopter from 815 Naval Air Squadron safely accompanied 38 British-flagged tankers and cargo ships through troubled waters and made two significant drug seizures.…
Read MoreBrazilian Frigate Independência Deploys for UNIFIL
March 17, 2020 (Google Translation) – The Frigate “Independência”, of the Brazilian Navy, unraveled, on March 16, from the Port of Natal-RN to compose the Maritime Task Force of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (FTM-UNIFIL), where it will act as a Ship Flagship of the operation. It is Brazil’s 17th participation in FTM-UNIFIL, an operation in which the…
Read MoreNAVFAC Southeast Awards Contract for Kings Bay Drydock Overhaul
March 23, 2020 – Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southeast awarded a $191.9 million fixed-price award-fee contract March 20 to Alberici-Mortenson, Joint Venture out of St. Louis, Missouri. The first phase of the Design-Bid-Build contract is for the recapitalization of the dry dock at Naval Submarine Base (NSB) Kings Bay, Georgia. “The overhaul and restoration of the Kings Bay Dry…
Read MoreHII Announces Leadership Changes at its Newport News Shipbuilding Division
March 23, 2020 – Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) announced today changes to the leadership team at its Newport News Shipbuilding division, effective March 13. Julia Jones was promoted to vice president of manufacturing and facilities, where she is responsible for all manufacturing and facilities operations. She has served as the acting vice president since January. Jones has more than 22…
Read MoreSnow, sea ice and seals – a day out surveying in Antarctica
March 23, 2020 – Royal Australian Navy’s Maritime Geospatial Warfare Unit recently conducted survey operations at Davis research station, Antarctica, as part of Operation SOUTHERN DISCOVERY. Each day, the team launched inflatable rigid boats (IRBs) to survey the waters surround Davis for potential landing sites for heavy construction equipment and materials which will be required should the proposed Davis aerodrome…
Read MoreRetired Navy Vice Admiral Raquel C. Bono Named Head of Washington State COVID-19 Health Care Response Team
March 22, 2020 – Gov. Jay Inslee today named retired Navy Vice Admiral Raquel C. Bono as Washington state director for COVID-19 Health System Response Management. Bono is currently a senior fellow with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. As the former chief executive officer and director for the Defense Health Agency, Bono led a joint, integrated support agency…
Read MoreBoeing to Temporarily Suspend Puget Sound Production Operations in Response to Escalating COVID-19 Pandemic
March 23, 2020 – Boeing announced a temporary suspension today of production operations at its Puget Sound area facilities in light of the state of emergency in Washington state and the company’s continuous assessment of the accelerating spread of the coronavirus in the region. These actions are being taken to ensure the well-being of employees, their families and the local…
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