Deliveries include a submarine rescue ship for the Indian Navy and a fast coastal vessel for Spain's Guardia Civil police force. The US Navy has christened a new destroyer while detailed design work has begun on South Korea's future warships. Lastly, a German defence company has unveiled a new frigate design optimised for use by NATO nations.
The Indian Navy recently took delivery of a new dive support vessel (DSV) designed and built locally by Hindustan Shipyard in Visakhapatnam.
The future INS Nipun is the second of two long-endurance DSVs that will be used primarily for the rescue of crews of distressed submarines. Class lead ship INS Nistar was delivered to the navy in 2025.
The DSV's secondary duties will include patrols, general search and rescue, salvage, underwater inspections, and non-combatant evacuation operations.
The vessel has a length of 118.4 metres, a beam of 22.8 metres, a displacement of 9,350 tonnes, and two diesel engines that deliver a cruising speed of 14 knots and an endurance of 60 days.
German defence technology company Rheinmetall has unveiled concept images of a new guided-missile frigate developed to meet the evolving operational requirements of NATO and allied navies.
Each example of the class will have a length of 140 metres, a displacement of more than 6,000 tonnes, and armament for air and ballistic missile defence, anti-submarine warfare and long-range strike.
Rheinmetall said the design is optimised for blue-water operations while retaining the flexibility to support expeditionary, littoral and coalition missions.
Spain's Guardia Civil police force has taken delivery of a new interceptor boat built by local company Aister.
Río Odiel is the seventh interceptor in a series of eight boats that were designed and built to replace the Guardia Civil's earlier FRP-hulled patrol vessels. Although all eight boats in the series were built with similar configurations, a number of improvements have been implemented with each new boat over the delivery period, which commenced in 2023.
The newbuild has an LOA of 17.7 metres, a beam of 4.5 metres, a depth of 2.4 metres, a displacement of 26 tons, and space for up to four crewmembers.
South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has entered into an agreement with local shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean for the detailed design and lead ship construction for the Korean Next-Generation Destroyer (KDDX) programme.
DAPA said the KDDX programme will consolidate accumulated shipbuilding technology and will source onboard weapon systems locally, thus reducing reliance on other countries in the construction of the Republic of Korea Navy's (ROKN) first locally-built Aegis destroyer.
The lead KDDX ship is scheduled to be delivered to the ROKN in 2032.
The US Navy formally named its newest Arleigh Buke-class guided-missile destroyer during a ceremony at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works' shipyard in Maine on Saturday, August 1.
The future USS William Charette is named in honour of Master Chief Hospital Corpsman William R. Charette, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic acts during the Korean War.
Although seriously wounded during the same action that earned him the Medal of Honor, Master Chief Charette survived the war, served until his retirement from the navy in 1977, and ultimately died in 2012 at the age of 79.