The Indian Navy has welcomed its newest stealth warship into service as construction continues on a US Coast Guard heavy-weather response craft as well as a destroyer and a supply ship for the US Navy. The French military procurement agency has meanwhile placed orders for new coastal patrol boats for use by the National Gendarmerie police force.
The Indian Navy commissioned a new warship into service during a ceremony in Visakhapatnam on Saturday, July 11.
INS Mahendragiri is the seventh and final Nilgiri-class stealth frigate to be acquired by the Indian Navy. She and three of her sisters were built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders of Mumbai while the remaining three frigates in the class were constructed by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers.
Design work on the Nilgiri-class frigates was undertaken by the Indian Navy’s own Warship Design Bureau. The ships' missions include anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, and anti-air warfare.
The US Navy and Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) formally named the future flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS George M. Neal during a ceremony at HII's Ingalls Shipbuilding facilities in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on Saturday, July 11.
The ship is named for US Navy Petty Officer Third Class George M. Neal, a Korean War veteran and Navy Cross recipient. The ship's sponsor during Saturday's ceremony was Kelley Neal Gray, the late Petty Officer Neal's daughter.
As with other Arleigh Burke-class flight III destroyers, the future George M. Neal will have improved capability and capacity to perform anti-air warfare and ballistic missile defence in support of the integrated air and missile defence mission.
The US Coast Guard and shipbuilder Rozema Boat Works authenticated the keel for the first special purpose craft – heavy weather (SPC-HWX II) during a ceremony in Mount Vernon, Washington, on Wednesday, July 8.
The coast guard plans to acquire up to six SPC-HWX II vessels to replace its 52-foot (16-metre) heavy weather boats, which entered service in the 1950s and 1960s and retired in 2021.
Like their predecessors, the SPC-HWX II will be homeported in the Pacific Northwest and designed to perform coast guard missions in extreme weather and challenging surf conditions beyond the capabilities of other boats.
The Directorate General of Armaments, the procurement agency of the French Ministry of Armed Forces, has selected local shipbuilder Chantier Naval Couach for the construction of a new class of 24 coastal patrol vessels.
France's National Gendarmerie police force, particularly its Maritime Gendarmerie unit, will be the operator of the vessels. Design work on the vessels is being undertaken by local naval architecture firm Mauric.
Each vessel will have a length of 22 metres, a maximum displacement of 50 tonnes, a top speed of 22 knots, and space for up to 10 crewmembers and other personnel.
General Dynamics NASSCO began construction of a new replenishment oiler for the US Navy at its San Diego facilities on Wednesday, July 8.
Like her John Lewis-class sisters, the future USNS Joshua L. Goldberg will be operated by the Military Sealift Command to provide diesel fuel and lubricating oil as well as small quantities of fresh and frozen provisions, stores, and potable water to US Navy ships at sea.
The 11th John Lewis-class oiler honours Captain Joshua L. Goldberg, a Jewish rabbi who volunteered for service with the US Navy Chaplain Corps in World War II.