Hms Ocean News

The Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (MITAGS) announced that Mark Heward has joined its team as Director. Heward came aboard with MITAGS in October 2022, after retiring from a 22-year active service career in the Royal Navy.“We are thrilled to welcome Mark Heward aboard as the Director of MITAGS. Mark’s underway time, leadership, management and training experience together with being fully STCW qualified and his continuing education experience are a rare combination,” said Eric Friend, MITAGS Executive Director.

The Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (MITAGS) said Friday that Mark Heward had joined as Director of MITAGS.Heward came aboard with MITAGS in October 2022, after retiring from a 22-year active service career in the Royal Navy.Eric Friend, MITAGS Executive Director, said: "We are thrilled to welcome Heward Heward aboard as the Director of MITAGS. Mark’s underway time, leadership, management, and training experience, together with being fully STCW qualified…

A woman officer will be appointed to the rank of admiral for the first time in the centuries-long history of the British Royal Navy.Commodore Jude Terry, who has served for nearly a quarter of a century, has been selected for promotion to rear admiral, making her the most senior woman in the Royal Navy, past or present. The 47-year-old will be promoted to rear admiral next year and take over as the Royal Navy’s Director of People and Training and Naval Secretary.Of making history she says “someone has to be first”.

The MOD has agreed to sell HMS Ocean to the Government of Brazil after 20 years of service. Sold to the Brazilian Navy for around £84M ($117m), the profit generated from the sale will be reinvested in defence at a time when the Royal Navy is being strengthened with two types of brand new frigates and two huge aircraft carriers. HMS Queen Elizabeth, which will eventually take on the role as the nation’s new flagship, recently set sail from the port of Gibraltar carrying two Chinooks and four Merlin helicopters as she readies for helicopter trials at sea.

Naval leaders from the United Kingdom, France and the United States signed an agreement June 1, designed to increase coordination for anti-submarine warfare activities of the three countries as they operate in the 5th Fleet area of operations. Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) Vice Adm. Kevin M. Donegan signed the trilateral agreement with Vice Adm. Louis-Michel Guillaume, commander, French Submarine and Strategic Oceanic Forces (ALFOST) and Rear Adm. Robert K. Tarrant, commander, Operations of the Royal Navy, at Donegan's headquarters in the Kingdom of Bahrain. This agreement follows the signing of a document by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson, First Sea Lord of the United Kingdom Adm. Sir Philip Jones, and French Chief of Naval Staff Adm.

The Queen, who is the sponsor of HMS Ocean, attended the celebration of rededication of the ship following a £65 million refit at Devonport dockyard in Plymouth. HMS Ocean, Britain’s largest warship and helicopter carrier was granted Freedom of the City in 2004. She has recently completed a fifteen-month refit. On arrival the Queen, 88, was welcomed by Plymouth's civic dignitaries at the city's railway station before she travelled to the naval base. Her arrival was marked by a 21-gun salute. Mayor Coun Stuart Porthouse travelled to Devonport in Plymouth today to represent the people of Sunderland at a ceremony performed by the Queen.

HMS Illustrious – the last of the Royal Navy’s Invincible-class aircraft carriers – was decommissioned at Portsmouth Naval Base today, marking the end of her 32-year career. The ship’s White Ensign was lowered for the final time during the decommissioning ceremony in front of hundreds of guests, ending an era which began with the launch of her sister ship HMS Invincible in 1977. Illustrious is being replaced as the nation’s helicopter carrier by HMS Ocean which has just undergone a £65m refit.

Work has been completed on schedule in preparation for the installation by Babcock of a first of class state-of-the-art Membrane Bio-Reactor (MBR) on HMS Ocean. This represents a significant proportion of the vessel’s current upgrade package and is an integral part of the 15-month overhaul program underway at Babcock’s Devonport Royal Dockyard. The new MBR replaces the ship’s existing 15-year-old sewage treatment system and will be capable of processing both waste water and sewage (black and grey water, galley, laundry, sink and shower waste).

More than 3,000 sailors & Royal Marines are geared up for a three-month deployment to the Mediterranean. 'Cougar 12', which begins later this month, will see four warships, one amphibious support ship, a giant ro-ro ferry/transporter, three commando units and helicopters and personnel from eight Fleet Air Arm and Army Air Corps squadrons committed to the three-month deployment – in all more than 3,000 sailors, Royal Marines, soldiers and airmen. They will take part in two large…

The crew of 'HMS Bulwark' serves as hub in Portland Harbour for the security effort surrounding the Paralympic sailing events. The assault ship serves as the command and control centre for maritime security operations around Portland for the duration of the Paralympic Games. From her operations room, Bulwark directs the movements of Royal Marines raiding craft, patrol boats and civilian launches and boats, fed by live imagery of the waters around Weymouth by special cameras fitted to Fleet Air Arm Merlin helicopters on patrol overhead.

WHILE Royal Navy ships protect the London Olympics others have rushed to prevent a pirate attack in the Middle East. The minehunters HMS Middleton and HMS Pembroke were in the Gulf of Aden on their way home when they received a distress call from the MV New Delhi Express on July 27th. The 40,000-tonne merchant ship, laden with valuable containers, contacted HMS Middleton to say she was 12 miles to the south west and had suffered an engine failure. That meant she was an easy target for the pirates who operate in the gulf between Somalia and Yemen.

The warship will be berthed at Greenwich until after the Paralympics, and will act as a helicopter landing platform and logistics hub in support of maritime and air security operations. HMS Ocean will also accommodate 400 military personnel who will be part of the venue security force for nearby Greenwich Park. An amphibious assault ship, HMS Ocean is designed to deliver Royal Marines commandos to the centre of the action by helicopter or by landing craft - there are six helicopter operating spots on the flight deck, and the hangar can hold many more aircraft.

HMS Ocean will berth at Greenwich in east London where she will act as a launch pad for eight Lynx helicopters and a base for Royal Marine snipers in the the final phase of the exercise 'Olympic Guardian', which began earlier this week in Weymouth and in the airspace over the capital. During the Games the ship will also accommodate 300 military personnel who are providing security at nearby Greenwich Park, and engage with Londoners by hosting public visits. Last year HMS Ocean spent four months operating off the Libyan coast.

Tank gauging systems specialist PSM’s new iCT level pressure and temperature sensors are suitable for all ship sizes and types. The requirement for increasing amounts of reliable data on board has driven up demand for sensors. One consequence of larger manufacturing volumes has been that sensors have become relatively inexpensive. However, installation costs are another matter, and continue to rise. Today, the cost of installing a level gauging system either as a new build or a retrofit can often exceed the cost of the equipment itself. This is particularly apparent in respect of cable costs and system commissioning. PSM has launched a new high stability digital level, pressure and temperature sensor with advanced integrated intelligent signal processing and diagnostics.

A Devon dockyard won a contract to upgrade HMS Ocean, the Royal Navy's largest amphibious warship. Improvements to accommodation on board the assault ship are expected to take a year at Plymouth's Devonport Dockyard. Work on the 21,000-ton ship is expected to start next month and, following sea trials, the ship should return to service next September. During the refit, HMS Ark Royal will stand in for HMS Ocean. Source: BBC