After 61 years of service, the one of its kind research vessel FLoating Instrument Platform, known as FLIP, has been retired and sent to a scrapyard. I distinctly recall being absolutely fascinated by this engineering marvel when it was almost brand … Continue reading
Category Archives: Ships
The sad saga of the Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) is winding down. The small surface vessels, built in two classes, and designed for operations near shore, were intended to be inexpensive and flexible. Instead, they proved to be unreliable, relatively … Continue reading
Almost 200 years ago, Charles Darwin set sail from Plymouth, UK, as a naturalist on HMS Beagle on an epic voyage that would prove pivotal in the development of his theories of evolution. This week, the 105-year-old Dutch schooner Oosterschelde set … Continue reading
When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, at least 100 Ukrainian Navy vessels, representing 75% of the Ukrainian naval fleet, were captured by Russian forces. In the Russian invasion of 2022, much of the remaining fleet was destroyed or scuttled to … Continue reading
Swansea Museum, the oldest museum in Wales, is seeking a new partner to sail the 1909 Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter Olga. Their 5-year loan agreement with Sailing Tectona comes to an end this year, and the vessel will return to … Continue reading
The FSO Safer is now considerably safer. A United Nations operation to transfer more than one million barrels of oil from the decaying floating oil storage vessel into another ship off the coast of Yemen has been completed. Removal of … Continue reading
The US Navy dispatched four destroyers and a reconnaissance airplane after 11 Chinese and Russian military vessels carried out a joint naval patrol near Alaska’s Aleutian islands last week. The combined naval patrol, which the Wall Street Journal first reported, appeared … Continue reading
Donald Lawson and his Dark Seas Project was nothing if not ambitious. Lawson, 41, was preparing to set out to break at least 35 sailing records on his ORMA 60 trimaran, Defiant. Lawson is a professional sailor from Baltimore who … Continue reading
Have cruise ships worn out their welcome? Increasingly, port cities around the world are banning or regulating cruise ship dockings and operations in their coastal waters. Amsterdam has become only the most recent to do so. The BBC reports that … Continue reading
Last Friday, July 21, divers dove 110m (361ft) beneath the waters off the Shetland Islands, about eight miles south-east of Lerwick, and positively identified the wreck of the SM UC-55, a German Type UC II minelaying submarine that was sunk … Continue reading
News reports are that salvors fighting the fire on the car carrier Fremantle Highway have been temporarily stopped in their attempt to cool the exterior of the stricken ship with water. There are serious concerns that water from the firefighting could … Continue reading
Near midnight on Tuesday, the car carrier Fremantle Highway, loaded with nearly 3,000 cars, caught fire and has been burning out of control off the Dutch island of Ameland. The Dutch coast guard said one crew member had died and … Continue reading
In 1863, Henry Dodd organized a race between Thames River sailing barges. It has become the longest-running, regularly organized, national racing event for traditional sail in the world. In absolute terms, it ranks as the second oldest sailing race behind … Continue reading
Back in 2021, we posted about a pledge made by Maersk that it would launch the world’s first carbon-neutral cargo liner vessel in 2023 – seven years ahead of its initial 2030 target. This week, Maersk fulfilled that pledge, when … Continue reading
Bloomberg reports that delays at naval shipyards mean that nearly 40% of US attack submarines are out of commission for repairs, about double the rate the Navy would like, according to new data released by the service. As of this … Continue reading
Last Wednesday night at 9:38 PM, a fire broke out on the 10th deck of the ro-ro/container ship, Grande Costa D’Avorio, docked at Port Newark, as vehicle loading operations were underway. The fire broke out in five to seven cars and … Continue reading
Two firefighters were killed on Wednesday night after they became trapped while fighting a fire on the ro-ro/container ship, Grande Costa D’Avorio, docked at Port Newark. Approximately a dozen other firefighters were reported to be injured. The fire broke out … Continue reading
US Naval Forces Central Command Public Affairs reports that on July 5, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul prevented two attempted commercial tanker seizures by the Iranian Navy. The Iranians opened fire in one of the incidents near the … Continue reading
An updated repost fitting for the day. Happy 4th of July! Those of us in the United States celebrate the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th 1776. Immediately after declaring independence from Great Britain, the representatives in the Continental Congress drank a toast … Continue reading
Last week, the State of Hawai’i Department of Transportation issued a statement that the windjammer Falls of Clyde, the only remaining iron-hulled four-masted full-rigged ship and the only surviving sail-driven oil tanker in the world, would soon be delisted from … Continue reading