FLEETS #9: Royal Australian Navy, Belgian Navy and Royal Canadian Navy today

Written by D-Mitch

This is the fifth article about various countries' navies today. In these articles, I briefly describe a country's naval fleet by reporting the ships in each type/category of warships and by providing a nice image where all the types of warships are illustrated and the units of its class are reported. I include the vessels that will enter in service this year and I have excluded those that are about to be decommissioned. I deliberately excluded many classes of auxiliary ships; those that they have "0" defence capacity and those that have secondary roles such as hydrographic survey ships, tugs, depollution vessels and training ships.

INFOGRAPHICS #11: USS New Jersey (BB-62) fast battleship, the largest and most decorated battleship in the US Navy's history

USS New Jersey in 1985. Photo: US Navy

The following image was created by Aaron Steckeuberg, Michael Price and Chang Blancharo and illustrates the USS New Jersey (BB-62) second ship of Iowa class fast battleships (sister ships are USS Iowa, USS Missouri and USS Wisconsin). USS New Jersey is the largest (by 4 inches, that's its nickname is Big J) and most decorated battleship in the US Navy's history with 19 earned Battle Stars; 9 in WWII, 4 in the Korean War, 2 in the Vietnam War and 4 for the service in Lebanon and the Persian Gulf region! New Jersey earned more battle stars for combat actions than the other three completed Iowa-class battleships, and was the only US battleship providing gunfire support during the Vietnam War. The distinguished battleship serves as a museum ship since 2000 in Camden, New Jersey. Read more here and here.

INFOGRAPHICS #10: USS North Carolina (BB-55) fast battleship, the most highly decorated American battleship of World War II

USS North Carolina

The following image was created by Charles Apple in 1995 and illustrates the USS North Carolina (BB-55) lead-ship of North Carolina class fast battleships (sister ship was USS Washington). She was the first newly constructed American battleship to enter service during World War II, and took part in every major naval offensive in the Pacific Theater of Operations; her 15 Βattle Stars made her the most highly decorated American battleship of World War II! The distinguished battleship serves as a museum ship since 29 April 1962 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Read more about the ship here.

NAVAL FORCES #5: Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) collection ships of European Navies

Dupuy de Lôme, the most advanced SIGINT ship in any
European Navy today (2015)

Signals intelligence (often abbreviated as SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of signals, whether communications between people (communications intelligence - abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication (electronic intelligence - abbreviated to ELINT). The data gathered are typically pertinent to the electronics of an opponent's defense network, especially the electronic parts such as radars, surface-to-air missile systems, aircraft, etc. ELINT can be used to detect ships and aircraft by their radar and other electromagnetic radiation; commanders have to make choices between not using radar, intermittently using it, or using it and expecting to avoid defenses. COMINT, as it was mentioned in the previous paragraph, it is a sub-category of signals intelligence that engages in dealing with messages or voice information derived from the interception of foreign communications. Modern navies use naval vessels with sophisticated equipment for this purpose, the so-called spy ships.

L'Adroit offshore patrol vessel of the French Navy

Written by D-Mitch

OPV FS L'Adroit. Photo: Jean-Louis Venne

L'Adroit (P725) is the lead-ship of the Gowind class, a new class of hi-tech offshore patrol vessels (OPV) capable of performing a wide spectrum of roles, for French Navy (Marine Nationale). These vessels are designed by Kership, a joint venture between DCNS and Piriou shipyard in Brittany. Kership benefits from the experience of DCNS on the naval defence markets and that of Piriou in civilian-standard vessels. L'Adroit is a very innovative design that performs mainly as a testbed for the various electronic systems, equipment and the novel features of the design itself. The vessel was built by DCNS (Direction des Constructions Navales and the Direct Chantier Navel), group on its own funds in 2011 and it has been on loan to the French Navy from October 2011 until the middle of 2015 for trials and to promote it for exports. It is worth of mention that this ship's bridge offers a panoramic 360-degree visibility and also this is the first French warship with a single (integrated) mast.

FLEETS #8: Turkish Navy, Royal Danish Navy and Hellenic Navy today

Written by D-Mitch

This is the fifth article about various countries' navies today. In these articles, I briefly describe a country's naval fleet by reporting the ships in each type/category of warships and by providing a nice image where all the types of warships are illustrated and the units of its class are reported. I include the vessels that will enter in service this year and I have excluded those that are about to be decommissioned. I deliberately excluded many classes of auxiliary ships; those that they have "0" defence capacity and those that have secondary roles such as hydrographic survey ships, tugs, depollution vessels and training ships.