Tag Archives: bab el-mandeb

Navy Sails 300 Evacuees from Sudan to Saudi Arabia, U.S. Mobile Sea Base Now in the Red Sea

Navy Sails 300 Evacuees from Sudan to Saudi Arabia, U.S. Mobile Sea Base Now in the Red Sea

Expeditionary fast transport ship USNS Brunswick (T-EPF 6) departs Naval Base Guam, passing the MSC expeditionary fast transport ship USNS Fall River (T-EPF 4) and marking the start of Pacific Partnership 2019. Navy photo

A high-speed Navy catamaran moved about 300 evacuees from Sudan to Saudi Arabia, arriving in the port of Jeddah Monday, USNI News has learned. Read More

Destroyer USS Truxtun Operating Near Port Sudan Following U.S. Embassy Evacuation

Destroyer USS Truxtun Operating Near Port Sudan Following U.S. Embassy Evacuation

Sonar Technician (Surface) 3rd Class Austin McFatter, left, and Sonar Technician 3rd Class Brian Dwyer stand watch aboard guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun (DDG 103) during a transit of the Bab al-Mandeb, April 18, 2023. U.S. Navy Photo

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun (DDG-103) is off the coast of Sudan following the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum. Read More

CNO Gilday: Pentagon Weighing Reducing Middle East Aircraft Carrier Presence After Afghan Withdrawal

CNO Gilday: Pentagon Weighing Reducing Middle East Aircraft Carrier Presence After Afghan Withdrawal

Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Mike Gilday use the 1MC to address the crew aboard the Freedom-class littoral combat ship USS Billings (LCS 15). Gilday visited Naval Station Mayport to engage with Sailors, speak to local Navy leadership and tour a number of commands in the area. US Navy Photo

The Pentagon is rethinking what naval presence in the Middle East will look like after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan later this year – in particular, carrier strike groups, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said on Thursday. Read More

Iran’s New Missile Corvette Could Reshape IRGC Naval Doctrine

Iran’s New Missile Corvette Could Reshape IRGC Naval Doctrine

An aritsits rendering of a Shahid Soleimani-class missile corvette. HI Sutton image used with permission

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGC-N) is building a new class of warships, as first reported in Naval News last week based on satellite imagery. The catamaran design appears relatively large, modern and capable compared to existing IRGC commercial-based designs. Read More

Top Stories 2020: International Naval Operations

Top Stories 2020: International Naval Operations

Motor Tanker (M/T) Wila, a merchant vessel in international waters en-route to the UAE port of Khor Fakkan, in the Gulf of Oman, was boarded by armed Iranian personnel who fast roped aboard the ship from an Iranian Sea King helicopter as it hovered above on Aug. 12, 2020. US Navy Photo

This post is part of a series of stories looking back at the top naval news from 2020.

Like the U.S., international navies grappled with not only the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic but regional security concerns from China’s naval expansion and operations in the Pacific to Iranian and Russian operations in the Middle East. Read More

VIDEO: Iran Inducts New Special Operations Ship  

VIDEO: Iran Inducts New Special Operations Ship  

HI Sutton Image used with permission

Emblazoned with the pennant number “1” in on its superstructure, Shahid Roudaki joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) as its latest and most visible warship during a ceremony held in Bandar Abbas on the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday. Read More

Iranian Spy Ship Commands Strategic Position on Vital Oil Route

Iranian Spy Ship Commands Strategic Position on Vital Oil Route

HI Sutton Image used with permission

The Red Sea forms a physical and geopolitical choke point on much of the world’s trade. At its northern end the Suez Canal constricts the flow of ships, and at the southern end the Bab el-Mandeb Strait does. Millions of barrels of oil and other critically important goods transit the Red Sea every year, much of it destined for North America and Europe. Read More

Votel: Russia Not Capable, Willing to Help End Syrian Civil War

Votel: Russia Not Capable, Willing to Help End Syrian Civil War

Gen. Joseph Votel, U. S. Central Command commander, speaks at a commander’s call at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia, Feb. 23, 2017. US Air Force Photo

Time and again, Russia has failed to deliver the regime of Bashar al-Assad on Moscow’s promises to facilitate an end the Syrian civil war or even to have it comply with temporary ceasefires, the commander of U.S. Central Command told the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. Read More