USV dropping in…The Royal Navy is a step closer to launching uncrewed surface vessels from the skies after a pioneering trial which saw the first airdrop of its kind from a military transport aircraft.

https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news/2026/july/08/20260708-uncrewed-vessels-airdropped-in-pioneering-trial-supported-by-royal-navy: USV dropping in…The Royal Navy is a step closer to launching uncrewed surface vessels from the skies after a pioneering trial which saw the first airdrop of its kind from a military transport aircraft.

HMS Vigo (D231), a Battle-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. It was built by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company and launched in 1946. The ship was decommissioned in 1959 and later scrapped in 1964. The first ship I went on.

U.S. Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), Royal New Zealand Navy Anzac-class frigate HMNZS Te Mana (F111), and U.S. Navy Arleigh-Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Carl M. Levin (DDG 120) depart Joint Base Pearl Harbour-Hickam, Hawaii, to begin the sea phase of Exercise Rim of the Pacific 2026.RIMPAC, the world’s largest international maritime exercise, brings together thirty nations, 30,000 personnel, and over 240 ships, submarines, and aircraft in and around the Hawaiian Islands from June 24 to July 31.

I was onboard HMS Leander, March 1964, alongside in Gibraltar, after returning from the West Indies, assisting Cuban refugees, chasing Russian submarines, during her stint as West Indies guardship. My photo.

This week, more than 20 U.S. Navy warships are patrolling waters across the Middle East as CENTCOM forces continue promoting regional security and stability. Last month, U.S. naval warships and aircraft transited the Arabian Sea in close formation, demonstrating unmatched American military strength and firepower.

HMS Eden, launched in 1903. It is pictured in dry dock at the Hawthorn Leslie shipyard in Hebburn, Tyne and Wear.The vessel was lost in 1916 following a collision with the ocean liner S.S. France.

What was a destroyer 100 years ago? The British River-class destroyer HMS Eden at the Hawthorn Leslie shipyard in 1904, showing its yacht-like rudder and its two funnels. The Eden was one of the first destroyers equipped with steam turbines.