Kenya and Egypt are calling for action against Somali pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden while the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) reports that 77 incidents involving sea robbers have been reported since January in that sea way.

The most recent were three last week on Tuesday and one on Wednesday.

On Wednesday last week pirates armed with automatic weapons aboard two speedboats opened fire on a bulk carrier underway. “The pirates boarded and hijacked the vessel and took the 20 crew as hostage. They then sailed the vessel to an undisclosed location in Somalia. The vessel was carrying a cargo of iron ore pellets from Pointe Noire, Canada to Rizhao, China when it was hijacked,” the IMB web site says of the incident.

Pirates fired on ships with small arms in all three incidents reported on Tuesday. In the first incident, at 8am, pirates on speedboats fired at a tanker and attempted to board. The ship took evasive action, transmitted mayday messages and sounded the foghorn. The pirates moved off after 10 minutes.

Read more at: DefenceWeb

Two vessels, an Iranian bulk carrier and a Japanese-operated tanker, have been seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said on Thursday.

"Both ships were attacked and hijacked this morning [Thursday]," said Noel Chong, head of the IMB piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur.

The Japanese tanker had 19 crew on board, but no Japanese nationals, Chong said.

Thursday's seizures came after a Malaysian oil tanker, with 39 crew on board and laden with palm oil, was hijacked on Wednesday in the Gulf of Aden.

Piracy is rife off Somalia, which has been mired in anarchy since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991.

Last week, pirates from Somalia hijacked two ships -- a Thai cargo ship, the MV Thor Star, and a Nigerian tug boat, the MT Yenegoa Ocean.

Somali pirates are still holding a Japanese-managed bulk vessel, the MV Stella Maris, which was hijacked on July 20.

Source: Mail & Guardian Online

Robben Island Museum has confirmed that cultural artefacts on the island, dating from the Second World War have been stolen.

However, it has not been able to confirm that these artefacts - including brass fittings and other metal from historical facilities like old gun emplacements - have been stripped for their scrap metal value.

It says it is working closely with the SA Navy to protect the remaining Second World War artefacts on the island, a World Heritage Site.

Source: Independent Online

Two South American naval ships have collided in South African waters, according to reports reaching Engineering News Online on Friday.

The two ships are believed to be Uruguayan naval frigates undergoing joint military exercises off Cape Town. The two Uruguayan frigates involved are the ROU Uruguay and the ROU Comandante Pedro Campbell, both formerly units of the Portuguese Navy.

The two frigates were only recently acquired, second-hand, from Portugal, and sailed straight to South Africa from the European country to participate in this year’s edition of the Atlasur series of naval exercises.

Atlasur is normally biennial, and involves South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, with the function of host rotating between these countries.

The two ships were part of the Portuguese Comandante João Belo class, and each displaces 2 250 t, is armed with two by 100 mm and two by 40 mm guns and anti-submarine torpedo tubes, and has a top speed of 26 kts.

Although originally built in the late 1960s, they were significantly modernised in the 1990s, receiving new radar, sonar, electronic countermeasures and data-link systems.

According to unconfirmed reports, the Uruguayan frigates will be repaired at South Africa's naval dockyard in Simon's Town to enable them to continue to take part in the joint south-south naval exercise.

Once the exercise has been completed, further repairs will be undertaken in South Africa to allow the ships to return to Uruguay.

Ships have been damaged during exercises in the past, the HMS Leopard once being damaged by the SAS Pietermaritzburg.

Source: Engineering News

Capetonions can board the visiting Indian and Brazilian warships, as well as the South African ships, when they berth in the V&A Waterfront from 09 – 11 May 2008. These ships are in South Africa as part of the inaugural tri-nation IBSA (Indian, Brazil and South Africa) government initiative.

The fleet has just concluded a very successful series of exercises in Western Cape waters. Some of the exercises included surface gunnery shoots, anti-air warfare exercises, replenishment-at-sea (RAS) approaches, Officer-of-the-Watch maneouvering and boarding exercises (simulations of how to board vessels suspected of illegal activities). Although the recent spate of bad weather made the sea conditions less than pleasant, the professionalism of the sailors of all the ships was more than up to the task. The sailors are looking forward to some time off this weekend to explore Cape Town.

All the ships will be open to the public from 0900 – 1400 on Saturday and Sunday. The people of Cape Town are invited to go on board the vessels and to interact with the sailors of the three countries. There are no costs involved, but members of the public are kindly asked to refrain from carrying dangerous weapons when they visit the ships.

The Indian Navy’s INS MUMBAI (a destroyer) is a very large, impressive vessel and is nearly 160m long. Although the INS KARMUK (a corvette) is smaller, it is still armed to the teeth with 16 surface missiles and an armoury of other offensive weapons. Both the Brazilian ships, BNS INDEPENDENCIA and BNS DEFENSORA, are impressive ships that are about the same size as our own VALOUR CLASS frigates, SAS AMATOLA and SAS ISANDLWANA.

The fleet will be departing the V&A Waterfront on Monday 12 May and will then proceed to sea for a further series of more advanced exercises. During this phase the fleet will split in two, with an Indian, Brazilian and South Africa ship in each force. Then the two forces – red vs blue – will conduct a series of Battle Exercises during which they will simulate a war situation where the forces try to “kill” each other. This Battle Exercise will be a culmination of all the exercises that occurred this week and is a very good means of preparing sailors for war scenarios in peace time.

Source: SA Navy

Capetonians have until Friday to go on board one of the world's tallest and fastest sailing ships belonging to the Argentinean Navy.

Called the Ara Libertad, the vessel is currently in Cape Town until 2 May for a six-day goodwill visit as a guest of the City of Cape Town and the SA Navy.

"Libertad is Spanish for 'freedom' - and the visit of this magnificent vessel coincides with South Africa's Freedom Day celebrations," said Executive Mayor of Cape Town, Helen Zille, who will visit the vessel on 1 May.

Built in Rio Santiago in 1958, the Libertad was incorporated into the Argentinean navy as a training frigate in 1963.

It weighs 3 765 tons and measures almost 104 meters in length and 14.3 meters across the beam.

Her 27 sails span 2 700 meters squared of sail surface and her main mast is 52 meters tall.

The Libertad is the pride and joy of the Argentinean navy, said Captain Gustavo Díaz Durán, Military Attaché of the Embassy of the Argentine Republic.

"Since the Libertad maiden voyage in 1963, it has travelled over 800 000 nautical miles and visited 513 ports in 69 countries," said Captain Diaz Durán.

She established the world record for a trans-atlantic crossing between Canada and Ireland by sailing 2 059 nautical miles in 8.5 days, he said.

The commanding officer, Captain Juan José Iglesias, is a veteran of the Falklands War of 1982.

Under his command are 310 men and women including 26 officers, 90 midshipmen, 186 warrant and non-commissioned officers, and eight junior naval officers from Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, India, New Zealand, Paraguay, Peru and South Africa.

"This year, Sub-Lieutenant Thandeka Snail, 24, from the South African Navy will be the first black woman to participate in this world-renowned training course," said Captain Diaz Durán.

Cape Town is the first stop on the vessel's eight month around the world trip.

Libertad is currently berthed at Quay 2, V&A Waterfront, next to the Table Bay Hotel.

Members of the public will be able to visit the ship from 2pm to 6pm on 30 April, and again from 3pm to 5pm on 1 May.

As from 2 May, the frigate will continue on to another 16 ports before returning to Buenos Aires on 6 December.

The ports include Port Louis (Mauritius), Port Victoria (Seychelles), Mumbai (India), Malaca (Malaysia), Manila (Philippines), Shanghai (China), Pusan (South Korea), Tokyo (Japan), Apra Harbour (Guam), Noumea New Caledonia (France), Sydney (Australia), Wellington (New Zealand), Papeete (Tahiti) and the Isla de Pascua (Chile).

Source: BuaNews

The helicopter carrier Jeanne d'Arc (R97), accompanied by the anti-submarine warfare frigate Georges Leygues (D640) docked in Table Bay Harbour this morning.

The South African stopover is the sixth during the Training Squadrons six-month long Atlantic and Indian Ocean voyage. The main mission of the Jsquadron is to provide practical experience to cadets during their officer training course of four years.

The French Training Squadron for Naval Officers (Groupe École d'Application des Officiers de Marine, G.E.A.O.M.) took to the sea on 15 December 2007 from the port of Brest for its 43rd six-month mission. The Squadron has visited New York, Fort de France and Port of Spain in entral America, Salvation Islands off the coast of French Guiana, Rio and Luanda before arriving in Cape Town.

The Squadron will sail again on 19 March for the Comoros, Dar es Salaam, Mombasa, Djibouti, Suez, Instanbul, Barcelone and Casablanca before finally arriving back in Brest on 4 June 2008.

Georges Leygues (D640) - Image: Dean Wingrin

There are 124 cadets on board, amongst them 12 women, representing 16 nationalities including one South African: Sub-Lt Wilhelm Neuland. Neuland joined the Jeanne d'Arc in November 2007 and will remain with the ship until June.

Although no formal large-scale excersices are planned with the South African Navy (SAN), the Squadron is planned to conduct a one-day excersice with a SAN frigate.

The Jeanne d'Arc is commanded by Captain (N) Hervé Bléjean and the Georges Leygues by Commander Guillaume Chové.

The Jeanne d'Arc is 182m in length and has a top speed of 28 knots. There are two 100mm anti-air and anti-surface warfare guns on board, as well as six Exocet MM38 missiles. Also on board are two Alouette III (347 and 100)and two Army Gazelle (CWT and CXF) helicopters.

The Georges Leygues is a F70 type destroyer and was specifically designed for sea warfare. She joined the Training Squadron for Naval Officers in June 1999, and is presently deployed, alongside the Jeanne d'Arc to train cadet-officers. It has a length of 139m and carries L5 torpedoes, Simbad/Mistral missiles and Exocet MM38 missils on board. although capapble of carrying a Lynx, no helicopter is carried while conducting the training cruise.

Read more at: saairforce.co.za forum

Royal Navy RFA Lyme Bay (L3007) arrived in Table Bay Harbour during afternoon on 20 Feb.

Royal Navy RFA Lyme Bay (L3007) in Table Bay Harbour - Image: Dean Wingrin

A British warship, the HMS Southampton, is expected to arrive in Cape Town on Monday for a visit on the final part of an eight-month deployment from the United Kingdom.

British vice-consul general Raziyah Johnston said the air-defence destroyer has operated around the Pacific, South America and the South Atlantic as the UK's "on call" warship in the area.

The warship has been based in the Falkland Islands for the past four months.

"She has conducted exercises with forces from other nations, including Peru, Chile, the United States, France and Argentina, as well as training with other British forces in the region," said Johnston.

The ship, which entered service in 1981, caters for 25 officers and 250 sailors.

As the vessel prepared to arrive in Cape Town, commanding officer Richard Morris said he was very pleased to bring the ship on its first visit to South Africa.

"Our visit is a sign of the importance that the UK government places on both the South Atlantic region, and the relationship between our two nations," said Morris.

The ship will be in Cape Town until November 12.

Source: Mail & Guardian Online

The Ntini fishing vessel docked at Mossel Bay on Saturday, nearly a week after its crew reported sighting an iceberg south east of St Francis Bay, said the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI).

Spokesperson Craig Lambinon said that despite rumours to the contrary, no-one on board had taken photographs of the iceberg.

The Ntini's 20-member crew claimed they saw an iceberg on Monday night, 35 nautical miles south east of St Francis Bay.

It was estimated to be 20 metres wide and 25 metres high.

There were no other sightings.

Lambinon said reports that the skipper told officials he took pictures of the iceberg were based on a "rumour" he mentioned during an interview with Highveld radio. The media had reported the information as fact.

"No-one ever said he had ever taken pictures. There were no photographs taken," he said.

Read more at: Independent Online