I am always interested in unusual looking ships and a friend of mine, who like me, is also a fan of Madeira as a holiday destination sent me a photograph of French ship Monge taken at Funchal in early July.
She looks highly unusual and on following it up, I discovered she is, indeed, a very specialised vessel – 'A Missile Range Instrumentation Ship'. Launched in October 1990, she was commissioned into the French Navy in November 1992.
Her main role is said to be to track and test SLBMS (Ballistic Missiles) during their test programmes. She is also used to track anything in the air or space as an intelligence collection vessel. She is painted white instead of the usual gray to minimise the deformation of the shell under the heat of the sun – as very precise settings are necessary for her onboard radars and other highly technical equipment carried.
It is thought that FS Monge A601 is one of the few, if not the only ship of her type in the world. She does, indeed, look like something out of science fiction!
More warehousing to meet the growing demand for agriculture-related cargo is being built at Newport by the port’s owners Associated
The testing of a cyber security system for the classification society Lloyd’s Register has been successfully completed by the Israel-based
Two new ship-to-shore gantry cranes worth £10.5mn are due to come into operation this month at the Hull Container Terminal,
A new Port Futures project to examine emerging threats and opportunities for British ports has been unveiled by the British
The Dutch inland barge operator Port-Liner is working on Europe’s first electrically-powered inland container ship with the Dutch electrical firm
The US Coast Guard’s only operational heavy icebreaker, the Polar Star, arrived at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, after completing her mission
In February, the US Department of the Navy submitted its long-range ship acquisition plan to Congress as part of the
Five crew were injured when the container ship MOL Prestige, 71,902gt, suffered an engine room fire more than 200 miles
The US Navy destroyer Fitzgerald, which lost seven of her crew and was seriously damaged in a collision off Yokosuka,
The US Coast Guard unloaded more than 47,000lbs of cocaine worth more than $721mn from the cutter Stratton at San
The Evergreen Marine Corp of Taiwan, has ordered eight 11,000 teu container ships from the South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy
The trial transshipment of coal between two bulk carriers was carried out in the Andaman Islands in the Bay of
The cruise ship Carnival Legend, 85,942gt, of Carnival Cruise Line Australia, had to put into the port of Eden on
The first container ship to have an energy management system that has been cyber-certified by the classification society Lloyd’s Register
The TT-Line has ordered two new ferries for its Bass Strait service between Melbourne and Devonport on Tasmania’s north coast.
US News In a significant move in March, the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson made an historic port
Russian News By 2027 the Russian Federation Navy is expected to have acquired a total of ten Alexandrit class minesweepers
Danish News On 11 December, in a ceremony held at Naval Station Korsør, the Royal Danish Navy commissioned the third
UK News Once again, the Royal Navy was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons in the closing months
Canadian News The Royal Canadian Navy’s long wait for a new replenishment oiler for the fleet is nearly at an
The issue of ferry operation, subsequent to the UK leaving the EU, will rather, regretfully, but unavoidably, continue to feature
Ever since the 1950s when I was aware of the Soviet merchant marine’s Baltic SS Co vessels which linked Leningrad
Viv Llewellyn’s image of the IOM Steam Packet’s chartered Arrow at Poole indicates how advantageous her long term charter to
A sign of worse to come? The 25th of January this year, saw French fishermen blockading the Port of Calais
In the English Lake District, on several of the Lakes, there are lake operations all year round.
The Scandinavian connection this month, continues with the welcome reappearance of the magnificently versatile Severn Sea 147gt of Bideford seen
I followed up the casualty Fame which featured in my last Coastal Commentary.
The Hollow Shore yard had been bought by the Testers who totally rebuilt several smacks including Primrose, Lily May, Ethel
The 75ft stumpie barge Nellie can be sailed single-handed by her owner Prof Diana Montgomery, because she doesn’t have a
Meanwhile, as the oil price is showing signs of recovery and the future of other oil and gas fi elds
"Quilliam Today" is is this year's title for the Spring Quilliam Lecture on Thursday 5th April in Arbory Church.
Recently, a friend visiting Australia sent me a few photographs of Circular Quay in Sydney.
The annual UK Chamber of Shipping Dinner is very much an occasion when ‘the great and good’ of the shipping
As a result of a contact made thorough the Steam Boat Association of Great Britain in 2017, artist Mick Dean
QM2 vs the Super Yachts race results between the St Nazaire Bridge and the Verrazano Bridge in New York
Notwithstanding a number of attempts to emulate “The World” by other operators, any past thoughts of competing with the only
For those readers of this magazine who have a specific interest in ocean liners, and who live in greater London,
The world of superyachts lost a great designer when Ed Dubois died in 2016.
For those who find reading about yachts is not enough, and seek a slice of the action, here is news
