Kearsarge ARG: completed a series of operations

Amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge and the USS Ponce departed Souda Bay, Crete. Assisted by 400 troops from Camp Lejeune’s 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, the unit undertook a series of operations to help to help evacuate Egyptians, who fled to the Tunisian border from Libya, and return them to their native country. The group is equipped with Harrier AV-8B jump-jet warplanes. Approximately 2,200 Marines and sailors with the 22nd MEU will depart mid-April for a variety of operations in support of U.S. Africa, European and Central Commands, the Marine Corps announced March 9.

Gelibolu: Turkish frigate ferries Egyptians to Alex.

Frigate "Gelibolu" is transferring 81 Egyptians who had already left Tripoli. "Gelibou" arrived in Alexandria February 7.
Former USS Reid (FFG-30), Oliver Hazard Perry class guided-missile frigate recommissioned by Turkey G class TCG Gelibolu (F 493). They can accommodate S-70B Seahawk helicopters. The G class (Turkish: Gabya sınıfı fırkateyn(ler)) is one of the frigate classes of the Turkish Navy. They are extensively modernized versions of ex-Oliver Hazard Perry class guided-missile frigates. The "short hull" ex-Perry class frigates that are currently being operated by the Turkish Navy were modified with the ASIST landing platform system at the Istanbul Naval Shipyard, so that they can accommodate the S-70B Seahawk helicopter.
TCG Gelibolu (F-493)
Class overview
Name: G class
Operators: Turkish Navy
Completed: 8
Active: 8
General characteristics
Type: Frigate
Displacement: 4,100 long tons (4,166 t) full load
Length: 135.6 m (444 ft 11 in)
Beam: 13.7 m (44 ft 11 in)
Draught: 6.7 m (22 ft 0 in)
Propulsion: 2 × GE LM 2500 gas turbines, 41,000 hp (31 MW)
1 propeller and 2 × bow thrusters
Speed: 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range: 5,000 nmi (9,300 km) at 18 kn (33 km/h)
Complement: 222 (19 officers, 203 men)
Armament: • 1 × Oto Melara 76mm DP gun
• 8 × Harpoon SSM
• 32 × SM-1 MR SAM
• 32 × ESSM launched from Mk-41 VLS (4 ESSM missiles per MK-41 cell through the use of MK25 Quadpack canisters, total of 8 cells)[1]
Aircraft carried: 1 × S-70B Seahawk or AB-212 (ASW/ASuW/EW)

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Al-Nasser: Egyptian frigate in Tunisian port

Egyptian naval frigate El Nasser (F956) leaves the Tunisian port of Zarzis carrying 383 Egyptian refugees who fled Libya

In the 1950s, the Soviets provided China with four Riga-class frigates by kits. Designed in 1962 and generally based on the Riga frame, the hull form was changed from flush deck to long forecastle to accommodate the very big and heavy medium-speed diesel engine.
a guided missile frigate based on an a little scaled down 053K's hull, which became the Type 053H (Jianghu-I class) frigate (the 'H' here means 'Hai' (anti-ship))


The French helicopter carrier Mistral left the southern port of Toulon Saturday bound for southern Tunisia from where it will help evacuate Egyptian refugees from Libya.

Accompanied by a frigate it is due to repatriate Egyptians from the Tunisian port of Sarzis. The ship is due to arrive March 7 and reach the Egyptian port of Alexandria after three days at sea.

956 Al-Nasser (053H1): ex-PLAN #546

M. Star: genie is out of the bottle?

Spencer Ackerman as attackerman at firedoglake

The attack on the M Star was poorly executed, without powerful or sophisticated enough explosive to breech the hull or even sink the ship. But I wonder if now this genie is out of the bottle. With better funding and an experienced bomb-maker, as they used against the USS Cole in 2000 and the Limburg in 2002, the outcome might have been much more serious – a massive spill, or even a sunken supertanker in the Strait. Shipping is a very soft target, impossible to defend, and the western economy is very sensitive to increases in the price of crude oil. The Persian Gulf, especially the Strait of Hormuz is a natural choke point, through which something on the order of a quarter of the world’s crude oil is shipped. If last week’s attack had caused a major spill or actually sunk the M Star, the price of oil would have to go up as shipping out of the Gulf would be slowed, reduced and insurance costs would skyrocket. An extended campaign that could have the effect of driving up the cost of oil at a time when the US and Europe are struggling with fragile, damaged economies would be disastrous, even if operationally it met with little success.

Arctic Sea: at Damietta

EMethanex [Vancouver, Canada] is currently developing a 1.3 million tonne per year methanol facility at Damietta on the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt that, once operational, will be among the most competitive methanol plants in the world. Commercial operations from the facility are set to begin in 2010. This first-class production hub, which will supply primarily European methanol markets, will integrate seamlessly into Methanex’s global methanol supply chain. The EMethanex facility has the potential for future expansion and increased capacity to meet increased methanol demand.

USD 75K ransom offered for Blue Star by owner

Egyptian government has denied reports that it had negotiated with the Somali pirates who kidnapped the BLUE STAR Basseterre, St.Kitts-Nevis (SKN-flag).
An Egyptian man being held hostage on a pirated ship off the coast of Somalia for nearly two weeks has accused the pirates of mistreating their captives and appealed for help. Ibrahim Etman, one of 28 Egyptian crew aboard the cargo ship Blue Star when it was seized by pirates on January 1, had phoned his daughter to ask for help.
Mona Ibrahim Etman told the daily the pirates began mistreating the hostages when the ship's owners refused to pay a 75,000-dollar ransom, ceased negotiating, and stopped answering the pirates' phone calls.

A spokesman for New Marine, the Alexandria-based company that owns the ship, however denied the report. New Marine Shipping, 68 Horreya Avenue Alexandria 11471 Egypt

pirates take Blue Star, St. Kitts and Nevis-flag

MV BLUE STAR is flying the flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis. The 28 crew were all Egyptian. It was heading east from Mandab Strait, which connects the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, but then it went towards the Somalian Coast. About 15 pirates, some of them heavily-armed, It was currently en route to an unknown destination on the coast of Somalia.

7706770 BLUE STAR
call sign V4DT
General Cargo Ship
7923 1977
Saint Kitts-Nevis