BAE Systems has been chosen as the preferred prime contractor in the £3 billion programme to build two new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy – but the ships will be based on a design by former bidding rivals Thales UK, who are to be a major partner in the project.

Further notices are to be issued to reservists for possible operations against Iraq, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has announced.

BAE Systems has been chosen as the preferred prime contractor in the £2.7 billion programme to build two new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy - but the ships will be based on a design by former bidding rivals Thales UK.

The Armed Forces Golden Jubilee gift to the Queen has been officially presented at Sandringham.

Rapidly-deployable and flexible maritime forces are at the heart of NATO planning – and the UK is at the forefront of this new configuration.

Vice Admiral James Burnell-Nugent has taken over the reins as Second Sea Lord at a ceremony on board HMS Victory.

Royal Navy veterans in South Africa rolled out the red carpet for a British auxiliary when it paid a visit to the port of Durban.

Firefighters started a 48-hour stoppage at 9am today, pitching Armed Forces firefighters back into the front line.

Protesters at the military port of Marchwood have moved their ship back down Southampton Water after it grounded on an ebb tide last night.

Royal Navy ice patrol ship HMS Endurance has been stood down from a rescue in the sea off Antarctica.

For the man who flew the torpedo bomber that crippled the German battleship Bismarck in World War II, an advertisement in an aviation magazine that caught his eye seemed like destiny.

Royal Navy icebreaker HMS Endurance has left Rothera Island in the Antarctic and will continue with her planned programme following her grounding at the weekend.

Mine countermeasures vessels HMS Ledbury and HMS Grimsby have left Portsmouth, the last of the ships to sail for exercises in the eastern Mediterranean as part of the expanded Naval Task Group 2003.

Devonport has said farewell to its senior Hydrographer with the retirement of Capt Mike Barritt after 34 years service.

A wreath has been laid over the wreck of the third Ark Royal by one of the old carrier’s successors.

The Queen will present a new Colour to the Royal Navy at a Fleet Assembly off Plymouth on July 23.

Royal Navy firefighters were on emergency duty once more as the first of a series of three planned national firefighters’ strikes started this morning at 9am.

Much of the attention of the media has been directed towards the ships of the expanded Naval Task Group 2003 as they have left their home ports and headed south for amphibious exercises in the Mediterranean.

Royal Navy ice patrol ship HMS Endurance has struck an uncharted rock in Antarctica, holing her bilge keel.

Nuclear submarine HMS Turbulent had a chance to plumb the depths on her most recent deployment east of Suez.

A man thought to have been the last surviving fighter pilot of World War I lived into the centenary year of powered flight.

Both carriers have now left the UK to join the growing flotilla of warships and auxiliaries heading for a rendezvous in the Mediterranean.

Further elements of the newly-strengthened Royal Navy task group have sailed from British ports for training in the Mediterranean.

Former Royal Navy Type 22 frigates HMS Coventry and HMS London are to be sold to Romania following the signing of a £116 million sale agreement in Bucharest yesterday.

A public concert by the Royal Marines Band in Portsmouth has been cancelled as band members are committed to Operation Fresco, providing military emergency cover during the firefighters’ dispute.

Type 22 frigate HMS Chatham sailed from Devonport yesterday to relieve her sister ship on Operation Oracle, the international campaign against terrorism.

The first ships of Naval Task Group 2003 (NTG 03) are heading out of port en route to the Mediterranean – ready for anything that might be asked of them.

More Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships are to deploy this month as the pressure on Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein increases.

More Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships are to deploy this month as the pressure on Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein increases.

Nuclear-driven warships are something of a conundrum. On the one hand, awesome natural powers are being tamed, requiring sound technologies and constant vigilance.

Patrol ship HMS Dumbarton Castle has been proving a tower of strength in her role as command platform for a NATO minehunter squadron.

The Sea Harriers of 801 Naval Air Squadron have been going through their paces in the United States.

More than 300,000 visitors were welcomed on board the former Royal Yacht Britannia during 2002, making it the second busiest year since the ship opened to the public in 1998.

NAAFI has announced a profit of half a million pounds for the last full financial year.

Two senior sailors in the Royal Navy have been hailed for their work to increase the appeal of the Senior Service to ethnic minority communities.