Throughout late July 2007, the U.S. A Navy and British Royal Navy took part in Joint Task Force Exercise 07-2, also known as Operation Bold Step. The exercise took place off the southern U.S coast and offered the two nations a number of opportunities to demonstrate and test military interoperability. Naval forces involved in the exercise included assets from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) Carrier Strike Group, USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) Carrier Strike Group, and the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, known affectionately as "Lusty." During the exercise, the British carrier operated 14 U.S. AV-8B Harriers alongside Royal Navy Sea King helicopters. A number of international "firsts" occurred during and immediately prior to the exercise when, as pictured here, Illustrious became the first foreign ship to embark a U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. The British carrier marked another first when Sergeant Major Courtney Kyle Curtis became the first U.S. Marine in history to reenlist on board a foreign warship. An audience of hundreds of U.S. Marines and British officers witnessed the historic event.
On 5 July 2007 the first ship to be built at Portsmouth Naval Base in almost 40 years, the Royal Navy's new Falkland Islands patrol ship HMS Clyde, was commissioned. The ship, a modified and lengthened variant of the River class, was built by VT Shipbuilding. Although chartered by the Ministry of Defence for five years, the ship will remain owned by VT Group, at least through the terms of the current charter, after which the British government can extend the contract or purchase the vessel outright. The 81.5-meter patrol ship Clyde differs most notably from her slightly older River-class sisters by being fitted with an aft helicopter deck, capable of handling aircraft as large as a Merlin helicopter. Carrying a crew of 36 and fitted with a 30-mm gun as primary armament, the patrol ship set sail in August for her first Falklands deployment.
Portugal's last two remaining Commandant Riviere-class frigates, Contondante João Belo and Comandante Sacadura Cabral, pictured here, were retired from service this past spring and have been sold to Uruguay. The two ships are expected to enter Uruguayan service by December 2007. Initially entering service in the late 1960s, four of the French Commandant Riviere-class previously served with the Portuguese fleet, although two had earlier been decommissioned. The transferred frigates will be replaced in Portuguese service by the retired Dutch Karel Doorman-class frigates Van Nes and Van Galen, expected from the Netherlands between 2008 and 2009. Uruguay's plans call for their newly acquired frigates to replace two older sisters of the same type that were commissioned in the early 1960s and transferred to Uruguay from France during the early 1990s.