– Associated Press – Britain’s navy arrested seven suspected pirates after a helicopter-led chase in the Indian Ocean.

– Daily Telegraph – Defence cuts have left the stretched Royal Navy unable to provide an emergency standby ship to protect British waters for a month.

– Guardian – New defence secretary confirms that he will pursue renewal of nuclear deterrent that could cost up to £25bn

– Guardian – Suspected ‘mother ship’ believed to have been involved in the hijacking of an Italian cargo ship earlier this month.

– Defense Technology International – France’s procurement chief does not consider the idea that the UK may eventually opt for the Rafale for its new aircraft carriers completely ridiculous.

– Daily Telegraph – One of the Royal Navy’s most senior officers has expressed serious concerns over the loss of skilled aircraft carrier crew following redundancies.

– Defense Technology International – The UK’s new Type 26 could prove to be a radical change for Royal Navy sailors — particularly in the way that they sleep.

– BBC – The National Audit Office has expressed deep concern about changes to the Royal Navy’s two new aircraft carriers made in the 2010 defence review.

– Daily Mail – Royal Navy top-gun pilots are being forced to learn French so that they can fly from France’s flagship aircraft carrier.

– Daily Telegraph – The head of the Naval task force in the Falklands War has warned that defence cuts mean Britain can now do “precisely nothing” to prevent Argentina retaking the islands.

– Daily Telegraph – The British military intervention in Libya is unsustainable, the head of the Navy has said.

– Aviation Week – Warship design in much of the world may be entering a new era, with requirements driven less by peer-on-peer sea battles and more by lessons of the past decade, combined with economic constraints.

– Defense Technology International – HMS Illustrious, known in the Royal Navy as Lusty, will be returning to sea on June 3 after 16 months of a €45 million modernization of her electronics, data processing systems and living quarters at the Scottish shipyard Babcock.

– BBC – Britain and France are sending attack helicopters to Libya. Britain is sending AH-64 Apaches that will operate off of HMS Ocean; France is sending Tigres and Gazelles to operate off of Tonnerre.

– BBC – The UK’s military operation in Iraq is to end within hours when the Royal Navy stops training Iraqi sailors.

– Defense Technology International – The U.K. has for the first time fired a Hellfire from a ship-based WAH-64 Apache attack helicopter as it revives the concept of operating the system from ships after several years during which the mission lay dormant as the helicopters were heavily tasked performing land-based operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

– BBC – In a shipyard in Scotland the future of the Royal Navy is slowly taking shape. But the construction of the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is a mammoth task.

– Guardian – HMS Vengeance had temporary ‘defect in propulsion’, a mechanical failure possibly due to ingesting sea debris.

– Daily Telegraph – The Royal Navy could run out of Tomahawk missiles after a fifth of the Navy stockpile has been used against Libya.

– Associated Press – The frigate HMS Cumberland is being deployed off the Libyan coast in the event that it could be needed for a sea-borne evacuation of British citizens living there

– Defense Technology International – With HMS Ark Royal being put out to pasture, the U.K. names the HMS Albion its new flagship.

– Guardian – The Foreign Office stands accused of misleading the public over the plight of thousands of islanders who were expelled from their Indian Ocean homeland to make way for a large US military base.

– The Guardian – Royal Navy flagship back in Portsmouth for decommissioning after defence spending review.

– Defense Technology International – The Harrier GR.9s will depart a British aircraft carrier for the last time on Wednesday.

– Royal Navy – British warship sails into Havana Bay on official visit – The first British warship to visit Cuba since before the 1959 revolution sailed into Havana Bay on Monday, where it was greeted by a Cuban Navy band playing “God Save the Queen.”