HDMS Absalon, one of the largest ships in the history of the Royal Danish Navy, is a flexible support ship. She can be configured to provide command-and-control or combat support, or to serve as a supply platform or hospital ship. Commissioned in 2005, she has served NATO in its efforts to reduce piracy threats along the Horn of Africa.

The principal role of RFA Argus is to serve as a primary casualty receiving facility (PCRS). She was built as a roll-on, roll-off container ship and converted for use in the Royal Navy in 1984. She has a fully equipped 100-bed hospital onboard offering full services. She does not comply with the Geneva Convention’s definition of a “hospital ship” as she is fitted with self-defense guns and decoys and may have operational units embarked. Therefore, she does not display the International Red Cross symbol. Her secondary role is to provide specialist aviation training facilities. 12 Harrier jump jets can operate off of her deck. RFA Argus has a flexible design which enables her to fulfill additional roles. As a logistic ship, she can be adapted to transport large amounts of equipment quickly. She served in the Falklands War and as a primary casualty recovery ship during the First Persian Gulf War.

The NE Brasil is a training ship for the Brazilian Naval School (Escola Naval), the Brazilian equivalent of the US Naval Academy.

The USS Donald Cook is the 25th ship in the Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class of guided missile destroyers and the first ship in the Navy named after US Marine Corps Colonel Donald Cook, a Vietnam War prisoner of war who died in captivity. She was one of the first US warships to come to the aid of the USS Cole after it was damaged by suicide bombers in October 2000. In 2003, the ship fired Tomahawk missiles during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

HDMS Esbern Snare, one of the largest ships in the history of the Royal Danish Navy, is a flexible support ship. She can be configured to provide command-and-control or combat support, or to serve as a supply platform or hospital ship. Commissioned in 2005, she has served NATO in its efforts to reduce piracy threats along the Horn of Africa.

The USS Fort McHenry is the third Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship. She was named for Fort McHenry, in Baltimore, Maryland, the 1814 defense of which inspired “The Star-Spangled Banner.” She was deployed to the Persian Gulf area during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. She spent nearly three months at sea in support of Combined Support Force Five Three Six (CTF-536), providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to the victims of the December 26, 2004, tsunami in southeast Asia. In 2010, she supported Operation Unified Response off the coast of Haiti to provide humanitarian assistance following the devastating earthquake on January 12, 2012.

HMCS Goose Bay is a Kingston-class coastal defense vessel, commissioned in 1998 and home ported with Canada’s Atlantic fleet in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In August 2010, HMCS Goose Bay participated in Operation Nanook 2010, an exercise to train for disaster and sovereignty patrols in the Canadian Arctic.

FGS Hessen is Germany’s newest Sachsen-class air defense frigate, commissioned in April 2006. She carries the latest in radar and missile defense and has two NH90 helicopters that can operate from her small flight deck.

ARM Huasteco, built in Mexico in 1986, can be used as a hospital and disaster relief ship. She transports cargo and troops and acts as part of the medical Navy brigade, an “at-sea” hospital with an operating room and helicopter deck. She assisted with humanitarian relief in Haiti after the devastating earthquake in 2010.

HMCS Iroquois, commissioned in 1972, is the first of the modern Tribal-class destroyers. Fitted with state-of-the-art weapons, sensors, command-and-control systems, and propulsion equipment, she is capable of carrying out a variety of tasks, aimed at protecting Canadian interests in the oceans adjacent to the coastline, and beyond. She returned to Canada in October 2011 after six months of maritime security operations in the Arabian Sea.

Kojima is a training ship for the Japanese Coast Guard Academy. Each year, she takes several dozen graduates on a training cruise around the world to equip the cadets with necessary navigational skills and experience in safety and rescue, to cultivate their adaptability to a life at sea, to train them mentally for life on board ship, and to foster in them an open-minded outlook on the world.

HMCS Moncton is a Kingston-class coastal defense vessel, commissioned in 1998 and home ported with Canada’s Atlantic fleet in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is designed to be a multi-purpose and cost-efficient vessel to serve Canadian maritime interests in coastal defense and patrol and mine warfare.

The USS Monsoon is the fourth Cyclone-class coastal patrol ship. She was commissioned January 22, 1994, by the US Navy. She was decommissioned October 1, 2004, and loaned to the United States Coast Guard as USCGC Monsoon. During her time as a coast guard cutter, Monsoon helped with the arrest of Mexican drug kingpin Francisco Javier Arellano Félix while he was deep-sea fishing off the Baja Peninsula. She towed his fishing boat and him back to San Diego from international waters. She was returned to the US Navy on August 22, 2008.

The USS San Antonio is the first amphibious transport dock of the 12-ship San Antonio-class. She is used to transport and land Marines, their equipment and supplies by embarked air cushion or conventional landing craft or Expeditionary Fighting Vehicles, augmented by helicopters or vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. She will support amphibious assault, special ops or expeditionary warfare missions through the first half of the 21st century.

The USS Shamal is the 13th Cyclone-class patrol coastal boat. From November 2001 on, the Cyclone-class ships were temporarily operated under US Coast Guard control for homeland defense. On December 6, 2004, the Shamal was decommissioned and officially transferred to the US Coast Guard where she was recommissioned as USCGC Shamal. She was returned to the US Navy on September 30, 2011.

JS Shirane is one of two ships that play the flagship role in Japan’s escort flotillas. The Shirane class destroyers are a class of Japanese destroyer originally built during the late 1970s and still in active service. They are built around a large central hangar which houses up to three helicopters.

Like all other ships in her class, HNoMS Thor Heyerdahl is named after a famous Norwegian adventurer and explorer. Thor Heyerdahl’s adventurous spirit caught the fancy of his Norwegian countrymen and the rest of the world with his voyage aboard the Kon-Tiki in 1947. Today, Norway is just as proud of Heyerdahl’s namesake. This class of frigates forms the backbone of the Norwegian Navy and is extensively equipped for anti-submarine and air defense duties.

HMCS Ville de Quebec serves on missions protecting Canada’s sovereignty in the Atlantic Ocean and enforcing Canadian laws in its territorial sea and Exclusive Economic Zone. She was deployed to the Gulf of Mexico in 2005 to help the U.S. with disaster relief operations following Hurricane Katrina and supported World Food Program efforts in Somalia in 2008.

The U.S. Naval Academy utilizes Yard Patrol (YP) craft to provide Midshipmen with hands-on training in seamanship, navigation, naval tactics, communications and standard procedures. They are used throughout the year in several Naval Science courses and during mandatory summer cruises.

The USS Zephyr is the eighth ship of 13 in the Cyclone-class. All ships in this class are named after weather elements. Zephyr is the first Navy vessel to bear the name. While on loan to the US Coast Guard, she was the first cutter deployed to respond to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig fire off of the Louisiana coast in April 2011. She was returned to US Navy custody on September 30, 2011.