US Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said the country needs more blue-collar workers to meet navy shipbuilding needs at yards like Newport News Shipbuilding, shown here. (Janes/Michael Fabey)

To address the shortage of workers needed to build the number of ships needed to meet US Navy (USN) fleet plans, the country should seek to bring in more legal immigrants from foreign shores, according to US Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro.

MdCN is launched from the FREMM frigate Aquitaine on 18 April. (French Navy)

The French Navy has successfully conducted its first simultaneous test launch of the Missile de Croisière Navale (MdCN)naval cruise missile from a frigate and a submarine.

The test-firing was carried out by the service's lead multimission (FREMM) frigate Aquitaine, positioned off the coast of Brittany, and one of its Suffren (Barracuda)-class nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs), located off the coast of Biscarrosse, on 18 April, the Ministry of Armed Forces of France confirmed the same day.

Singapore's fourth Type 218SG submarine, seen here before its launch ceremony on 22 April 2024. (Singapore Ministry of Defence)

German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) has launched the last of four Invincible-class (Type 218SG) air-independent propulsion (AIP)-equipped diesel-electric submarines (SSKs) on order for the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN).

The vessel, which will be known in service as RSS Inimitable once commissioned, was launched on 22 April at TKMS' facilities in Kiel, Germany, the Singapore Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) announced in a statement on the same day.