Four allied warships leave Florida for 66th UNITAS exercise

Four allied warships departed Naval Station Mayport in Florida on 18 September 2025 to take part in UNITAS 2025, the 66th iteration of the multinational maritime exercise. This report is independently written from factual information published by the U.S. Department of Defense through DVIDS and does not copy or closely paraphrase the source wording. [2](https://www.dvidshub.net/video/978024/unitas-2025-partnered-and-allied-ships-depart-naval-station-mayport)

The departing group brought together ships representing Canada, Spain, Brazil and Argentina. HMCS Charlottetown represented the Royal Canadian Navy. Spain was represented by SPS Galicia, while the Brazilian frigate Independência and Argentine destroyer La Argentina completed the four-ship departure described in the official account.

The movement from Mayport marked the start of the ships’ participation in the 2025 exercise. The source identifies UNITAS as the 66th edition of a long-running maritime event and presents the departure as part of a programme intended to connect partner and allied navies.

A multinational departure

The ships’ different national affiliations were central to the account. Rather than describing a single-navy deployment, the published information records a group assembled from four countries and four naval identities. HMCS Charlottetown, SPS Galicia, Independência and La Argentina therefore provide the factual outline for an exercise built around cooperation at sea. [2](https://www.dvidshub.net/video/978024/unitas-2025-partnered-and-allied-ships-depart-naval-station-mayport)

The stated focus was interoperability, regional partnerships and relationships involving U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command and the U.S. Fourth Fleet. Interoperability is used here only in the sense supplied by the source: it is one of the exercise’s declared areas of focus. The account does not give a detailed schedule, identify every event after departure or report an operational result, so this article does not extend beyond those points.

The departure also provides a useful snapshot of how a maritime exercise can be presented through its participating ships. A Canadian vessel sailed alongside a Spanish ship, a Brazilian frigate and an Argentine destroyer. Their presence gave the opening movement a distinctly multinational character before any later training activity is considered.

The official material further connected the 2025 edition with events marking the U.S. Navy’s 250th birthday. That reference situates UNITAS 2025 within a wider year of commemorative activity for the US service, while the exercise itself remained focused on partnerships and naval relationships in the source’s description.

A bounded archive record

The facts in this draft are limited to the DVIDS candidate supplied in the official maritime desk packet. The page was posted on 23 September 2025 and records the ships leaving Naval Station Mayport on 18 September. It does not provide additional claims about the vessels’ specifications, crews, routes after departure or the outcome of the exercise.

The source also contains video material, but official publication does not by itself establish unrestricted image or footage rights. The Gazette is not using an image in this draft and records the image-rights status as none.

UNITAS 2025 thus opened with four named allied ships sailing from Florida: HMCS Charlottetown, SPS Galicia, Independência and La Argentina. On the evidence published by DVIDS, the departure represented the beginning of the 66th UNITAS exercise and a visible expression of its declared emphasis on interoperability, regional partnerships and relationships with U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command and the Fourth Fleet.

Reporting note This Maritime Gazette report is independently written from cited factual information published by U.S. Department of Defense / DVIDS.

Reported by Luke Smout.