120 successes

The minesweepers were active in the eastern Baltic Sea for a fortnight and the Open Spirit 2021 exercise ended yesterday. With great success, as more than 120 mines and other ammunition remnants were detected and rendered harmless. A total of 21 boats from eleven nations took part in the exercise to remove contaminated sites from the First and Second World Wars. The boats of the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 (SNMCMG 1) were also involved. Under the command of Dutch frigate captain Jan Wijchers on the Belgian Godetia were the Belgian Crocusthe Estonian Ugandithe Dutch Zierikzeethe British Pembroke and the Sulzbach-Rosenberg of the German Navy.
Around 80,000 sea mines were laid in the Baltic Sea during the two world wars. A not inconsiderable number of these have still not been localised or cleared to this day. There are also a large number of other explosive and hazardous substances from this period at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The ravages of time are gnawing away at the coating, jeopardising not only shipping but also the environment in this sensitive inland sea. This is why the clearance of explosives from the world wars is becoming increasingly important.

Text: mb; Photo: Royal Navy/Crown Copyright