Category: Security policy

TCG Kemalreis leaves SNMG 2

After around two and a half months, the Turkish frigate Kemalreis has left Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG 2). According to NATO information, only the Spanish destroyer Méndez Núñez is now part of this group. SNMG 2 is commanded by Spanish Flotilla Admiral Manuel Aguirre Aldereguía. The Kemalreis is no stranger to German eyes: Although she was built by Gölcük Naval Shipyard in the late 1990s, the Meko-200 design comes from Blohm+Voss. Two of the Turkish ships were also built there. The Kemalreis was the last of four Barbaros-class ships to be commissioned by the Turkish Navy in June 2000. With a length of...

Weiterlesen

Start for the Carrier Strike Group

Let's go! The first ship of the British Carrier Strike Group left the port of Portsmouth on the morning of 1 May. HMS Diamond, a Type 45 destroyer, left her home port to take part in the Strike Warrior manoeuvre off the coast of Scotland over the next two weeks. A short time later, it was "Cast off and in" for HMS Richmond in Devonport harbour. The Queen herself then set off at 16:45. She was joined by HMS Defender, another Type 45 destroyer, and HMS Kent, a Type 23 frigate. To ensure that all manoeuvres were carried out safely...

Weiterlesen

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 Crocus, the Estonian Ugandi, the Dutch Zierikzee, the British Pembroke and the German Navy's Sulzbach-Rosenberg....

Weiterlesen

France takes over SNMCMG 2

For the first time, France has taken command of one of NATO's four standing maritime task forces. During a partly virtual ceremony, the Deputy Commander of NATO Maritime Command, Vice Admiral Didier Piaton, handed over command of the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 2 (SNMCMG 2) to Commander Gregory Guiran. In future, he will lead the boats under his command from on board the French flagship Somme. "Recent actions and exercises under the leadership of outgoing commander Yusuf Karagulle have shown that NATO is fully operational in mine countermeasures, soldiering and cohesion in the face of an ever-increasing threat," said Guiran, praising his predecessor....

Weiterlesen

Success for FS Ventôse

On 16 April, the crew of the FS Ventôse found around 210 kilograms of cocaine on a sailing boat off Martinique. In an operation lasting several hours, the well-hidden drugs, which were sealed in 17 packages, were seized on a suspicious sailing boat and handed over to the Office for the Fight against Drugs (OFAST). Two suspects were arrested. The frigate Ventôse belongs to the Forces Armée aux Antilles (FAA) and is permanently stationed in the Caribbean. Text: mb; Photo: Navy...

Weiterlesen
en_GBEnglish