In view of the war in Ukraine, NATO's Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM, Northwood, UK) has this year combined the NATO manoeuvre "Dynamic Mariner" with the Turkish Navy's manoeuvre "Mavi Balina 22" to form a major multinational manoeuvre taking place in the eastern Mediterranean from 11 to 18 September.
Manoeuvre participation
The aim of the manoeuvre is to prevent possible aggression by demonstrating credible defence within the alliance. The NATO nations of the USA, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain and Turkey took part in the manoeuvre with over fifty ships, five submarines and five maritime reconnaissance vessels, 1,500 marines and the two standing NATO task forces SNMG2 and SNMCMG2. These abbreviations stand for the Standing NATO Maritime Group and Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group, each of which is deployed twice by sharing the alliance's extensive sea area.
Non-participating opponents
On the other side, thirteen Russian naval units are still operating in the eastern Mediterranean - after a cruiser and a destroyer left the area for home ports/northern fleet at the beginning of September. These include two "Kilo" class submarines, the Slava class cruiser "Varyag", at least one Udaloy class destroyer, the frigate "Admiral Kasatonov" of the Gorshkov class as well as a considerable logistical force - all units that are not part of the Black Sea Fleet, but were assembled early on from the other fleets in the vicinity of the war zone that Russia had been preparing for a long time and were present in the Mediterranean for the entire duration of the war in Ukraine.
Exercise catalogue
The NATO manoeuvre covers all major naval warfare operations: air defence (AAW), anti-submarine warfare (ASW), surface combat (ASuW), mine warfare (MCM), amphibious operations and force protection. The photo shows the NATO units at the Turkish naval base in Aksaz on the southern Aegean.
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