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Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group One Completes Joint Warrior 17-2

ATLANTIC OCEAN – Over the last two weeks the ships of SNMCMG1, their crews and the command staff participated in intense training during the United Kingdom’s exercise Joint Warrior which took place in British waters North-West of Scotland.

The exercise provided an opportunity for all personnel to refresh and train on a wide range of naval warfare skills ensuring increased readiness for the individual ships as well as for the NATO group. SNMCMG1 lead the Mine Countermeasures Task Group as a part of the NATO Task Force which was involved in this exercise.

This was the second large scale exercise for SNMCMG1 this deployment. The first took place in Baltic Sea in Swedish and Danish waters. Belfast will be the second visit to the United Kingdom for SNMCMG1 this year and allow sailors rest and resupply the ships. After this port visit group will proceed towards French coast of English Channel.

SNMCMG1 is currently composed of the NATO group flagship, Latvian coastal minelayer and command ship LVNS Virsaitis, Estonian minehunter ENS Sakala, German minehunter FGS Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Norwegian minesweeper HNoMS Rauma, Belgian minehunter BNS Primula and Dutch minehunter HNLMS Makkum. SNMCMG1 is under the leadership of Commander Gvido Laudups of the Latvian Navy.