Home  /  Media Centre  /  News  /  2020  /  NATO carries out historical ordnance disposal in Latvia

RIGA BAY, Latvia – Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 (SNMCMG1) has completed a short Historical Ordnance Disposal Operation (HODOPS) in the Latvian territorial waters of the Baltic Sea between 4-6 November 2020.

An area of 8.6 square nautical miles was surveyed and two historical ordnance (sea mines) were disposed of. All the historical ordnance disposal activities were executed in close coordination with the Latvian Navy.

The main objective of the operation was to find and neutralize historic ordnance remaining from the First and Second World Wars in order to improve maritime safety for all maritime actors in the area.

Led by Commander Audrius Venckūnas of the Lithuanian Navy, SNMCMG1 consists of the flagship LNS Jotvingis (Lithuania) and mine countermeasures vessels from five countries: ENS Admiral Cowan (Estonia), BNS Crocus (Belgium), FGS Sulzbach-Rosenberg (Germany), LVNS Imanta (Latvia), HNLMS Schiedam (The Netherlands).

SNMCMG1 is one of four standing forces that comprise the maritime component of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), which is part of the NATO Response Force (NRF). To respond to contingency situations additional forces can be added to these groups, with the NATO command staff onboard and the ships of the group as the nucleus, capable of providing timely support to NATO operations.