The Bulgarian-hosted international maritime exercise Breeze 2018 concluded in the Black Sea on July 20.
Units from Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania, Turkey, United States and NATO’s Allied Maritime Command took part in a week of drills.
During the sea phase of the exercise, ships were challenged by a variety of tasks including seamanship drills, countering threats from the sea and air and communication drills. The drills were embedded in a scenario which also included combined maritime security operations ¬— part of NATO´s daily business.
The countermeasures vessels of SNMCMG 2 additionally focused on leading other vessels through a fictional mine field, a procedure that reduces the threat to shipping from sea mines.
“I am very satisfied with the performance of my ships, with crews from Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Germany. Highly motivated, they impressively lived our motto ‘Hand in hand-together strong!’”, said the Commander of SNMCMG2, Commander Frank Maginsky.
Joined by units from SNMG 2, SNMCMG2 participated in the exercise as part of NATO’s increased presence in the Black Sea. This is SNMCMG2’s second patrol in the Black Sea in 2018.
Prior to the visit to Burgas, SNMCMG 2 patrolled both the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, conducting exercises and operations throughout the region.