Keeping the Baltic waters mine-free
On a short NATO assignment around the ports and inlets of the eastern Baltic for seven weeks, HMS Cattistock is keeping the waters of northern Europe free of mines and historic ordnance.
Departing from Her Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde after completing a demanding month of pre-deployment training, the veteran minehunter ship sailed to Copenhagen to join the ranks of NATO’s Standing Mine Countermeasures Group 1.
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Amongst the NATO group are ships from Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Norway and Belgium. Currently led by the Danish, the group have most recently been dealing with unexploded war-time mines and bombs in the narrows separating Germany and Denmark — where construction of the world’s longest road tunnel begins next year.
Dealing with relics of past conflicts that litter the Baltic sea will be the principal task of HMS Cattistock and her team of divers and dedicated mine warfare specialists. During port visits in the eastern Baltic, the divers will share their experience and knowledge of explosives ordnance disposal with bomb disposal experts from other countries.
Find out more about the UK’s involvement in NATO here:
To prepare for the NATO deployment, Cattistock left her home of Portsmouth to conduct engineering trials before undergoing a fortnight of intensive training and assessments to NATO standards.
All Royal Navy ships deploying on front-line duties must pass Operational Sea Training where the crew of 45 sailors practice saving the 750 tonne vessel from fires and floods, fending off fast attack craft and crucially identifying, finding and destroying mines. — Either by using their Seafox device with its detonation charges, or by calling in their trained deep-sea divers to safely trigger any devices found by placing small explosive charges and retreating to a safe distance to watch the bomb/mine/torpedo blown apart.
“We only returned from operations in the Gulf earlier in the year, so preparing has been hard work but the whole team are looking forward to visiting many new places, working with a number of different NATO nations and generally taking part in such a rewarding deployment.”
Commanding Officer Lt Cdr Claire Thompson.
