From June 7 to 22 command and support vessel "Jotvingis" (N42) assigned to the Baltic Squadron (BALTRON) is attending BALTOPS 2013, the largest maritime multinational exercise held in the Baltic Sea this year. The naval exercise takes place in the territorial waters and the exclusive economic zones of Latvia, Sweden, Denmark and Germany.
BALTOPS 2013 involves warships and aircraft from 13 NATO member states and partners: Estonia, Denmark, Georgia, the U.S.A., Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, France, the Russian Federation, Finland, Sweden and Germany. The participating countries have delegated over 30 air and naval assets of various types to the exercise.
The exercise is conducted on the basis of a scenario developed for the event: a conflict between fictional countries is simulated. The participants have been grouped into two parts, one of them enacts assistance to the fictional country under attack and defence operations while the other one acts as an aggressor. BALTOPS 2013 is an excellent test for the ship crews' readiness to complete warfare tasks.
The exercise trains warships maneuver in formations, ship convoy, artillery fire, anti-aircraft and counter-terrorist defensive actions, mine hunting and sweeping, and other warfare procedures.
BALTOPS 2013, hosted by the U.S. Navy, seeks to expand the scale of complex combined operations of NATO and the Nordic countries as well as to increase and improve cooperation and interoperability of the participating countries.
Command and support ship N42 "Jotvingis" of the Lithuania Navy acts as a command ship for a mine clearance group of vessels in BALTOPS 2013. The BALTRON staff set up aboard N42 "Jotvingis" will be heading the group of seven mine countermeasures ships deployed on the exercise. Another function of the Lithuanian vessel during the exercise is provision of fuel and drinking water for other ships.
Lithuanian vessels have been deployed to every iteration of BALTOPS since 1993. Last year the exercise took place in the central part of the Baltic Sea - the territorial waters and the exclusive economic zones of Lithuania and Poland. BALTOPS 2013 featured the first-time ever amphibious landing of NATO's naval landing forces on the coast of Lithuania. In 2012 the exercise involved vessels, aircraft and military personnel from 12 NATO and non-NATO countries.
The Baltic Squadron (BALTRON) is a joint naval unit of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, composed of vessels contributed by the three states and an international staff. The present Commander of BALTRON is Lt Cdr Egidijus Oleškevičius of the Lithuanian Navy.
BALTRON is in charge of conducting detection and neutralization operations of naval mines and other types of unexploded ammunition remaining on the Baltic seafloor. The unit also serves as a training platform for duty in NATO's naval units.
By: Chief specialist of the CIMIC Section of the Headquarters of the Lithuanian Navy PO3 Audrius Vitkauskas.
Photos from the archive of the Lithuanian Navy
