On June 15 military exercise BaltOps 2018 in the Baltic Sea concluded after running since kicking off in Klaipėda June 1. Having completed last active actions at sea the participating warships headed back to the port of Kiel in Germany.
This year Exercise BaltOps 2018 involved 43 warships and other naval units and over 60 aircraft from 16 NATO (including Lithuania) and neutral partner countries (Sweden and Finland). The total of over 5 thousand soldiers have trained in the exercise. The exercise began with a Pre-Sail Conference in Klaipėda and mainly concentrated in the southern sector of the Baltic Sea - territorial waters and exclusive economic zones of Lithuania, Poland, Denmark, and Sweden.
The exercise was based on a fictional scenario simulating a conflict between two fictional states. The training audience trained in two groups, one was rendering assistance and defending the attacked fictional state, the other one was the hostile force. The exercise trained ship manoeuvres in formations, ship escort, naval gunnery, anti-aircraft and anti-terrorist defence, mine hunt and sweep, submarine warfare, landing procedures, and other.
This was the first time Lithuania help organising the Pre-Sail Conference in Klaipėda during the initial exercise phase on June 1-4, for which reason 33 warships and flagship of the exercise USS Mount Whitney visited Klaipėda Seaport for the period.
On the first weekend of June more than 3 thousand foreign naval personnel visited Klaipėda. The Lithuanian Navy had collaborated with city councils of Klaipėda and Palanga, museums, education institutions, various sports organisations and private business to offer a programme of diverse cultural and sports activities to the guests. The allies were visiting schools in Klaipėda, took guided tours, visited museums in Klaipėda free of charge, were entertained by the Lithuanian Navy Band and rocks bands, and eventually started the active phase of BaltOps 2018 at sea on June 4 full of nice impressions and in good spirits.
The active phase began on June 4 in the territorial waters of Lithuania on Nemirseta beach with a marine landing operation. Over 200 Romanian and US soldiers landed on the Lithuanian coast in amphibious vehicles from USS Mount Whitney and ORP Krakow warship. Such a demo operation by NATO forces took place on the Lithuanian coast once before: in June 2011 NATO landing force - US marines and Lithuanian Army Iron Wolf Brigade troops - carried out such an operation for the first time in history in Nemirseta as well.
This largest NATO exercise in the Baltic Sea held on June 4-15 this year was organised by the Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO) and was commanded from aboard USS Mount Whitney by Commander of the U.S. 6th Fleet Vice Admiral Lisa Franchetti. The exercise objectives were to expand the scope of complex operations among the NATO and Northern European participants, improve and expand cooperation and interoperability among the participating militaries, and take forward the level of expertise of the participating navies.
The Lithuanian Navy has been training in BaltOps with its assets since 1993.
Photo credits: PO1 Audrius Vitkauskas, www.navylive.dodlive.mil , www.shipspotting.com
