Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 | |
---|---|
Active | 1973–present |
Allegiance | North Atlantic Treaty Organization |
Commanders | |
Current commander | Fregattenkapitän Artur Krüger, German Navy |
Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 (SNMCMG1) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) standing mine countermeasures immediate reaction force. Its role is to provide NATO with an immediate operational response capability. [1]
From its activation at Ostend on 11 May 1973, the unit was initially called Standing Naval Force Channel (STANAVFORCHAN). [2]
STANAVFORCHAN and her sister force Mine Counter Measures Force Mediterranean (MCMFORMED) were tasked in June 1999 to operate in the Adriatic Sea to clear ordnance jettisoned during Operation Allied Force. The combined force comprised 11 minehunters and minesweepers and a support ship. The operation, named Allied Harvest, began on 9 June 1999. Search activities began three days later and lasted 73 days. In total, 93 pieces of ordnance were located and cleared in the nine areas which encompassed 1,041 square nautical miles (3,570 km2; 1,379 sq mi). [3]
From 3 September 2001 it was known as the Mine Countermeasures Force North Western Europe (MCMFORNORTH) and from 1 January 2005 it became Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1. [2]
As of 3 April 2024, SNMCMG1 consists of: [4]
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Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 2 (SNMCMG2) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) standing mine countermeasures Immediate Reaction Force. Its role is to provide NATO with an immediate operational response capability.
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A mine countermeasures vessel or MCMV is a type of naval ship designed for the location of and destruction of naval mines which combines the role of a minesweeper and minehunter in one hull. The term MCMV is also applied collectively to minehunters and minesweepers.
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HMS Cattistock, the third ship of this name, is a Hunt-class mine countermeasures vessel of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1981 and commissioned on 5 March 1982, the third ship of her class.
HMS Pembroke was a Sandown-class minehunter of the Royal Navy. She was the second ship launched of the second batch of the class, which had several improvements over the first five ships built. The ship was posted for three years to the Persian Gulf between 2009 and 2012. Pembroke has since been deployed in international exercises and in historic ordnance detection in home waters. Pembroke was the first of the Royal Navy’s Mine Countermeasures Vessels to be fitted with the Oceanographic Reconnaissance Combat Architecture combat system to replace the previous NAUTIS combat system in early 2020.
HMS Shoreham was a Sandown-class minehunter of the British Royal Navy. She was the fifth vessel to bear the name. From 2018 to 2021, Shoreham was deployed at UKNSF Bahrain together with three other mine countermeasures ships as part of 9 Mine Countermeasures Squadron on Operation Kipion. In 2022 she was decommissioned and was transferred to Ukraine.
Bellis (M916) is a Tripartite-class minehunter of the Belgian Naval Component, launched on 14 February 1986 at the Mercantile-Belyard shipyard in Rupelmonde and christened by Ellen Goffinet-Rosman, the wife of the then Mayor of Arlon, on 18 September 1986. The patronage of Bellis was accepted by the city of Arlon. It was the second of the Belgian Tripartite-class minehunters.
Avenger-class mine countermeasures ships are a class of 14 ships constructed for the United States Navy from 1987 to 1994, designed to clear mines from vital waterways. The ships have the hull designator MCM.
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Allied Maritime Command (MC) Naples was a subordinate command of Allied Joint Force Command Naples. MC Naples operated from the island of Nisida in the Gulf of Pozzuoli and its commander reported directly to the Commander Allied Joint Force Command Naples. The command was deactivated in March 2013.
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Allied Command Channel (ACCHAN) was one of three major North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) commands from 1952 to 1994. Commander-in-Chief Channel was a Major NATO Commander (MNC).
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The Lindormen class is a class of two minelayers built for the Royal Danish Navy to replace the Lougen-class minelayers that dated from World War II. The Lindormen class was designed to lay controlled controlled minefields in the Baltic Sea during the Cold War as part of NATO's defence plan for the region. They were taken out of service by the Danish in 2004, put up for sale in 2005 and transferred to Estonia in 2006.