On November 4, 2024, the multi-mission frigate (FREMM) Auvergne left Brest to join the Baltic, with the main mission of participating in NATO reassurance measures within Task Group 441.01. Two major exercises, Merlin and Freezing Winds organized respectively by Sweden and Finland, punctuated its deployment.
The Merlin exercise was entirely devoted to anti-submarine warfare and was held from 11 to 15 November, near Swedish territorial waters and the island of Gotland. It was an opportunity for extensive exchanges with the Swedish Navy, which demonstrated all its capabilities and know-how in anti-submarine warfare in shallow waters.
On a larger scale, the Freezing Winds exercise involved more than 4,000 troops from 13 different nations and took place from 19 to 28 November at sea, in the air and on land. It aimed to meet two major challenges: the integration of Finnish forces – the penultimate to join NATO – into those of the Alliance; and adaptation to the special conditions of the Baltic in winter, where cold and darkness are omnipresent.
The maritime component of Freezing Winds was divided into two main phases. The first, consisting of “serialized” exercises, took place in Finnish archipelagic waters and in the Gulf of Finland. Engaging in turn all the areas of warfare, it made it possible to lay the main milestones for interoperability in terms of command and communication between TG 441.01 and the Swedish and Finnish vessels participating in the exercise.
The second phase of the exercise consisted of a “LIVEX” whose theme was an escalation of tensions leading to open war between an expansionist “Occasius” alliance and Finnish forces defending their sovereign spaces with the reinforcement of NATO . This sequence made it possible to carry out, in constituted force, large-scale naval engagements, combining cruise missile launches and combat above the surface.
Beyond the scenarios, Freezing Winds and to a lesser extent Merlin , have above all shown the solidarity of NATO nations with their two new members, Sweden and Finland. They have also allowed to affirm the freedom of action of the Alliance units in the Baltic.
At the end of the exercise, the Auvergne docked in Tallinn where she welcomed the Estonian Minister of Defence and HE Emmanuel Mignot, French Ambassador to Estonia. In the evening, she organized a cocktail party, chaired by Commodore Thomas Stig Rasmussen, Commander of TG 441.01, to which officers from all the ships of TG 441.01, Estonian officials and personalities from the diplomatic community in Tallinn were invited.