Royal Navy frigate HMS Iron Duke has completed the first stage of a mini-winter deployment to the Baltic, helping the Finns integrate into NATO.
The Portsmouth-based warship is closing out the year working with our allies in the region with exercises, training and port visits and diplomatic events.
Fresh from monitoring Russian Navy activity in the Channel, the ship made a beeline for the eastern Baltic to take part in Freezing Winds.
The nine-day exercise, played out in the Baltic and Gulf of Bothnia – the waters which separate NATO’s two newest members, Sweden and Finland – saw both of the alliance’s northern European task groups converge: Standing Maritime Group 1, comprising larger warships (such as Iron Duke), and Standing Mine Countermeasures Group 1, comprising a good smattering of minehunters.
In all, almost 4,000 personnel were from 15 NATO nations, signalling the importance of securing Europe’s crucial waterways and chokepoints for the prosperity of allies and partners.
It was the second run out for Freezing Winds – and the second year the UK has been represented in the Finnish-led exercise.
Naval participants mustered in the Finnish port of Turku or, as in Iron Duke’s case, Riga in Latvia (the visit coincided with the Baltic state’s independence day celebrations).
By Baltic standards, the weather was actually relatively mild: fluctuating around 0C with snow, sleet flurries and rain – but certainly challenging enough for anyone working on Iron Duke’s quarter/upper/flight deck… or her sea boat crews… especially when you throw in the wind chill.
To the challenge of environment, now add the exercise scenarios: protection of key sea routes in the Baltic; amphibious warfare; crisis and conflict situations – all conducted as realistically as conditions allowed.
The complex exercise involved multiple warfighting situations fending off aggressor aircraft and surface units. As well as allowing units to sharpen their specialist roles, the exercise also helps to nurture vital links between the UK and NATO militaries.