Baltic naval exercise Northern Coasts 2023 completed
Baltic naval exercise Northern Coasts 2023 completed
- Date:
- Place:
- Rostock
- Reading time:
- 2 MIN
The major maritime military training event ended on September 20, around 40 hours earlier than planned. The success is considered assured, the balance sheet is positive. The participating naval forces of 14 nations have shown to be operationally ready. The German Navy is prepared to take on responsibility in the Baltic Sea region.
Increased presence on NATO’s northern flank in the Baltic Sea: Danish frigate HDMSHis/Her Danish Majesty's Ship “Peter Willemoes” (left) and Swedish corvette HSwMSHis/Her Swedish Majesty's Ship “Nyköping” during Northern Coasts 2023, seen from German frigate FGSFederal German Ship “Hamburg”
Bundeswehr/Leon Rodewald“During the free play phase of the exercise, all units involved were able to deepen the training successes of the first week of maneuvers and significantly improve operational-tactical cooperation at the unit level, despite sometimes poor weather conditions,” said Rear Admiral Stephan Haisch, Deputy Commander of DEU MARFORGerman Maritime Forces, the German Navy’s maritime operations staff.
“As Exercise Director, I can already say today,” he continues, “all participants of Northern Coasts 2023 have benefited greatly for their own operational readiness and cooperation requirements within multinational networks. I’m very happy with the results.”
Also, the DEU MARFORGerman Maritime Forces staff in Rostock on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast was able to successfully demonstrate its command and control abilities. The German Navy has thus shown that it is ready and able to take on more leadership responsibility in the Baltic Sea region.
National and alliance defence off the Baltic coast
According to Haisch, the exercise in the sea area off the coasts of Estonia and Latvia was also noticed and observed by the Russian Navy: “Overall, Russian vessels and aircraft behaved as expected, there was no provocation or escalation. We demonstrated our readiness and we were vigilant. I think the Russian Navy is very aware of this.”
In view of the positive results of the exercise as well as the continued bad weather in the sea area, he decided to end the exercise 40 hours earlier than planned – not least to spare personnel and material.
A variety of new tasks now await the warships and aircraft that took part in the exercise. The attention in the Baltic Sea will not diminish. For example, through Operation Baltic Guard, vessels of the German Navy and its partners will continue to fly the flag on the Baltic Sea.
