The Alghero minesweeper of the Navy, inserted in the NATO device - Standing Nato Mine Counter Measures Group 2 (SNMCMG2), left today the port of Mahon of the island of Menorca, in Spain, after a three-day stop to take part in the Spanish-Minex 18 international exercise, in the waters off the Balearic Islands.
Nave Alghero had in fact rejoined the 27 April in the Spanish port to the other naval units of the Second Mine Countermeasure Group of NATO, the integrated multinational maritime force that works to ensure the protection of maritime communication routes and access to ports from the threat of mines naval ships, going directly to Allied Maritime Command, a command based in Northwood (UK).
During the stop in Port Mahon, the units of the NATO device have carried out a joint propaedeutic training to support the annual Spanish-Minex exercise, which will allow the naval units to consolidate their preparation in the search and neutralization of simulacra of naval mines, in the scope of an operational theater with a high level of enemy threat, simulated by surface units and aircraft assets.
In addition to the naval units of the SNMCMG2 group and the minesweeper units of the Spanish navy, a unit of the Greek navy and the naval units of the European device EUROMARFOR, currently composed of a Portuguese corvette, a Spanish minesweeper and one French.
After the Spanish-Minex exercise, the SNMCMG2 units will stop in Palma de Mallorca and then head to the Sicilian coast to participate in the Mare Mare and Italian Minex national exercise.
Nave Alghero will leave the NATO group at the beginning of June 2018, to return to the port of La Spezia.
Further Reading:
Nave Alghero, under the command of Lieutenant Davide E. TAMBORINI, is the third Minehunting Unit of the Gaeta class delivered to the Navy in March 1993. The unit, made up of a crew of 44 soldiers, is able to carry out localization activities , identification, neutralization of naval mines, remnants of war and ordnance to ensure the safety of navigation. To carry out these operations the unit is equipped with wire-guided underwater vehicles Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) and makes use of operators of the Underwater Operating Group (GOS) of the Navy. In 2015 he completed important works involving the sonar apparatus, the hyperbaric chamber and structural changes in order to make the Unit even more performing. The Sonar and the hyperbaric chamber are peculiar and indispensable devices for the operational activities of the ship for the localization, identification and neutralization of naval mines, remnants of war and ordnance that may be present at sea, putting the safety of ships in transit at risk. The unit, in the course of its activities, is also used for the protection of the interests of the nation such as the control of maritime borders, the protection and rescue of human lives at sea and the surveillance of respect for the marine ecosystem with anti-pollution purposes.
The SNMCMG2 group is one of the four permanent naval groups that make up NATO's rapid reaction maritime force. The group of mine countermeasures, in fact, provides the alliance with an indispensable operational capacity to ensure, in times of crisis, free access to ports and the safety of navigation. The multinational maritime force, currently commanded by the Commander Justin HAINS of the Royal Navy embarked on the Multi-role Unit HMS Enterprise, is composed, besides the Italian Navy Hunting Mine, by the Turkish Navy Merger TCG ANAMUR and the Italian Navy Spanish ESPS SEGURA.