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Standing NATO Maritime Group 1

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Standing NATO Maritime Group 1
Active1968–present
AllegianceNATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Commanders
Current
commander		Cdr. Bradley Peats, Royal Canadian Navy
SNMG1 per 13 August 2007 in formation. From left to right:
NRP Álvares Cabral - Portugal
HMCS Toronto - Canada
USS Normandy - United States
Spessart - Germany
HNLMS Evertsen - Netherlands
HDMS Olfert Fischer - Denmark

Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1) is one of NATO's standing naval maritime immediate reaction forces. SNMG1 consists of four to six destroyers and frigates. Its role is to provide NATO with an immediate operational response capability.[1]

History

In late November 1966, U.S. Rear Admiral Richard G. Colbert prepared a concept paper proposing a permanent Allied Command Atlantic naval contingency force based on Operation Matchmaker, an annual six-month exercise involving ships from NATO navies. The proposed contingency force was approved by NATO in December 1967 and activated in January 1968 as Standing Naval Force Atlantic (STANAVFORLANT).[2][3]

During the 1990s, STANAVFORLANT was heavily involved in Operation Maritime Monitor (July 1992 to November 1992), Operation Maritime Guard (November 1992 to June 1993) and Operation Sharp Guard (June 1993 to October 1996), the maritime embargo operations in the Adriatic Sea established to ensure compliance by Serbia and Montenegro with United Nations (UN) resolutions 713, 715, 787, 820 and 943. Between November 1992 and June 1996 some 74,000 ships were challenged, almost 6,000 were inspected at sea and more than 1,400 were diverted and inspected in port.[4]

The force was under the operational control of SACLANT until SACLANT was decommissioned in 2003 and it was folded into NATO's Allied Command Operations (ACO) at that time.[5]

The force was re-designated Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 in January 2005.[6]

In September 2007, SNMG1 was in the Red Sea bound for Suez to complete a circumnavigation of Africa when the Jabal al-Tair volcano erupted. SNMG1 ships assisted the Yemeni coast guard in the recovery of their military personnel stationed on the island.[7]

From March 2009 to June 2009 SNMG1 was deployed by NATO off the Somali coast to conduct Operation Allied Protector, to deter, defend and protect World Food Programme (WFP) vessels against the threat of piracy and armed robbery, thereby allowing WFP to fulfill its mission of providing humanitarian aid.[8]

Since August 2009, SNMG1 has been providing ships for NATO's Operation Ocean Shield anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden.[9]

On 23–25 March 2012 the group conducted a passing exercise with Carrier Strike Group Twelve, led by USS Enterprise, while carrying out Operation Active Endeavor missions in the Mediterranean Sea.[10] The group's commander, Commodore Ben Bekkering, Royal Netherlands Navy visited Enterprise.[11] At the time the group consisted of the Royal Netherlands Navy frigate De Ruyter, the Spanish Navy frigate Álvaro de Bazán, the German Navy frigate Rheinland-Pfalz, and the Royal Canadian Navy frigate Charlottetown.[12]

In November 2018, HNoMS Helge Ingstad was operating with SNMG1 when she was involved in a collision with a Maltese flagged tanker and had to be deliberately run aground to prevent her sinking. The remainder of SNMG1 stood by to provide assistance.[13]

Current ships

Otto Sverdrup and D. Francisco de Almeida during a visit to London in December 2017; both were attached to SNMG1

As of 13 October 2021, SNMG1 consists of:[14]

Organization

SNMG1 is a component of the NATO Response Force (NRF).[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Maritime Groups". NATO. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  2. ^ Hattendorf, John B. (Summer 2008), "Admiral Richard G. Colbert: Pioneer in Building Global Maritime Partnerships" (PDF), Naval War College Review, vol. 61, no. 3[permanent dead link‍]
  3. ^ See also, John B. Hattendorf, “NATO’s Policeman on the Beat: The First Twenty-Years of the Standing Naval Force, Atlantic, 1968-1988,” in: John B. Hattendorf, Naval History and Maritime Strategy: Collected Essays. (Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing, 2000), pp. 187-200.
  4. ^ "Operation Sharp Guard". NATO. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  5. ^ "New NATO Transformation Command Established in Norfolk". American Forces Press Service. United States Department of Defense. 19 June 2003. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
  6. ^ Bekkevold, Jo Inge; Till, Geoffrey (2016). International Order at Sea: How it is challenged. How it is maintained. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 136. ISBN 978-1137586629.
  7. ^ "NATO ships rescue Yemeni servicemen following volcano eruption".
  8. ^ Counter-piracy Operations. North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Retrieved: 27 December 2013.
  9. ^ Operation Ocean Shield Archived 2011-05-13 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ "SNMG1 in PASSEX with US Carrier Group". Allied Command Operations. NATO. March 26, 2012. Archived from the original on September 14, 2014. Retrieved November 6, 2012.
  11. ^ "Enterprise Hosts Commander, Standing NATO Maritime Group 1". NNS120326-04. Enterprise Carrier Strike Group Public Affairs. March 26, 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-04.
  12. ^ "Enterprise Hosts Commander, Standing NATO Maritime Group 1". US Navy. 26 March 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  13. ^ "Allied Maritime Command - SNMG1 ship accident at sea". mc.nato.int.
  14. ^ "Allied Maritime Command - Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1)". mc.nato.int.
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