Sea Breeze exercises with the participation of Ukrainian Navy ships begin in the UK

25 June, 2024 Cherkasy and Chernihiv minehunters in the UK. June 2024. Photo credits: Ukrainian Navy

Sea Breeze international maritime exercises have started in the UK. Ships of the fleets of various countries, including the Ukrainian Navy, participate in the maneuvers. The exercise started on Monday, June 24, in the Scottish city of Glasgow.

The Ukrainian Navy said that the central theme of this year's exercises is to prepare and evaluate the Ukrainian Navy's Mine Action Headquarters for planning and managing a particular set of mine action forces during mine action and operations and to train Ukrainian mine action ship crews to perform actions as part of a multinational tactical group. In addition, operators of Sea Fox systems will be trained to perform mine detection and clearance tasks.

Ships of the countries participating in the Sea Breeze international exercises in the UK. June 2024.

Photo credits: Ukrainian Navy

It is also planned to prepare an amphibious operations headquarters to plan amphibious operations with the involvement of a training group of US expeditionary forces. This year's Sea Breeze exercise was joined by 13 participating countries, including, in addition to Ukraine and the United States as organizers, Bulgaria, Sweden, Estonia, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Georgia, Greece, Romania, Poland, Japan, and the United Kingdom as hosts. "Commodore Dmytro Kovalenko, Chief of Training Command of Ukrainian Navy Command, noted during the opening ceremony that the Ukrainian Navy is working not just for the future, i.e., post-war sea demining, but is already performing combat missions today and has already acquired the relevant capabilities we need," the statement said.

According to him, the ship's crews must become interoperable with Ukrainian partners in order to perform tasks in the world's oceans together as part of tactical groups. During the next exercise stage, the participants will plan mine action, coordinate forces at sea, and perform training elements as part of designated tactical groups at sea. The Sea Breeze exercise involves weapons and ships that the Ukrainian Navy received from partner countries.

Cherkasy and Chernihiv minehunters in the UK.

April 2024.

Photo credits: Royal Navy

These are the Sandown-class minehunters Cherkasy and Chernihiv, which are temporarily based at the Portsmouth Naval Base in the UK.