The Lithuanian Navy’s mine countermeasures vessel Skalvis (M53) and a team of six Portuguese Navy sapper divers are departing for a NATO operation after a ceremony in the Baltic port city of Klaipėda on Tuesday.
The LNS Skalvis, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Andrius Narbutas, is set to join Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group One (SNMCMG1) for a period of five months starting Friday, the Armed Forces said in a press release.
“Our main tasks involve mine clearance. We will conduct underwater monitoring and our plans also include seabed clearance procedures with the help of the sapper divers,” Narbutas was quoted in the press release.
“As the ship’s commander, I will also assign tasks to our allies, taking into account the Portuguese sapper divers’ proposals and capabilities to operate at a specific depth,” he said.
Tuesday’s ceremony for the ship’s deployment to the international operation Brilliant Shield took place at the Naval Flotilla in Klaipėda.
This marks the first time in the Lithuanian Navy’s history that a team of sapper divers from a foreign allied country has been assigned to a Lithuanian minehunter, according to the military.
The Portuguese team will work alongside the Skalvis crew until October, after which they will be replaced by Lithuanian sapper divers.
Skalvis, along with ships from Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada and Germany, will take part in international exercises and maritime mine clearance operations in the Baltic and North Seas, off Norway, the United Kingdom and Ireland. The ship formation will be led by a German naval officer.
Since last year, SNMCMG1 has been participating in NATO’s long-term operation Brilliant Shield, which is aimed primarily at reinforcing the alliance’s eastern flank with additional naval, maritime surveillance and air defence assets.
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