NATO MUltimedia

Footage gathered during a week in the Black Sea on board the Romanian frigate Regele Ferdinand during an exercise involving Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2).

NATO maritime forces trained in the Black Sea to improve their communication and interoperability skills. The passing exercises involved three ships from Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2), comprised of the Romanian frigate ROS Regele Ferdinand, the Turkish frigate TCG Gaziantep and the British destroyer HMS Duncan.
Footage includes several shots of the different ships, a live shooting exercise on the Romanian ship, a boarding exercise (from ROS Regele Ferdinand to HMS Duncan) involving the Romanian Special Forces “Sea Wolves,” and a helicopter taking off from the Romanian ship.

Footage includes soundbites from Commodore Utley talking about the importance of NATO and the interoperability of NATO ships.

1. (00:00) WIDE SHOT – SEVERAL SHIPS INCLUDING HMS DUNCAN AND GAZIANTEP
2. (00:05) MID SHOT – ROMANIAN SHIP ROS REGELE FERDINAND
3. (00:13) VARIOUS WIDE SHOT – BRITISH SHIP HMS DUNCAN
4. (00:22) WIDE SHOT – ROMANIAN JET FLYING OVER ROS REGELE FERDINAND
5. (00:27) VARIOUS SHOTS – TURKISH SHIP TCG GAZIANTEP CAUGHT IN A STORM
6. (00:47) MID SHOT – HMS DUNCAN THROUGH WINDOW
7. (00:50) CLOSE-UP – ROMANIAN BOARDING TEAM MEMBER
8. (00:57) VARIOUS SHOTS – ROMANIAN BOARDING TEAM MEMBERS SHOOTING TARGETS
9. (01:43) VARIOUS SHOTS – ROMANIAN SPECIAL FORCES “SEA WOLVES” TALKING
10. (01:54) VARIOUS SHOTS – ROMANIAN SPECIAL FORCES ON BOARDING EXERCISE FROM ROS REGELE FERDINAND TO HMS DUNCAN
11. (03:10) VARIOUS SHOTS – ROMANIAN SPECIAL FORCES ON THEIR WAY BACK TO REGELE FERDINAND
12. (03:44) VARIOUS SHOTS – ROMANIAN PUMA HELICOPTER TAKING OFF
13. (04:43) SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH – COMMODORE MIKE UTLEY, UK ROYAL NAVY, COMMANDER OF SNMG2

“It’s important that NATO demonstrates the intent of all 29 Allies to navigate freely in the oceans of the world, in international waters and operate aircraft in international airspace. There are two reasons for that: one is to reassure the members that we can do so, which has direct economic benefit for the member states. But also to reassure friends and partners of NATO that NATO is an organisation that believes in that freedom, that we support the ability to trade on the high seas and don’t think that that should be restricted in any way.
It’s very important that NATO ships are interoperable and that we are used to working together. So the military exercising that you see is linked directly to our ability to be a capable military force, able to fight at short notice. That’s demanded of us by our governments and by the North Atlantic Council. It also means that we become familiar with each other. The more people you know, the more people you speak to, the better you are when you come together to operate. So it generates that familiarity of process, that ability to interoperate, which ultimately gives you the capability to fight, should you need to but to rise to security challenges, humanitarian challenges and the other work that NATO does.”