19 Jan 2010

Polish Navy makes history with NATO group

Today, a Polish Navy officer took command of Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 (SNMCMG1) creating history in NATO. The outgoing Commander SNMCMG1, CDR s.g. Henrik Holck Rasmussen Royal Danish Navy passed the command over to CDR Krzysztof Jan Rybak Polish Navy.
Each year the command of Standing NATO Mine Counter Measures Group 1 is rotated and for the first time a Polish Navy officer is the commander of SNMCMG1.

The change of command ceremony took place in the Polish Navy Base at Gdynia, Poland. The Flagship is the Polish ship ORP “Kontradmiral Xawery CZERNICKI”, who takes over from the Danish HDMS “THETIS”.

Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 consists of the following units:

− ORP “Kontradmiral Xawery CZERNICKI” (Flagship - Poland);
− HMS “WALNEY“ (UK)
− FGS “ROTTWEIL“ (German)
− HNLMS “MIDDELBURG” (The Netherlands)
− BNS “ASTER” (Belgium)