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BALTOPS / Kiel Week Photo Specials

All photos in this section were taken by me unless otherwise stated.

Baltic Operations (BALTOPS) is an annual US-sponsored maritime exercise in the Baltic Sea. With naval vessels and aircraft of several nations taking part, the exercise is intended to improve the interoperability of the participating navies by conducting peace support operations at sea. The operations involve exercises in gunnery, replenishment-at-sea, undersea warfare, radar tracking, mine countermeasures, seamanship, search and rescue, and maritime interdiction operations. Additionally, the nations conduct personnel exchanges amongst the ships so that officers and sailors could see how their contemporaries from other navies live and operate.

The exercise usually takes place in June and is concluded with a port visit to Kiel, Germany, where the ships participate in the Kiel Week celebrations.




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