The multinational Exercise Sea Breeze 2012 (SB12) concluded with a closing ceremony at the Odessa Officer’s Club in Odessa, Ukraine, July 21.
This year’s exercise was the 15th iteration of Sea Breeze and many participants are calling this the exercise’s most successful year to date.
“This year we have challenged ourselves more than ever. All nations participating in this exercise share a commitment to maritime safety and security, ” said U.S. Navy Capt. James Aiken , SB12 deputy director. “Through a comprehensive and robust training agenda, we have continued to build upon our past successes and lessons learned.”
Aiken believes the success of this year’s exercise can be attributed to the high standard that each participating nation set and carried out during the two-week training period.
“The result of the exercises was that our multinational forces each played their parts and accomplished all of the planned tasks at a high level of cooperation and professionalism,” said Ukrainian Vice Adm. Yurly Ilyin , Ukrainian chief of naval operations.
Air, land and naval forces from Algeria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Canada, Georgia, Germany, Israel, Moldova, Norway, Qatar, Sweden, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine and the United States participated in Sea Breeze, the largest multinational maritime exercise this year in the Black Sea.
SB12, co-hosted by the Ukrainian and U.S. navies, aimed to improve maritime safety, security and stability engagements in the Black Sea by enhancing the capabilities of Partnership for Peace and Black Sea regional maritime security forces.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff, July 25, 2012; Image: US Navy