Under a blanket of police security and the watchful eyes of the crews of the two escorting RN P2000 craft, HMS Biter and HMS Express, the Latvian Navy’s Tripartite-class minehunter Viesturs, sailed into Cardiff Docks.
The first of six warships, she will be joined over the next two days by ships from the UK (HMS Duncan – Type 45 Destroyer), France (La Motte-Picquet – Anti Submarine Frigate), Norway (HNoMS SKUDD – Corvette), Germany (LKL Kursis – Minehunter) and the Netherlands (HNLMS URK – Minesweeper) to form the maritime backdrop to the Cardiff NATO Summit.
The Tripartite-class minehunter, conceived in the 1970s and built in the 1980s, was a joint venture of the French, Belgian and Netherlands navies.
The French built the minehunting equipment, the Belgians provided the electronics and the Netherlands constructed the propulsion system.