Standing NATO Maritime Group One changes command in Spain

Norwegian Navy frigate HNOMS Roald Amundsen became flagship of NATO’s standing maritime group one which held a change of command ceremony in La Coruña, Spain, on January 14.

Norwegian Navy Commodore Ole Morten Sandquist took command of SNMG1 from Spanish Navy Rear Admiral José Enrique Delgado Roig.

The ceremony was presided over by Royal Navy Vice Admiral Clive Johnstone, Commander of NATO’s Allied Maritime Command.

In attendance were the crews from ESPS Almirante Juan de Borbón, SNMG1 last Flag Ship, ESPS Cantabria and HNOMS Roald Amundsen, the next SNMG1 flagship as well as the international staff members and local civilian and military authorities.

During the Spanish period of command, SNMG1 has participated in several major multinational exercises like Cold Response, Joint Warior, Baltops, Northern Coast and Noble Mariner. The group’s assets developed a maritime situational awareness in the Northern Atlantic and Baltic Sea and contributed to provide conventional deterrence at sea while visiting more than forty ports on to 16 countries along the way.

SNMG1 is one of the NATO’s four standing naval maritime groups, multinational integrated forces providing NATO with a continuous maritime capability for operations and other activities in peacetime and periods of crisis and conflicts.