NATO Maritime Command | Dock, Lock and River Blog (#dlr

The King George V (KGV) Lock in London’s Royal Docks has very few larger vessel visitors and only occasional visits from from naval vessels (other than for the biennial defence show (Report on DSEI 2021 here) – so it was a welcome return of 3 ships belonging to SNMCMG1 following a similar visit in October 2021.

At the time of the visit to London in February 2023 the vessels assigned to SNMCMG1 comprised of the following ships (the command and group membership is regularly changed to foster interoperability between nations):

The Command Vessel, KNM Nordkapp, travelled further up the Thames to moor alongside HMS BELFAST – it is not known if the failure of the KGV Lock’s outer gate prevented this vessel mooring in the Lock due to the reduction in capacity.

If you are thinking that the name of the German Navy ship sounds familiar or if you noticed the large dog motif on the front of the superstructure these are due to the fact that the vessel is named after a town in Germany from which a notable breed of dog originates.

The @Forsvaret_no ALTA-class #minesweeper is a fascinating vessel, part catamaran/ part hovercraft and propelled by water jets for a top speed of 30 kts.

🇳🇴 KNM Otra (M351) is visiting #London as part of #SNMCMG1. #dlr_blog @COM_SNMCMG1 @NATO_MARCOM pic.twitter.com/peB5n3TIzJ
— Andrew Christy (@AJBC_1) February 24, 2023

The following two images of the ships in the KGV Lock were taken through a window from a Tower Block.

A few more shots of the flotilla in the KGV Lock can be seen below:

The tug CHRISTINE attended to be on stand-by to assist the arriving vessels but was not needed.

More information on the NATO Maritime Command can be found here.

The King George V (KGV) Lock in London’s Royal Docks doesn’t see very many visits from larger vessels these days and only occasional visits from naval vessels – of which the later are mainly in connection with the biennial defence show (Report on DSEI 2021 here) – so it was interesting to hear that 5 warships were to visit the Royal Docks during early October 2021.

It also seemed rather fitting than in the 100th anniversary year of the opening of the KGV Lock & Dock complex that once again the Lock would be full of vessels from Germany, Latvia, Belgium and Norway (and staff from Poland) with the crews enjoying a run ashore in London (not sure the bright lights of North Woolwich quite compare with the attractions of Canary Wharf which had been the original planned berth!).

The Belgian crew appear disappointed to hear that they had missed the Ferry Festival 😉

NATO operates 4 standing naval groups – one pair operates in the North Atlantic and associated waters and the other in the Mediterranean. Both regions have a Mine Countermeasures group which undertake historic ordnance disposal as well as operational training – the command of the group rotates on a regular basis as do the vessels that form the flotilla. SNMCMG1 have visited London on a number of previous occasions – report here).

At the time of the visit to the Royal Docks SNMCMG1 comprised of:

**Replenishment Ship FGS Elbe (command flagship)**

Port-calls such as this one are both regular and routine and serve a number of important functions – it gives the crews a break from sea routine and a chance to explore strange new worlds (Albert Island!!). It also provides and opportunity to do a bit of maintenance, load up on fresh provisions and to throw away the rubbish. The visits also serve a diplomatic function and allow the public to see NATO in action. (Quite nice for shipping enthusiasts too!).

As part of their operational role the Minehunting ships use a range of sensors, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and divers to detect and destroy mines – increasingly this task will be undertaken by uncrewed autonomous vessels (UAVs) operated from a ‘mother-ship’ so the smaller mine hunting vessels will become a rarer sight.

As these vessels operate in a defensive role of mine clearance they do not carry heavy guns or missiles and thus operate either in uncontested waters or under the umbrella of a larger surface action group. The vessels do carry a range of either heavy machine guns or small cannons in the force protection role or to neutralize surface mines.