The USS Taylor is followed by other NATO nations’ units while returning to port after the conclusion of the North Atlantic Council and the Military Committee Sea Day Exercise. The exercise involved vessels from Greece, Turkey, Spain, Germany, United Kingdom, and the United States that currently are assigned to Standing NATO Response Force Maritime Group Two. (Paul Farley / Courtesy of U.S. Navy)
Naval Support Activity Souda Bay, Crete, recently hosted the biennial visit of senior NATO civilian and military leaders, including NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. James Jones.
Military ships from NATO Response Force Maritime Group Two, which includes the U.S. Navy frigate USS Taylor, and NATO aircraft conducted mock ship inspections and other military exercises earlier this week.
It was the first time these leaders were able to see the NRF’s maritime group in action.
The unit, which had been stood up only a year ago, was created to provide quick-response maritime and land-based forces capable of deploying up to a month without resupply.
Ships from the NRF group have also been taking part in NATO’s Operation Active Endeavour, which is designed to deter terrorist-based shipping from operating in the Mediterranean.
Since the operation’s inception, more than 61,000 merchant vessels have been contacted and NATO personnel have boarded 85 of those vessels, according to a NATO news release.
NATO ships also escorted nearly 500 non-combatant ships through the Strait of Gibraltar during high-terrorism threat periods.
The daylong visit by the NATO officials came at a difficult time for military forces on Crete. Three Spanish sailors had recently been charged and convicted in local courts of stabbing two local men during an altercation that began after the men complained to the sailors about the sailors swimming nude in the town of Hania, near Souda Bay.
