Captain Yusuf Karagulle of the Turkish Navy recently handed over the command of Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group Two (SNMCMG2) to Commander Gregory Guiran of the French Navy.
“This is the first time that France has taken command of one of NATO’s four Standing Naval Forces and it’s a real honour for me and the crew of the FS Somme. Recent actions and exercises carried out by SNMCMG2 outgoing Commander Yusuf Karagulle’s command have demonstrated that NATO is fully capable in mine warfare, demonstrating solidarity and cohesion in the face of a perpetually evolving threat,” said Commander Gregory Guiran, the incoming Commander of SNMCMG2.
NATO say here that the ceremony on Friday was presided by the Deputy Commander of NATO Maritime Command, Vice Admiral Didier Piaton.
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Following the virtual Change of Command Ceremony, Captain Yusuf Karagulle handed over the NATO flag to Commander Gregory Guiran with a ceremony held on board FS Somme in the port of La Spezia, Italy with the participation of incoming and outgoing staff members and representatives of both flagships.
“Turkey assumed the command of SNMCMG2 even in this challenging Covid19 pandemic environment. My command aim during this period has been to form and maintain a mine countermeasures Force at high state of operational readiness and best standards in order to fulfil the range of missions assigned to SNMCMG2 and thus provide the NATO Maritime Command (MARCOM) with continuous and effective mine countermeasures capability,” said Captain Yusuf Karagulle, the outgoing Commander of SNMCMG2.
“I assess that all parts of the mission of SNMCMG2 under my command were fulfilled. The success of this deployment would not be possible without the boundless determination of all crews and the staff”, added the Captain.
Will they be exercising off Jersey?
My first thought.
A little surprising that NATO’s third biggest naval power is only just taking command of a task group
Not really. They have a lot to prove after walking away from NATO
Are you referring to when they left back in the 60’s but rejoined or have they left again? A quick web search says they are still in
Re-joining in 2009 is quite a while ago. So still surprising they’ve only just had first command.
Takes time to build up trust with a nation.
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France never actually left NATO. They were still committed to Article 5, they just left the unified command structure (which would obviously preclude them from commanding NATO formations) with the excuse being that they were afraid they would lose their indigenous command and control capabilities if they became overly reliant on NATO structures. Of course, the fact that the SACEUR and DSACEUR posts were, at the time, exclusively US and UK roles probably influenced things.
And there was me thinking it was 1st April, and you were going to show their Patrol Boat leading the fishing boats back to Normandy !
Perhaps the French can intergrate their Fishing fleet into Nato.s overall command . they certainly have the required agression capability