Norwegian frigate Thor Heyerdahl from Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1) accompanied Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth as she headed home.
Thor Heyerdahl linked up with HMS Queen Elizabeth following her departure from the east coast of the United States, providing ongoing maritime situational awareness and engaging in anti-submarine warfare training with the carrier strike group.
While the aircraft carrier is now in her home port, HMS Queen Elizabeth departed Portsmouth, United Kingdom on August the 30th for training with U.S. and Royal Canadian Navy forces. During its time with Allied nations, the ship was able to conduct flight operations with the British F-35B Lightning fighter jets testing their operational capacity.
“Working with Allied Navies throughout the Atlantic Ocean is fundamental in strengthening and improving the Alliance’s ability to quickly integrate with national forces to be able to execute tasking in support of any NATO mission,” said U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Edward Cashman, Commander of SNMG1.
Thor Heyerdahl was called away from an exercise in the Norwegian Sea to carry out this mission, demonstrating NATO’s ability to quickly adapt to changing scenarios on a global scale.
SNMG1 is one of four NATO’s Standing Forces on active duty that contribute to the Alliance’s collective defence on a permanent basis.
Glad he got a ship named after him, some boi !
I do like the glamour shots. And I think ceremonial and pomp are extremely important to the character of the armed services and their place within national life.
But I do wonder about how much fuel and maintenance hours are wasted on posing ships and helicopters………..
When your day job is being in the Forces, the ceremonial stuff can be a pain in the hoop. Its usually at the weekend so you just want to sod off and do your thing.Mincing around in your noz 1’s ain’t all its cracked up to be. Especially for the young guys.
Its the same at a unit level although needs must to an extent.
Well done the Norwegians for flying their flag so gracefully. I’ve seen the Kon Tiki, and of course a few long ships in Oslo a few years ago. My sister in law is a Viking!
Would be great if we always had a Norwegian frigate sail when HMS QE goes out.
Looks like it will be a Zeven de Provincien Class from the Dutch in 2021.
The QE will probably fly a broom at it’s flagstaff!