A fleet of NATO ships docked in Aberdeen Harbour last week following a military exercise in the North Sea.
The ships from Canada, Portugal and Germany, as part of Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1), docked in Aberdeen’s North and South Harbour
The NATO Group recently completed Exercise Strike Warrior around Scotland, a UK-led naval exercise which allows allied ships to train together, so that they can work together more effectively.
Six ships from Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, and Portugal and two submarines from Norway and Germany took part in this year’s second running of Strike Warrior, which also involved the UK’s Royal Marines.
Other ships involved in the exercise have docked in Leith and Fairlie to resupply before continuing to their next assignment.
Aberdeen was seen as a convenient location for naval ships to dock due to its strategic location on the North Sea close to the Greenland-Iceland-UK (GIUK) Gap.
Warships from both the UK and NATO ally countries use Aberdeen to resupply, refuel and allow the sailors time ashore to relax before going back out to sea.
Having arrived on October 9th and 10th, the ships of SNMG1 were mput back to sea the next day to resume their mission.
SNMG1 is led by French Rear Admiral Nicolas Molitor aboard the group’s flagship, the German tanker FGS Berlin. Berlin docked in Aberdeen’s South Harbour and, along with her sister ship, is the largest in the German Navy.
Visiting with FGS Berlin were Canadian frigates HMCS Ville de Quebec and HMCS St Johns, and Portuguese frigate NRP Dom Francesco de Almeida, all docked in the main harbour.
FGS Berlin also visited Aberdeen ahead of the exercise. Her primary role was to refuel other ships while at sea, which allows them to spend longer on patrol between each stop in port.
The role of the group’s frigates is primarily to hunt submarines using their sonar, but they can also provide air defence, surveillance, and anti-ship capabilities.
Scotland’s only naval base is Faslane, on the Firth of Clyde on Scotland’s west coast. With Russian maritime activity around the UK growing year-on-year, analysts have made the case for a new base on the east coast, closer to the strategic GIUK Gap and entrance to the Baltic Sea.
Aberdeen port primarily supports the offshore oil industry, development of renewable energy, and has a ferry terminal running to the Northern Isles and Norway. Recent investment saw the South Harbour opened in 2023 at a cost of £420 million.
It is planned the Port of Aberdeen will become the first Net Zero port in the UK by 2040.
FGS Berlin in South Harbour.
