His main task is to search and neutralize mines. However, thanks to its equipment it can besides monitor underwater critical infrastructure – here is HNLMS "Schiedam", a mine destroyer from the Netherlands that serves in the Natovian SNMCMG1 team. During the exercise “Baltic MCM” we visited on its board.
The RIB transfer? No problem. Firstly, the Baltic is calm present as seldom at this time of year. Secondly, the distance between us and HNLMS ‘Schiedam’ is little than a mile away. Thirdly, you can inactive get on board “Czernicki” and then wait until the crane leaves it for water. A troublesome descent usually falls after an abandoned ladder along the side. So we take our seats, and then the bottom of RIB touches the surface of the Baltic. 1 more minute and we're heading for the Dutch unit.
HNLMS ‘Schiedam’ is simply a destroyer of mines. A fewer months ago, he joined SNMCMG1, 1 of NATO's 2 permanent antimine teams. The same Commander Commander Commander Casper Sterne. Polish officer and supporting global staff operate from the deck ORP ‘Contradmiral Xavery Czernicki’. They are subject to antimine units from respective NATO states.
The transfer takes little than 10 minutes. Its course as predicted is as smooth as the surface of the sea today. Stairs only begin at the finish erstwhile you gotta climb to the side of “Schiedam”. There's no way to avoid a ladder, which makes it even harder for a boat in a drift to start rocking. Well, it's just a fewer more rungs. A minute of tension and we're getting there. – Welcome aboard – smiles wide Edo, unit commander.
Production: Łukasz Zalesinski, Kamil Jasinski Additional video materials: Joe Cowen, Hannah King/BFBS
"Schiedam", like the full team, participates in the "Baltic MCM" maneuvers. The crew sweeps the designated condition of the Gulf of Mecklenburg in search of mines – both those combat ones that constitute residue after planet War IIAs are the practice. For the next fewer hours we will be able to watch the Dutch at work, and above all – to know the ship itself.
“Schiedam” will turn 40 in a fewer months, but it’s inactive a very large unit,” admits Edo. And as evidence, he cites last week's activity balance. The Dutch crew tracked down and identified 4 mines deployed during the last war. Underwater vehicles played a key function here. The sailors usage two. They're both on an open deck now. They'll be launched soon, and we'll see how they work. But first, we're going to the combat center. There are minefighting specialists in front of the monitor rows. We're about to follow the sonar records and the cameras installed on the Sea Fox drone. It will be launched virtually in 10 minutes – explains the officer who heads the BCI.
When we return to the open deck, we have final preparations for the operation. – Sea Fox is simply a remote-controlled vehicle that can dive to a depth of 250 meters. It is utilized to identify mine-like objects that have previously registered a ship's sonar," explains Hide, a mine-fighting officer with HNLMS "Schiedam". “Of course, divers could do that, but the vehicle itself is able to prepare for work much faster,” he adds. Additionally, Sea Fox can relieve divers during an action that carries a peculiarly advanced risk.
Shortly after our conversation, the vehicle is attached to an on-board crane, moved overboard and placed on water. The operator launches the drive and Sea Fox disappears below the surface. And we're going to BCI again. There's a recording of the drone camera on 1 of the monitors. The reflector catches from the sea bottom a circular shape. At first glance, however, it is not a mine, but a part of rock. little than half an hr later, Sea Fox is already on the surface. Usually, missions take longer, but present it's just a presentation.
Now it's Remus. It's an autonomous vehicle. It works on principles akin to Gaviaused by Polish navy. After leaving for the water, Remus travels a way previously designated by the operator. “It records the bottom image and we analyse the data it collects,” explains Hide. Professionals choice up possible mines from among them. Then the objects are verified by the mentioned Sea Fox or divers. And if necessary, the divers blow them up.
As the commander of the “Schiedama” points out, despite the passing of years, mines inactive represent an highly dangerous weapon. Despite changing technologies, they stay comparatively cheap, so that they can be utilized massively and comparatively small at the expense of achieving crucial results – even in the form of blocking shipping routes in the area. – A good example is the Black Sea, where the waters off the coast of Ukraine were mostly mined. “The demining of these areas will most likely affect a common effort of many countries,” noted the Dutch officer.
But searching for and neutralising mines is not the only task of the "Schiedam" crew. The ship can besides monitor critical underwater infrastructure, and this besides falls within the scope of the SNMCMG1 mission. Since the year NATO has been operating in this area of the planet under the name ‘Baltic Sentry’. The crews of the ships active in it tend to the seabed of pipelines or telecommunication cables. This is simply a reaction to last year's multiple incidents involving ships with unclear links. Many indications indicated that Russian-inspired acts of diversion.
In the meantime, we will return to “Czernicki”. We're waiting for the transfer at the officer's mess hall. On the wall a image of the Dutch royal couple, any memorabilia after erstwhile missions. Over 4 decades, the ship has been active in many Nattov projects. “I started on this ship in 2005” admits Edo. Then he held various positions in the staff. Finally, little than 2 years ago, the officer was again on the "Schiedam", this time as the commander of the ship. “It was good to be back where it started,” he concludes.
