Minehunter ‘Tajo’ returns home after her deployment in SNMCMG-2

Last June 2nd the minehunter ‘Tajo’ (M-36) returned to her home port in Cartagena (SE Spain) after having integrated into NATO’s Standing Mine Countermeasures Group No. 2 (SNMCMG-2) to participate in operation ‘Noble Shield’. This deployment served to demonstrate, once again, Spain’s commitment to NATO and the defense of national and allied interests.

The ship was welcomed by the Chief of Staff of the MCM Force, Commander Enrique Miguel García, accompanied by family members of the crew and personnel from the mine countermeasures force.

The ‘Tajo’, with a crew of 46 people and under command of lieutenant-commander Javier Romero, contributed to the mission of warranting the freedom of navigation and maritime action. Another of the scheduled tasks of this deployment was to maintain an adequate level of training in all issues related to the handling of sea mines, providing support whenever and wherever required. In addition, the MCM task group also supported NATO’s counter terrorist operation ‘Sea Guardian’ surveilling shipping routes in the Central and Western Mediterranean Sea.

The Turkish Navy currently hold command of SNMCMG-2 with the TCG ‘Gungor Durmus’ as flagship. The other MCM ships of the group were the Italian minehunters ‘Numana’ and ‘Alghero’, the Netherlands minehunter ‘HNLMS Makkum’, the Greek ‘HS ‘Evropi’, the Turkish ‘TCG Enez’ and the French ‘Lyre’.

During the three-month deployment, the SNMCM-2 participated in 3 important MCM exercises like the Greek ‘ARIADNE-23’ (6-17 MAR) in Cretan waters, the Italian ‘MARE APERTO/ITA MINEZ-23’ (13-28 APR) in Sicily and the Spanish ‘ESP MINEX-23’ off Alicante.