BALTOPS 2003 Kicks Off In The Baltic

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	030605-O-0000K-001 Gdynia Harbor, Poland (Jun. 05, 2003) -- Polish Sailors watch as the guided missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) pulls along side the guided missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf (CG 72) prior to the start of Baltops 2003. The United States and 11 other nations are participating in this year's exercise. BALTOPS 2003 is intended to improve interoperability between allies and Partnership for Peace countries by conducting a peace support operation at sea including exercises in gunnery, replenishment-at-sea, undersea warfare, radar tracking, mine countermeasures, seamanship, search and rescue, maritime interdiction operations, and scenarios dealing with potentially real world crises. Polish Navy photo by Marian Kluczynski. (RELEASED)

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BALTOPS 2003 Kicks Off In The Baltic
Story Number: NNS030609-16
Release Date: 6/10/2003 7:45:00 AM

By Journalist 2nd Class Joseph R. Holstead, Commander, Carrier Group 8 Public Affairs

GDYNIA, Poland (NNS) -- Sailors from around the world and throughout the Baltic region arrived in Gdynia, Poland, June 5, to kick off the 31st annual maritime exercise Baltic Operations (BALTOPS) 2003.

Components of the exercise are taking place afloat in the Baltic Sea and ashore in Poland, Germany and Denmark from June 7–23.

Thirteen nations are participating in this year’s exercise, including more than 3,600 personnel, 36 ships, three submarines, more than 40 aircraft, and six different ground force elements from NATO and Partnership for Peace (PFP) nations, including Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.

For the first time in the history of the exercise, BALTOPS 2003 will include a combined Russian, Polish, Danish and American amphibious landing in Poland, along with an evacuation of role-playing non-combatants by both sea and air from Bornholm, Denmark.

BALTOPS is intended to improve interoperability with NATO and PFP nations by conducting peace support operations at sea, including gunnery exercises, replenishment-at-sea, undersea warfare, radar tracking, mine countermeasures, seamanship, search and rescue, maritime interdiction operations and scenarios dealing with potential real world crises.

U.S. Navy Rear Adm. George E. Mayer, commander, Carrier Group 8, based in Norfolk, Va., is supervising the exercise from flagship USS Vella Gulf (CG 72), which along with USS Ross (DDG 71), arrived at Gdynia Harbor on June 5 to represent the United States.

For more news, visit the Navy NewsStand online at www.news.navy.mil.

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