France hands over command of SNMG2 to Canada

This ceremony marked the completion of a nearly three-month deployment in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean of the first French command of this permanent NATO naval force. The BCR Somme, the flagship of the group, provided valuable logistical support through numerous replenishments at sea of allied units, notably American, and contributed to the monitoring of strategic competitors' activities in the Mediterranean. Reinforced for several weeks by the Greek frigate Themistocles and the Turkish frigate Yavuz, the group participated in the multi-domain enhanced vigilance activity NEPTUNE STRIKE 24-1 and a NATO air defense exercise with the Spanish air expeditionary group. SNMG2 also operated with Italian units engaged in MEDITERRANEO SICURO and the carrier strike group of the aircraft carrier Cavour, destroyers of the US 6th Fleet, the American aircraft carrier USS Dwight Eisenhower, and Spanish, French, and Greek units under national operational control.

STANDING MARITIME GROUP

SNMG2, led by an allied staff of British, Bulgarian, French, Greek, Italian, Romanian, and Turkish officers and sailors, demonstrated solidarity and strengthened the interoperability of allied navies. It contributed, through its deterrent and non-escalatory posture, to the stability of the Alliance's southeastern flank. Now under Canadian command, the group will return to sea soon. It includes a French multi-mission frigate (FREMM). SNMG2 is a standing maritime group operating in the Mediterranean under the command of NATO's maritime component (Allied Maritime Command, MARCOM). It actively contributes to the Alliance's maritime presence in the Mediterranean. France has demonstrated its constant commitment within NATO by actively contributing to the Alliance's maritime shield and directly participating in reinforcing its defensive and deterrent posture in a context of hardening combat at sea.