The German Navy’s supply tender Donau (A516) is scheduled to leave her homeport in Warnemünde, Germany to join NATO’s Standing NATO Mine Counter Measures Group 1 on January 18.

Germany will take over the command of SNMCMG1 from the Netherlands during a ceremony on January 21 in Kiel, Germany. Commander Martin Schwarz will thereby become the eighth German commander since the group has been established in 1973. Schwarz will be leading the group until Estonia takes over in June.

Commander Schwarz commented on his future role: “The demands of the group are really high. Our main objective in the following weeks will be to make a functioning group out of distinct units.”

Apart from German ships the SNMCMG1 will be constituted by ships and personnel from UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Denmark.

Due to a changed security situation in the Mediterranean in the recent period, the standard mine countermeasure duties of the group have been broadened to encompass search and rescue operations, as well as humanitarian and anti-terror operations.