GEREX 2020: German Navy sends warships to maneuvers in the Baltic Sea.

The "German Exercise 2020 (Gerex)" manoeuvre in the western Baltic Sea will take place until September 7th, as the German Navy announced on Monday 31 August 2020.
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The German Navy's Mine Hunting vessel "Homburg". (Picture source: German Navy picture)

The current Inspector of the Navy, Vice Admiral Andreas Krause, has decided to generate a mainly national exercise for this year. GEREX replaces the multinational exercise "Northern Coasts" and includes individual training as well as tactical association exercises in the western Baltic Sea. The background to this decision was the limited participation of foreign navies on Northern Coasts due to the corona pandemic.

The main actors in the Gerex manoeuvre will be the mine-hunting vessel "Homburg", the tender "Werra", the submarine U33, a boarding team from the sea battalion, a P-3C "Orion" and the two helicopters "Sea King" and "Sea Lynx".

The frigate "North Rhine-Westphalia" and the NATO association "Standing Nato Maritime Group 1" (SNMG 1) are also expected to join the exercise for a short time as well as the Estonian Navy with the minehunter "Ugandi".

The Baltic Sea is of strategic interest because of its sea routes. Due to its geography with many straits and islands as well as shallow water depths, it is a particularly demanding operational area for the armed forces.

The German Navy's frigate "Nordrhein-Westfalen". (Picture source: German Navy picture)