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BALTOPS '04 Sets Sail

Navy Newsstand

Story Number: NNS040607-13

Release Date: 6/7/2004 4:02:00 PM

By Journalist 1st Class Eric Brown, USS San Jacinto Public Affairs

USS SAN JACINTO (NNS) -- Flags flying from the masts of 39 ships from 13 countries presented a colorful array in the Polish harbor of Gydnia June 7, as Baltic Operations 2004 (BALTOPS '04) began.

The 32nd annual maritime exercise will include more than 5,000 personnel and continues through June 19.

Speaking at a conference among BALTOPS '04 representatives in Gdynia June 5, Rear Adm. Thomas Kilcline, commander, Carrier Group 2 and BALTOPS '04 commander, emphasized the exercise's mission.

"To promote mutual understanding, confidence, cooperation and interoperability among forces and personnel of participating nations and to support national, unit and staff training objectives by conducting a series of robust exercises," he said. "The bottom line is multinational integration and inter-service coordination. The key to BALTOPS training opportunities in today's environment is coalition and joint operations. I think this will be the best BALTOPS yet."

Kilcline will oversee the exercise from his command ship, USS San Jacinto (CG 56), which will be joined by USS Oscar Austin (DDG 79), both homeported in Norfolk, Va.

In addition to the United States, other participants include Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden.

During BALTOPS '04, sea, air and land forces will practice surface warfare and air defense gunnery exercises, replenishment at sea, undersea warfare, radar tracking, mine countermeasures, seamanship and maritime interdiction operations.

"My priority in leading this group of ships and people is safety," Kilcline said. "Engagement is my second priority, and it is to make sure that we have this opportunity to engage with NATO, our Partnership for Peace countries, and other neutral nations that make up the Baltics, and other exercise players. We need to focus on missions that support the global war on terrorism, and last, set the stage for innovation. My sense is that as we go forward, innovation will be what helps us succeed.

"The teamwork and mutual understanding that we develop here will support peace and serve as an effective deterrent against those forces of instability that are in our world today," he added.

For the second year, a ground force element will conduct interoperability exercises to include combined Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, German, Danish and U.S. security operations. The land portion will include an amphibious landing and a simulated evacuation of non-combatants by both sea and air.