Sea Breeze 2000
not held
Sea Breeze 2001
Exercise Sea Breeze '01 (5-15 July) is an in-the-spirit-of Partnership-for-peace (PfP) exercise hosted by Ukraine. SB-01 had a complete exercise phased operation designed to improve standards of interoperability between participating partner and NATO units by conducting a crisis command post exercise and a maritime and ground live exercise focusing on peace support operations.
Sea Breeze '01 (SB-01) allowed staff representatives of the participating nations to practice humanitarian relief operations from the sea. The exercise promoted common understanding of humanitarian assistance doctrine, search and rescue doctrine and the conduct of multinational maritime relief operations.
Some 1,500 officers from 12 countries on 06 July 2001 started the NATO-sponsored exercise "Sea Breeze 2001" in the Black Sea port of Odesa, AP reported. The exercise continued until 16 July and included three stages of computerized, sea and coastal training involving seven Ukrainian vessels, a U.S. Coast Guard ship and a Turkish landing ship, as well as military planes and helicopters.
Pacifying the protesting locals is one of the most important stages of the peacekeeping exercise. A joint peacekeeping battalion, consisting of American, Ukrainian and Turkish marines, managed to cope with this mission confidently and without a single shot. The fleet task force, the core of which was made up of Ukrainian and Turkish amphibious assault ships, ensured the peacekeepers were able to land. A high level of coordination between the multi-language task force was achieved by using common operational and tactical standards. The knowledge of such standards is a must for taking part in international peacekeeping missions.
The once shaky peace of Green Republic erupted into violence. Armed gangs, starving and poor, began causing chaos on the streets. The newly independent government requested help from the international community. The U.S. Marines and Ukrainian Marines along with Turkish Naval Infantry quickly combined their resources to answer the call. That was the scenario here, July 5-17, during exercise Sea Breeze 2001, an In-the-Spirit of Partnership-for-Peace exercise.
Humanitarian assistance or peace support operations are complex and challenging and require special training to prepare our forces. Exercises like Sea Breeze allow nations to practice the skills to include planning, to quickly and effectively handle a humanitarian crisis or any other peace support mission.
To demonstrate their newly-acquired skills, the joint forces conducted an amphibious landing followed by riot-control of an angry mob at the Chabanka training area, northeast of here.
The exercise was designed to develop an international capability to conduct humanitarian relief operations and promote a common understanding of relevant humanitarian assistance, while conducting multinational maritime relief operations.
During the demonstration, the Ukrainian fleet arrived and a minesweeper quickly pushed to the forward edge of the formation covering their position with thick, white smoke. A Ukrainian MI-8 helicopter came out of a blind spot just below the cliffs to drop two Ukrainian Explosive Ordnance Disposal Marines into the water. At that moment several BTRs poured out of the belly of a Ukrainian landing ship.
Within minutes the first two BTRs hit the beach, one flying the United States flag and the other the Ukrainian. They where joined by Light Armored Vehicles and their ground forces, made up of U.S. and Ukrainian Marines, Turkish Naval Infantry. Within moments ground forces poured out the back of vehicles dressed in riot gear. Acting as one, the multinational force pushed back the mob. In less than a few minutes time, they scattered off the field, and the situation was safe once again.
The landing and subsequent demonstration was observed by numerous dignitaries from nearly 10 countries. Following the show of force it was onto the two-day field training exercise.
More than 160 Marines, from Company F, 2nd Battalion, 25th Marines, from Albany, N.Y., and six LAVs from Co. D, 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Bn., Quantico, Va., made up a large portion of the ground forces. A platoon of Ukrainian Marines from the Crimean Peninsula and a squad of Turkish Naval Infantry also participated in the event.
The U.S. and Ukrainian Marines split up into two groups that represented the main body of the humanitarian peace-keeping force and a smaller aggressor unit. At the beginning of the exercise they seemed wary of each other, but as barriers such as language where overcome, the soldiers of the sea learned that they had much in common and could work together well.
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Legare participated in Sea Breeze 2001. With over 1,500 naval participants, Legare represented the United States as the only U.S. vessel participant. Legare served as a task force commander conducting combined peace support operations with NATO participants. While in Ukraine, 40 members of Legare's crew volunteered their liberty time to renovate a recreational center for children. For two days, men and women from the Legare knocked down walls, ripped out broken plumbing, scraped ceilings, removed 300 pounds of rubble, and plastered walls in an old Soviet "block housing" area in Odessa.
The military and political vacuum created by the Russian fleet dodging active participation in the navy games in the Black Sea basin was filled up by Western fleets.
Sea Breeze 2002
Sea Breeze 2003
not held
Sea Breeze 2004
Sea Breeze 2005
Sea Breeze 2006
The Sea Breeze 2006 exercise in the Crimea was obstructed by protests, forcing the United States to redeploy the Advantage cargo ship to another location.
Sea Breeze 2007
The Sea Breeze 2007 was held in the Odessa and Nikolayev regions, amid protests by local left-wing political groups. In 2008 the Sea Breeze drills saw protesters set up camps along the Black Sea coast, and reportedly attempt to prevent foreign warships, participating in the exercises, from leaving the port of Odessa.
Sea Breeze 2008
The 11th annual multinational training, Exercise Sea Breeze 2008, promoted interoperability with Black Sea nations and NATO under the Partnership for Peace program. Incorporating 16 countries and more than 2,000 service members, Sea Breeze is a joint and combined maritime exercise held annually in the Black Sea and at various land-based Ukrainian training facilities with the goals of strengthening maritime security and stability, sharing information, and building teamwork and mutual cooperation. Sixteen participating nations in the 11th anniversary exercise included the Ukrainian hosts and Armenia, Azerbaijan, Canada, Denmark, France, georgia, germany, greece, Latvia, Macedonia, Norway, Romania, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Sea Breeze 2009
There would be no Sea Breeze naval exercises with NATO forces in Ukraine's Crimea this summer, a source in the Ukrainian Navy command said on 22 June 2009. A military exercise with the participation of foreign troops requires parliamentary permission, but the Ukrainian parliament has refused to even consider the matter. The U.S. military command had informed Ukraine last week that the Ukrainian-U.S. naval exercise would not take place this year. Sea Breeze-2009 was due to be conducted in July. Sea Breeze exercises have been held annually in the Crimea since 1997, and had been subject to occasionally violent anti-NATO protests in recent years.
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