BALTOPS and European sea power
The Signal | No. 07.2025
Welcome to The Signal, your monthly maritime newsletter, written and edited by Dr Emma Salisbury.
Thoughts from your correspondent
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (NATO) multinational maritime exercise BALTOPS 2025 has officially concluded after weeks of high-intensity operations across the Baltic Sea. This year’s exercise brought together more than 40 ships, 25 aircraft and 9,000 personnel from 16 NATO allies and partner nations. Perhaps most importantly, BALTOPS ends in Kiel, Germany, for the glorious maritime festival that is Kieler Woche (Kiel Week), giving some much-needed time ashore (with the excellent local pilsner) for the crews.
Your correspondent was in Kiel for the end of BALTOPS – and not just for the annual reception on the deck of the command ship, the USS Mount Whitney – although I certainly represented our great nation enthusiastically at the buffet. My true purpose was the Kiel International Seapower Symposium, which coincides with these events to bring together NATO navies and academics to think big thoughts.
I wouldn’t normally write in these pages about a naval conference, but my time in Kiel struck an important note – it was the first time I’d been in the same room as so many NATO allies after the American presidential election, and the shift was palpable. Every European I spoke with (whether military, government or academic) was convinced of the need for all of us on the continent to prepare for the possibility of a conflict with Russia with limited or non-existent American support. The Americans there were variously abashed or defensive – keen to emphasise that they are committed to NATO, but unable to avoid the elephant in the room of their administration’s public comments.
My own remarks, sharing the stage with colleagues from Finland and Germany to open the symposium, focused on the need for Britain to do more to engage and work with Europe on defence rather than relying on the United States (US) – an argument that went down rather better in the current circumstances than it would likely have done even a year ago, and one backed up by the recent Strategic Defence Review. Much of our conversation thus centred around what European sea power could and should look like, and there will be a lot more work to come.
My favourite story from BALTOPS, however, was from further out to sea. HMS Dasher, one of the six Royal Navy P2000 patrol boats participating in the exercises, received an urgent distress call from a nearby Swedish submarine – they had run out of coffee. The brave crew of HMS Dasher sprang into action, safely delivering coffee and some nice biscuits via a handling line. This was the first ever resupply of a submarine by a patrol boat, so a moment of history as well as of friendship!
Tracking the deployments of the Royal Navy
Key movements:
HMS Prince of Wales arrived in Singapore to kick off Carrier Strike Group 2025’s series of port visits throughout Southeast Asia as part of Operation HIGHMAST. HMS Dauntless and RFA Tidespring are also in Singapore, while HMS Richmond is in Jakarta.
HMS Venturer made her way into the water for the first time. The first of the new Type 31 frigates, she was floated off a barge in the Forth estuary and then towed back up the river to Rosyth for her final fitting out before sea trials. She’ll be one of five Type 31 frigates – and she’s a beauty!
HMS Spey met up with USCGC Stratton in the Korea Strait. The two ships performed close manoeuvring and communications training, as well as man overboard and fire drills and an exchange of personnel. HMS Spey then transited the Taiwan Strait and conducted a freedom of navigation operation around the Spratly Islands.
HMS Lancaster has another drugs bust under her belt – seizing narcotics worth £30 million from a dhow in the Arabian Sea. She’s attached to a New Zealand-led international task force hunting down illegal activity across the Indian Ocean, maintaining maritime security and upholding international law while disrupting criminal networks which affect us at home too.
Maritime news from allies and adversaries
People’s Republic of China (PRC): Both of the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s operational aircraft carriers have spent the past month in the Pacific with their escort vessels, conducting over a thousand flight ops near Japan. This is the first time that the two ships have been operating at the same time in the same area, giving opportunities for extensive carrier-carrier training exercises as well as further signalling the PRC’s ambitions to push their naval operations further out into blue water areas.
Russia: The Russian Navy launched its newest amphibious landing vessel, RFS Vladimir Andreyev, at the Yantar shipyard in Kaliningrad. Following sea trials and commissioning, she and her sister ship will likely be deployed to the Pacific Fleet next year to replace its ageing amphibious ships.
United States (US): All eyes are on the Middle East following Operation MIDNIGHT HAMMER, which included 30 Tomahawk land-attack missiles fired at targets in Isfahan and Natanz from a single US Navy submarine, unnamed in official statements but likely to be the USS Georgia. There are currently a lot of US Navy ships in the Mediterranean, Red and Arabian Seas – including two carrier strike groups and seven destroyers.
France: The Marine Nationale’s Jeanne d’Arc Task Group completed the Arctic section of its deployment, including a visit to Iceland, reaffirming France’s commitment to presence in the Wider North. The group includes the LHD Mistral and the stealth frigate Surcouf – the latter of which shares a name with my favourite unique and bizarre submarine.
Naval technology news
Crowsnest has now officially reached full operating capability. Although delayed for around three years, the airborne surveillance and control system has now been confirmed to have successfully been fitted to Merlin HM Mk 2 helicopters – just in time for three of them to deploy with Operation HIGHMAST. Crowsnest provides over-the-horizon surveillance against air and surface threats as well as airborne tactical command and control.
Royal Navy personnel took part in the CWIX exercise in Poland, where they tested rapid tech integration and data sharing to improve multinational cooperation as part of the AUKUS Pillar II Maritime Big Play programme. The event explored how data from autonomous systems could be linked to computer networks and accessed by partner nations, with trials showing that data could be transferred into a single system and shared effectively.
HMS Puncher participated in the successful test of Aquark Technologies’ atomic clock system AQlock. The portable and robust quantum navigation system is an important milestone for Position, Navigation and Timing technology, and marks a step forward in reducing reliance on the Global Navigation Satellite System for military operations, giving real-time and highly precise positioning data.
An advanced underwater robot could soon support the Royal Navy by saving lives and protecting undersea infrastructure from sabotage. Adapted by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and industry partners, the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) is designed to detect unexploded ordnance and place charges to neutralise threats safely. Operating deeper and longer than divers, it enhances safety and efficiency, working alongside other robotic systems to scan and clear the seabed. Launched from ship or shore, it sends back video and sonar data for remote operation.
The Hydrographic Exploitation Group is now ready to support the Royal Navy with surveying and hydrography. Newly split off from the meteorological team, the group will shift away from traditional survey ships towards rapidly deployable small teams, autonomous systems and survey motorboats for their important work. The data and mapping the group produces is vital for naval operations and the safety of all those using the sea.
Who deserves a mention
This summer, work will begin on a new monument commemorating one of the Second World War’s most daring missions – Operation CHARIOT, the 1942 raid on St Nazaire. The mission successfully disabled the heavily fortified Normandie Dock, denying German battleships such as the Tirpitz access to essential repair facilities.
The new memorial will be located at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire and will feature a dramatic Corten steel sculpture of HMS Campbeltown, the destroyer famously rammed into the dock caisson during the raid. Five commando figures will be shown leaping from the ship, symbolising the daring assault which followed. Sunk over a metre into the ground, sculptor Joanne Risley’s design will allow visitors to approach the monument from below, gazing up at the ship’s bow for maximum impact.
HMS Campbeltown carried time-delayed explosives which detonated the next morning, destroying the caisson and killing hundreds of German personnel. The resulting damage kept the dock out of service for the remainder of the war.
Those taking part in Operation CHARIOT earned 140 gallantry awards, including five Victoria Crosses, cementing its legacy in British military history. BZ to all of those brave souls!
The formal dedication of the completed monument is planned on the 85th anniversary of the raid in May 2027. There remains around a £20,000 gap in donations needed, so do donate here if you have some change to spare.
‘A good Navy is not a provocation to war. It is the surest guarantee of peace.’
– President Theodore Roosevelt, 2nd December 1902, second annual message to Congress.
A reading list on maritime matters
‘Is Autonomy the End of the Naval Warfare Officer’ in Wavell Room – a provocative look at how autonomous systems might impact what naval leadership looks like.
‘AUKUS Pillar II Is Failing in Its Mission’ by Peter Dean and Alice Nason in War on the Rocks – while we all love the submarines, AUKUS is more than boats, and this article makes a strong case for improvements to make sure the technology side of the deal succeeds.
‘Necessity of Evolution: CSG Deployment After HIGHMAST’ by Edward Black and Sidharth Kaushal for RUSI – an exploration of what carrier strike deployments might look like in the future with the growing Russian threat.
Dr Emma Salisbury is the Editor of The Broadside, Sea Power Research Fellow at the Council on Geostrategy and Associate Fellow at the Royal Navy Strategic Studies Centre.
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What do you think about this article? Why not leave a comment below?
Always amazed an European self centerness. Instead of embracing the fact that EUrope has gutted itself & failed to live up to it’s defense commitments it’s America’s fault. It’s America that won’t come to help.
Where is the fact that NATO is a Mutual Defense Pact. That Western European and Canadian partners by action have shown both Eastern European & American partners that will not respond to the coming war with the CCP.
War with Russia is here and not a threat to Europe. The real threat is the CCP and their Cold War on steroids Nuclear Expansion.