Royal Navy: HMS Duncan hands off Nato Mediterranean task group command after intense front-line deployment

HMS Duncan was in charge of Nato’s premier task group in the Mediterranean sea for more than five months. Command of Standing NATO Maritime Group Two (SNMG2) has been passed onto the Italian navy. Nato said The Type 45 destroyer and her task group – led by the Royal Navy’s Commodore Paul Stroude – maintained “ceaseless vigilance, presence and readiness to reassure regional allies, deter adversaries and, if necessary, defend NATO territorial integrity”.

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Cdre Stroude said: “Commanding this multinational task group has been the most extraordinary privilege and experience. Every ship and every nation that I have had the pleasure to work with has contributed its own individual skills and capabilities. Yet it is remarkable how through being united by a common purpose and a common set of values, and with a common set of operating procedures and equipment, these ships could come together and work seamlessly such that the whole was greater than the sum of its parts.

"This is the true strength of the NATO alliance. Our success from start to finish was also underpinned by the power of friendships, and the incredible support that was altruistically provided to the task group by the network of NATO Mediterranean nations. This was extremely humbling.” Cdre Stroude and his crew took command in June from the USA. A total of 19 different ships contributed directly to the task group from nine different Nato nations including Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

Dozens more allied ships, submarines and aircraft worked with the task group. Stroude’s multinational staff was drawn from seven contributing nations: Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Romania, Spain, Turkey, and the UK. Exercises carried out included traversing a simulated minefield and eliminating dummy explosives spread out in a chokepoint.

Rear Admiral Pasquale Esposito, of the Italian Navy – and his flagship ITS Bergamini – will be assuming command of the task group. He said at a ceremony in Taranto: “I inherit an important legacy of all that my predecessor, Commodore Stroude, achieved, and as a task group we are ready to do whatever it takes to accomplish our mission.” SNMG2 is one of four Standing Naval Forces operated under Nato.