"Enjoyable and mutually beneficial" Royal Navy exercises with tiny boats and Latvian Baltic Sea forces hailed
.jpg?width=96&crop=1:1,smart)
An extensive exercise involving some of the smallest vessels in the Royal Navy fleet has been hailed a major success.
Four P2000 patrol boats, based in Portsmouth and Plymouth, joined forces with the Latvian navy and coastguard for patrols across the Baltic. Lieutenant John Hawke, Commanding Officer of HMS Pursuer, hailed the operation as a major success.
![The Royal Navy Coastal Forces Squadron exercised with units of the Latvian Navy off the coastal town of Mersarags. HMS Pursuer [P273], HMS Dasher [P280] and HMS Puncher [P291] rafted up to the Latvian minehunter LVNS Imanta.](https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/jpim-static/image/2025/09/24/12/42/FLEET-20250920-XY0094-036.jpeg?crop=3:2,smart&trim=&width=640&quality=65)
He said: “It has been a pleasure to train with our Latvian Joint Expeditionary Force partners during Exercise Eastern Sea. Their navy and coastguard have deep experience working close to their shores, so sharing experiences and procedures has been enjoyable and mutually beneficial. The Coastal Forces Squadron looks forward to further such work as we continue our activity.”
HMS Dasher, Pursuer, Express, and Pursuer, conducted various exercises in the open Baltic and Gulf of Riga to give Latvia a security boost. The Baltic nation has a coastline extending for around 500 kilometres from the border with Lithuania to Estonia in the Gulf of Riga. Navy vessels - patrol craft and minehunters - protect the area along with the coastguard.
After taking part in a large-scale exercise off the German Baltic shore, Northern Coasts, the boats from the Portsmouth-based Coastal Forces Squadron pushed deeper into the Baltic. Off the Latvian coast – and with ideal sea conditions – the P2000 crews knuckled down to Exercise Eastern Sea, which ran through a range of likely scenarios, joint manoeuvres and combined drills.
Eastern Sea is one strand of a series of early autumn exercises involving the Joint Expedition Force (JEF), a coalition of nations committed to the safety, security and prosperity of northern European waters. Given the overarching name Tarassis, the series of half a dozen smaller exercises is spread across Norway, Latvia, Finland and the eastern Baltic. Land, sea, and air operations take place from September to mid-October.
The aim is to demonstrate both the readiness and combined effectiveness of JEF nations, deterring any potential adversaries.