Four fast attack craft from the UK Royal Navy's Coastal Forces Squadron have completed a joint exercise with the Estonian Navy in the Baltic Sea.
The operation, which took place in the Gulf of Finland and Tallinn Bay, was part of the squadron's two-month mission to the region and was intended to demonstrate the UK's support for its NATO allies.
The four P2000-class boats, HMS Pursuer, Express, Puncher, and Dasher, were placed under Estonian command to test the ability of the two navies to work together seamlessly.
The training focused on basic combined manoeuvres, with the Estonian vessel EML Ugandi, a former Royal Navy minehunter, serving as a "mother ship" to the British craft.
Major Steven Maguire, the UK’s deputy defence attaché in Tallinn, stated that the joint naval exercise underlined the UK’s ongoing support for Estonia, wider regional security, and international alliances. He noted that the Royal Navy has stood, "shoulder to shoulder with Estonia in its war of independence and that support has never wavered".
The training is part of the much larger "Exercise Tarassis", which the navy described as the "most ambitious" live activity conducted by the ten-nation Joint Expeditionary Force since it was established over a decade ago.
