Mine, mine, all mine!!!! - NATO Mine Countermeasures Group in Cork
"The Germans have landed!" - Now there's a headline to grab your attention. I have to admit I unconciously checked my calendar when I saw that subtle, tasteful headline in my Google News feed, just to make sure that April 1st hadn't come early. A quick check of the link quickly brought certainty. A multinational naval task force had indeed entered the Port of Cork, including a German Warship. However, this whole affair wasn't due to the Troika loosing patience with Ireland. The ships belonging to a NATO standing squadron had conducted exercises with the Irish Defence Forces for the last two weeks, and were now in Cork for a courtesy visit. The crest of Standing NATO Mine Countermeassures Group 1 The ships, all of them minesweepers or minehunters, belonged to Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 (SNMCMG1), one of two such task forces always at sea and available for operations. While the German minehunter in the group, the FGS Weilheim, had caught most of t...