British commandos have carried out a daring training operation by hitching a ride on top of a German submarine during a major war exercise. The drill took place at Cape Wrath, off the north coast of Scotland, as part of Strike Warrior 26 – the largest test of all arms of the UK Commando Force in 15 years.
First joint operation since Afghanistan
The Royal Navy said the event marked the first time since the war in Afghanistan that specialist elements of the UK's elite commando formation worked together. More than 2,000 personnel from the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, Germany, Norway and the USA took part in the rehearsal for allied crisis-response operations in the High North and North Atlantic region.
“The submarine operation showed the powerful combination of bringing allies together, with the German U-boat charged with identifying targets, commandos discreetly landing ashore and the Portuguese bringing the firepower onto the target,” the Royal Navy said.
Specialist battery directs naval gunfire
Navy and Army commandos from 148 Battery Commando Forward Observation Battery – part of specialist units trained to carry out reconnaissance and direct naval gunfire from behind enemy lines – used inflatable raiding boats to establish an observation post on the cliffs. From there, they directed the guns of Portuguese warship NRP Dom Francisco de Almeida onto “enemy” positions.
The rehearsals have also included amphibious landings, boarding operations, intelligence and surveillance missions, logistics and sustainment work, maritime security and anti-submarine warfare.
Complexity not seen for 30 years
148 Battery Operations Officer, who cannot be named for operational reasons, said: “This level of complexity and coordination of live assets has not been achieved by 148 Battery for nearly 30 years. We wanted to demonstrate to our partners across the United Kingdom Commando Force, wider UK Defence and NATO Special Operations Force community the type of missions we are prepared to execute against future threats. Warfighting is our focus, and we are prepared to employ specialist assets to deliver Multi-Domain Fires and Targeting.”
In all, eight warships and 19 aircraft are involved in Strike Warrior, which started on September 28 and finishes this Friday.
