VARNA, Bulgaria –
U.S. 6th Fleet and the Bulgarian Navy concludes the Fleet Commanders’ Conference, closing the second serial of exercise Sea Breeze 2024 in Varna, Bulgaria, Sept. 11, 2024.
The 3-day conference brought together Heads of Navy from the Black Sea and other key mine countermeasure (MCM)-capable Allies and partners to enhance mutual understanding and maritime collaboration purposed toward developing a coalition approach to demining the Black Sea.
“Our goal for this year’s Sea Breeze is to improve freedom of navigation in the Black Sea region for the security and stability of the Black Sea nations,” said Vice Adm. Thomas Ishee, commander, U.S. 6th Fleet. “We’ll do this through continued training and by enhancing interoperability to counter the floating mine threat in the Black Sea.”
During the conference, Heads of Navy covered a wide range of topics aimed at securing Black Sea navigation and ensuring freedom of navigation and interoperability. The topics included maritime domain awareness for mine threat detection, Black Sea perspectives on the mine threat, and coalition operations.
“Floating mines in the Black Sea threaten commercial shipping, which is tied to global food security. This exercise is a multilateral demonstration of cooperation, collaboration, interoperability, and solidarity to promote peace and security,” said Rear Adm. Kiril Mihaylov, commander, Bulgarian Navy. “I believe that together with our Allies and partners, we will continue to fight and instill peace and security into this region.”
The conference also covered lessons learned from MCM, future MCM capabilities development of the Bulgarian Navy, historical mine warfare in vicinity of Japan, using unmanned systems to counter Black Sea mining threats, and the Mine Countermeasures Black Sea Task Group.
Last year’s Fleet Commanders’ Conference for Sea Breeze 2023 led to the creation of the Mine Countermeasures Black Sea Task Group between Bulgaria, Türkiye, and Romania.
Countries and organizations that participated in Sea Breeze 24-2 include Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, NATO Allied Maritime Command, Romania, Sweden, Türkiye, Ukraine, U.K., and U.S.
Sea Breeze 2024 continues with its third and final iteration, Sea Breeze 24-3, focused on explosive ordnance disposal, dive operations, and unmanned underwater vehicles with a preparation week dedicated to Task Group 2 and MCM planning.
Exercise Sea Breeze 2024 is a joint mine countermeasure exercise between the Bulgarian Navy, Royal Navy, Ukrainian Navy and U.S. Navy.
Headquartered in Naples, Italy, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa operates U.S. naval forces in the U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command areas of responsibility.
U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied and interagency partners, in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa.