First of the established NATO-partners to conduct exercise with newest member  

Vlore (Albania), 19 April 2009 – A friendly Easter sun shines over Pashaliman Naval Base, home port of the Albanian Navy’s Southern Flotilla. Today the Chief of the Defence Staff, the Commander of the Albanian Naval Brigade, the Netherlands’ ambassador to Albania and many other dignitaries found their way to Vlore. The ‘DV Day’ (military jargon for a ‘Distinguished Visitors Day’) marks the end of a series of joint combined bi-lateral Dutch-Albanian training exercises. The week long presence of Her Netherlands Majesty Ship Rotterdam in the bay of Vlore was received as another confirmation of Albania’s NATO membership.

The Dutch and Albanian forces executed a very full and action-packed series of training exercises, using HNLMS Rotterdam as the command platform and floating barracks. Dutch Naval Fleet personnel, Marines and Army Engineers plus a combined medical team worked side by side with Albanian Navy, Special Forces, Infantry and Air Force staff. From dusk to dawn, amphibious landing craft sailed in and out of the dock of the Dutch LPD1. While HNLMS Rotterdam was designed as a multi-purpose ship, Captain Peter van den Berg, his officers and the other crew members are the ones who make the concept work. They have proven (again) that hospitality and military discipline can go hand in hand. This was much appreciated by the embarked staff of the new NATO partner, as well a handful of Romanian observers.

The programme for the DV Day contained many of the key skills and drills that had been practiced during the week. Joint Albanian and Dutch Special Forces units conducted an amphibious landing, followed by a reconnaissance routine and – once they had ‘eyes on target’ – entered into a terrorist hide-out, which was then appropriately destroyed by a big explosion. The DVs could see how arrests were made, only seconds before a second wave of marines conducted a follow-up amphibious landing. 

The same procedures had been rehearsed earlier in the week on the deserted island of Sazan. This piece of rock, strategically located at the entrance of the bay of Vlore, proves to be an ideal training site. On its five square kilometres the island offers ample opportunities for serious rock climbing, urban warfare exercises and reconnaissance training. Even live firing exercises and applying heavy explosives can be conducted without any danger to civilians.

On board of ‘sea base’ HNLMS Rotterdam other ‘military assets’ were tried and tested. Huey and Bolkow helicopters of the Albanian Air Force conducted multiple serials of deck landings. Of course the amazing flying machines were also used for ‘vertical insertions’, meaning that Special Forces personnel used ropes to board the ship from ten to fifteen meters above the flight deck. Sail pasts and fleet formation drills were executed throughout the week to practice maritime manoeuvring and communications procedures. 

The Albanian Coast Guard cutter Iliria (built in the Netherlands by Damen-Schelde Shipyards) served as the ‘mother ship’ for the Royal Netherlands Navy’s Diving and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group. The Dutch maritime EOD experts were joined by Albanian Navy divers to search old ammunition dumping sites in the bay of Vlore. They removed more than five hundred grenades, boxes filled with old ammunition and other explosives from five different locations. The most prominent location was right in front of Hotel New York in Vlore. The disposal of the old ammunition by the EOD is believed to be very significant. According to Naval base commander Captain Arturo Mecollari the country’s main destination for sea-side tourism in Vlora is now a much safer place.