The Estonian vessels that took part in the almost two-week exercise were Sakala and the Navy's command and support vessel Wambola. During the exercise, the crew of the vessel and mine countermeasures (MCM) divers rehearsed cooperation with units of the ground forces, navy and the air force of allies, military spokespeople in Tallinn said.

MCM personnel aboard the Sakala detected several training mines in the territorial waters of Sweden and Poland during the exercise and Estonian MCM divers had the possibility to rehearse disarming the mines.

The exercise took place in the southwestern part of the Baltic Sea in the area of the island of Bornholm, between southern Sweden and the Polish coast.

"In conclusion, we can say that our units achieved full combat readiness and fulfilled the goals of the training exercise, which were the establishment of maritime picture, ensuring of free movement on the waterways and preparing the area of a landing exercise," the commander of Wambola, Lt. Cmdr. Ermo Jeedas said, adding that the landing carried out by allies was successful. 

Sakala and Wambola, which left for the exercise on June 5, are expected to return to their base in Tallinn on Friday. 

Staged since 1971, Baltops is the biggest annual military exercise in the Baltic Sea. In total 29 vessels and units of the ground forces, the navy and the air force from 19 countries took part in Baltops 2020.

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