Five NATO navy ships in Øresund

The small NATO flotilla on its way northwards in the Sound

Last night a small "Baltic" navy flotilla made its way northwards through the Øresund. The ship crews from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania must have enjoyed the beauty of the Nordic summer evening ...

The modernised Sandown-class minehunter EML Admiral Cowan (M313) was the first ship in the flotilla. She used to serve as the former HMS Sandown lead ship of her class of the Royal Navy. The ship is now part of the Estonian Navy. 

This is the Latvian Naval Forces´ VIDAR class minelayer Virsaitis (A53). The ship, which was built in 1978 for the Royal Norwegian Navy, was previously called Vale. 

The LKL Sūduvis (M52) is a minehunter of the Lithuanian Naval Force. It was built already in 1957 as Koblenz (M1701), a Lindau-class minesweeper for the German Navy. Germany donated the minehunter to Lithuania in 1999. 

This is the Latvian Storm-class Fast Patrol Boat LVNS Lode (P02). Originally she was one of the 20 Storm-class vessels built for the Royal Norwegian Navy. In 1995 Norway donated three of these boats to Latvia. 

The Lithuanian patrol boat Dzukas (P12) is the former Royal Danish Navy Flyvefisken class multirole vessel Hajen. The Hajen and her sister ship Lommen were delivered to the Lithuanian Navy in 2010.