NATO warships gather for “class” photo

NATO warships have lined up to within just a few hundred feet of each other and taken part in a complicated group exercise for Exercise Trident Juncture 15.

The tricky feat was captured by Royal Navy photographers as part of Officer of the Watch Manoeuvres – a difficult task that tests ship communication systems, as well as command and control systems between vessels.

In total 18 warships, from 11 nations, took part in the series of complex manoeuvres which covered hundred of miles of the Western Mediterranean over several hours.

Two British warships took part in the serial, Her Majesty’s Ships Ocean and Bulwark, with Ocean’s Navigating Officer coordinating the whole exercise.

Navigating Officer Lieutenant Commander George Storton, from Bosham, West Sussex, said: “Modern warships are packed full of technology but underneath all of that we still need to recognise the basic mariner principles.

"Learning practical seamanship is vitally important, as this exercise demonstrated, but it’s also great fun!”