Romanian deep see divers at Kurtaran 19 Exercise
A delegation from 175th Navy Divers Division took part, alongside servicemen from 17 other partner states, in the multinational exercise Kurtaran 19, organized by the Turkish Naval Forces on May 27-31.
The mission of Romanian deep-sea divers was to identify the position of a damaged submarine, according to the scenario of the exercise, in the depths of the Mediterranean Sea, in the Marmaris resort area of Turkey, and to save its crew.
The use of NATO procedures and state-of-the-art equipment was intended to develop the level of interoperability between the troops of the participating States.
“The Kurtaran-19 military exercise is the largest national undersea search and rescue exercise ever performed across NATO,” told Col. Niyazi Uğur, a search and rescue submarine commander, on a briefing on Wednesday.
Armed forces from Turkey and 17 other countries, plus an observer organization, participated in the exercise, held at the Aksaz Naval Base on the coast of Aegean Sea.
The aim of the Kurtaran exercise was the transfer, in the most efficient way, of rescue personnel from the countries where they are stationed to the locations of an accident, while developing methods for joint rescue operations for the recovery of submarine personnel, from NATO and non-NATO countries, as well as introducing current rescue systems.
The participating countries were Turkey, the U.S., Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Bulgaria, Algeria, France, Georgia, Italy, Canada, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Pakistan, Portugal, Romania, and Greece. The International Submarine Escape and Rescue Liaison Office (ISMERLO) was observing the exercise.
Uğur also said the Kurtaran exercise is being carried out with six ships, three submarines, six coast guard boats, two planes, two helicopters, 21 search and rescue personnel, 12 rescue paratroopers, 21 submarine evacuation and rescue personnel, and three foreign divers.
According to the drill scenario, paratrooper search and rescue team were airdropped and pulled the victims out of the water, who were then transferred to the TCG Alemdar, the submarine rescue mother ship of the Turkish Navy.
