Royal Navy ends NATO task force deployment with handover to France

The Royal Navy has handed over command of Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1) to the French Navy after four months in charge of operations.

SNMG1 is focused on the North Atlantic and spans an area from the Baltic Sea to the Arctic, the Canadian High North and the US’s Eastern Seaboard.

In a ceremony, the Royal Navy’s Commodore Maryla Ingham passed the leadership of SNMG1 over to French Rear Admiral Nicolas Molitor in Reykjavik, Iceland. It took place aboard the Canadian frigate HMCS Ville de Québec.

The #RoyalNavy has handed over command of NATO's premier task group in Northern Europe after four months in charge of operations.#StrongerTogether #WeAreNATO

➡️https://t.co/SziTPjFAnF pic.twitter.com/m4hBYJkCjV

— Royal Navy (@RoyalNavy) August 20, 2026

During her tenure, there were times when Ingham and her multinational Battle Staff led SNMG1 from the German frigate FGS Sachsen and the Canadian frigate HMCS Ville De Quebec. This was the first time that a Royal Navy-led task group was commanded from ships from two partner nations, “underlying the high levels of trust between allies.”

Handing the baton to the French Navy

The French news outlet, Le Télégramme, reported that the change of command ceremony was presided over by French Vice Admiral Ludovic Poitou.

The French staff, led by Rear Admiral Nicolas Molitor, is composed of French sailors, reinforced by Portuguese, Polish, Spanish, British, and German officers. Molitor will now lead the group until December 2026, according to Le Télégramme.

Royal Navy’s Commodore Maryla Ingham said during the ceremony, “Leading Standing NATO Maritime Group One has been a great privilege. I am incredibly proud of my Battle Staff and the ships from across the Alliance that have served alongside us, demonstrating NATO’s unwavering commitment to collective defence and deterrence.”

SNMG1 is expected to continue to provide continuous deterrence “against malign actors at sea” and reassure allies.

The Royal Navy-led Baltic and Arctic Sentry & Exercise Dynamic Mongoose

During Commodore Ingham’s leadership, the NATO task group conducted efforts under Baltic and Arctic Sentry. It also performed anti-submarine warfare drills during Exercise Dynamic Mongoose.

NATO launched Arctic Sentry in February 2026 as a multi-domain effort to strengthen the alliance’s posture in the Arctic and High North. NATO says it allowed NATO to consolidate its actions into one coherent overarching operational approach.

Dynamic Mongoose 2026 was a NATO anti-submarine-focused exercise hosted by Norway and was a two-week exercise that included forces from nine Allied and partner nations. It kicked off at the end of May and was part of Arctic Sentry.

SNMG1 was also involved in Fleet Exercise 250 off the coast of North Carolina and Virginia. That exercise saw the participation of 30 warships in the lead-up to the International Naval Review in New York in early July.