Exercise Sea Breeze 25-2 Opens with Focus on Black Sea Mine Counter Measures
30 June 2025
Portland, United Kingdom --
PORTLAND, United Kingdom - Naval forces from Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Georgia, Greece, Latvia, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, and the United States have begun Exercise Sea Breeze 25-2 in Portland, England.
The second iteration of Sea Breeze 25 is a mine countermeasure (MCM) focused exercise taking place June 30 – July 11, 2025. Participating forces will conduct mine hunting operations utilizing Mine Countermeasure Vessels (MCMVs), explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams, dive and salvage operations, unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) and unmanned surface vessels.
Sea Breeze 25-2 offers NATO Allies and partner nations the opportunity to enhance interoperability and warfighting capabilities in within the Black Sea region. This includes staff planning, command and control, and tactical execution with a particular focus on integrating diverse systems and capabilities within a complex, multi-domain environment.
“The core message of Sea Breeze 25-2 is clear, exercises like this increase the ability of NATO allies and partners to collaborate and operate in a high intensity, joint operating environment building the preeminent military capabilities necessary to win,” said Rear Admiral Mike Mattis, Director, Strategic Effects, Commander U.S. Naval Forces Europe/Africa Commander, Task Force-SIX SIX. “Training as one unified, lethal force ensures our collective security and improves our overall warfighting capabilities.”
The participating naval forces will demonstrate their expertise in a range of maritime skills. This includes mine hunting operations, the safe disposal of explosive ordnance, precision diving and salvage techniques, and the effective deployment of unmanned underwater and surface vehicles. The exercise will culminate in a demonstration that combines these individual capabilities, further strengthening the cohesion and warfighting effectiveness of allied and partner forces.
At the Sea Breeze 25-2 Headquarters (HQ), a combined and multinational HQ Staff will conduct integrated training with a focus on planning and targeting capabilities, command-and-control of Ally and partner forces, electronic warfare exploitation and countermeasures, and the integration of unmanned systems to increase and consolidate cross-domain awareness.
This year, Exercise Sea Breeze 2025 occurred in two iterations, Sea Breeze 25-1 and 25-2. The first iteration, Sea Breeze 25-1, was hosted by the Romanian Armed Forces at Smardan Range, Romania, June 1-20, 2025.
Since 1997, Exercise Sea Breeze has brought together Black Sea nations, NATO Allies and partners together to train and operate with NATO members in the pursuit of building increased capabilities. Exercise Sea Breeze 2025 is an annual multinational maritime exercise, involving sea, land, and air components co-hosted by the United States and Ukraine to enhance interoperability and capability among participating forces.
Commander, U.S. Sixth Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allies, international partners, and other U.S. government departments and agencies to advance U.S. national interests, security, and stability in Europe and Africa.