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Royal Navy squadron deepens NATO bonds during training with Dutch ship
5 November 2025
Royal Navy pilots and engineers spent just over two weeks operating with a Royal Netherlands Navy amphibious ship as two close NATO navies prepared for further missions protecting the alliance’s frontiers.
Yeovilton-based 846 Naval Air Squadron of the Commando Helicopter Force took two of their Merlin Mk4 helicopters and a 100-strong team to HNLMS Johan de Witt for missions off the UK and French coasts.
This intensive training aimed to bring Dutch and UK personnel closer together, enhancing their understanding of each other’s ways of operating, with the ultimate goal of working seamlessly together – building on more than 50 years of joint operations.
It also provided an opportunity for 846 Naval Air Squadron’s pilots to complete deck landing qualifications – carrying out day and night landings and vertical replenishments (lifting supplies to and from the ship) during 50 hours of sorties.
“This was a huge success, achieved by a small team of professionals who understand the value of partner nations being stronger together,” said 846 Naval Air Squadron’s Commanding Officer, Commander James Coleman.
“The Commando Helicopter Force is more capable and better qualified thanks to the hard work of HNLMS Johan de Witt and 846 Naval Air Squadron.”
The training – known as Exercise Merlin Trident – was also an opportunity for instructors to regain valuable embarked aviation experience. It was also the first deployment on a ship for 40 of the squadron’s 100 engineers.
The hulking Rotterdam-class vessel is currently the flagship of Standing Maritime NATO Group 1, the alliance’s premier task force patrolling northern European waters. It conducts an intensive programme of scheduled exercises, manoeuvres, and port visits to strengthen bonds between NATO navies.
As the focal point of the task group, Royal Marines also practised amphibious operations with HNLMS Johan de Witt – with 42 Commando conducting boarding operations and 47 Commando operating their landing craft from the ship’s dock.
While the Merlins were aboard Johan de Witt, they flew in tandem with the Dutch NH-90s embarked on the ship and operated with the a German Lynx helicopter from frigate FGS Hamburg, which is part of the SNMG1 force.
During this period, HMS Somerset and HMS Duncan worked as part of SNMG1 – allowing the Royal Navy’s high-readiness units to operate within a coordinated effort to establish alliance presence and demonstrate solidarity with partner nations.
While destroyer Duncan tracked the Russian warship Vice Admiral Kulakov through the English Channel, Type 23 Somerset conducted Maritime Security Patrols in the sea lanes between Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Scotland – the critical passage between the North Atlantic and Arctic waters.