50 warships participate in NATO exercise in Baltic Sea

VILNIUS - Fifty warships from 15 NATO countries are to take part in the alliance's Loyal Mariner (Blue Game) 05 exercise, which started Monday in the Baltic Sea, the Lithuanian defense ministry said.
"This is a large-scale international exercise with a goal to check the readiness of ships and their crews," it said in a statement.
Lithuania, which joined NATO last year, will send one of its two mine-sweepers to take part in the exercise.
Military planes and helicopters will also be involved in the exercise, which is due to run until April 29.

04/11/2005 13:27 GMT