Beachcombing in East Greenland
The Danes are currently hosting 400 soldiers from 11 NATO countries in a large ground force exercise in Greenland, and just wrapped up a rare joint exercise with SNMG1 and SNMCMG1 off Iceland for Operation Reassurance, along with Op Nanook Tuugaalik with the Canadian and U.S. naval forces, with the latter including the Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Wichita (LCS 13), surged to the far north from sunny 102-degree Mayport.
Finnish special forces are in Greenland having a blast…
Meanwhile, the current batch of Greenlandic territorials, the Arktisk Basisuddannelses, are probably not loving their training. Note the new Colt Canada C8s, though…
HMCS Robert Hampton Gray performs maneuvers with HDMS Thetis and CCGS George R. Pearkes during Operation Nanook-Tuugaalik on August 21, 2026. Photo: Corporal Paquette, Canadian Armed Forces Photo
ORP Mewa and HMCS Moncton conduct a mine-screening exercise alongside FS Auvergne while sailing astern of HMCS Ville De Québec during Operation Reassurance in the North Atlantic Ocean on 16 August 2026. Corporal Gregory Cole, Canadian Armed Forces Photo
With all of this naval and coast guard ship movement, it is of interest that a shore party of tourists from a passing cruise ship (!) came upon an old Soviet naval mine in Carlsberg Fjord (Kangerterajitta Itterterilaq), north of Ittoqqortoormiit in East Greenland.
Nope. Don’t like that on your beach walk…
For reference, the closest town to where the mine was found is Scoresbysund (Ittoqqortoormiit), a 300-person hamlet just 20 miles away as the crow flies, but is about 500 miles NW by air of Reykjavík and 900 miles from Nuuk, the capital of Greenland on the opposite side of the frozen subcontinent.
A det from the Royal Danish Navy UDT group (Søværnets Dykkertjeneste) helicoptered in and zapped said mine.
As to the mine’s origin, it likely floated at least 1,200 miles across the Barents and Greenland Sea from the Northern Norwegian coast (e.g., Kirkenes) or the Kola Peninsula and could very well have been laid during WWII.