In late November 1966, U.S. Rear Admiral
Richard G. Colbert prepared a concept paper proposing a permanent
Allied Command Atlantic naval contingency force based on Operation Matchmaker, an annual six-month
exercise involving ships from NATO navies. The proposed contingency force was approved by NATO in December 1967 and activated in January 1968 as Standing Naval Force Atlantic (STANAVFORLANT). During the 1990s, STANAVFORLANT was heavily involved in
Operation Maritime Monitor (July 1992 to November 1992),
Operation Maritime Guard (November 1992 to June 1993) and
Operation Sharp Guard (June 1993 to October 1996), the maritime embargo operations in the
Adriatic Sea established to ensure compliance by
Serbia and Montenegro with
United Nations (UN) resolutions
713,
715,
787,
820 and
943. Between November 1992 and June 1996 some 74,000 ships were challenged, almost 6,000 were inspected at sea and more than 1,400 were diverted and inspected in port. The force was under the operational control of
SACLANT until SACLANT was decommissioned in 2003, when it was merged into NATO's
Allied Command Operations (ACO). The force was re-designated Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 in January 2005. In September 2007, SNMG1 was in the
Red Sea bound for
Suez to complete a
circumnavigation of Africa when the
Jabal al-Tair volcano erupted. SNMG1 ships assisted the
Yemeni coast guard in the recovery of their military personnel stationed on the island. From March 2009 to June 2009 SNMG1 was deployed by NATO off the Somali coast to conduct
Operation Allied Protector, to deter, defend and protect
World Food Programme (WFP) vessels against the threat of piracy and armed robbery, thereby allowing WFP to fulfill its mission of providing humanitarian aid. Since August 2009, SNMG1 has been providing ships for NATO's
Operation Ocean Shield anti-
piracy mission in the
Gulf of Aden. On 23–25 March 2012 the group conducted a passing exercise with
Carrier Strike Group Twelve, led by , while carrying out
Operation Active Endeavor missions in the
Mediterranean Sea. The group's commander,
Commodore Ben Bekkering of the
Royal Netherlands Navy, visited
Enterprise. At the time, the group consisted of the Royal Netherlands Navy frigate , the Spanish Navy frigate , the German Navy frigate , and the Royal Canadian Navy frigate . In November 2018,
HNoMS Helge Ingstad of the
Royal Norwegian Navy was operating with SNMG1 when she was involved in a collision with a Maltese-flagged tanker and had to be deliberately run aground to prevent her sinking. The remainder of SNMG1 stood by to provide assistance. During 2021, SNMG1 was active in the region of the
Baltic Sea for 12 days. ==Current ships==