On the 29^th of August HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën sailed northbound through the Suez Channel, heading to the United Kingdom for the exercise Joint Warrior after almost 2 months of deployment in NATO’s anti piracy mission “Ocean Shield” in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia. During and after that mission the ship acted as flagship of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 with embarked staff on board.