More than 1,400 British troops cross to Europe by civilian ferry ahead of NATO exercise

The British Army has used a civilian ferry to send troops to mainland Europe en masse for the first time in a generation.

It comes as the soldiers prepared for drills on the continent over how to respond if a NATO ally was attacked.

On their way to take part in Exercise Rhino Storm, more than 1,400 troops embarked on a DFDS ferry from North Tyneside on Wednesday for a 16-hour North Sea crossing to the Netherlands.

The soldiers, from the 7th Light Mechanised Brigade and known as the Desert Rats, then took trains to central Germany to report for the drills.

The exercise is to show the Army's readiness should NATO's Article 5 be triggered by an attack in mainland Europe.

The article states that an armed attack against one member shall be considered an attack on all.

It was the first time since the 2003 Iraq War that a whole ferry has been chartered for military use by the British Army.

Read more: How NATO's collective defence clause works - and the one time it was invoked

The Ministry of Defence said the use of a civilian ferry was not due to a lack of military transport.

Company Commander Charlie Gilmore of Right Flank, The Scots Guards, admitted its use for a large-scale deployment was "unusual in recent times".

However, he added that "we used them a generation or two ago in the Falklands and a generation ago in the Gulf conflict".

He added that "there's also a strong reason behind it", saying: "It shows a kind of flexibility."

"If we were to rely on the strategic airlift that's provided by the Royal Air Force, we would clog all of that up to move the circa 1,400 people that are going.

"It would take about seven flights to do that. So we can move by air, by sea, we can move by rail, and it allows us to force-project to the location we need to get to."

There was no alcohol or duty-free available for the ferry trip which was reserved for service personnel only.

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Meanwhile, a dozen defence sources have told Sky's defence and security editor Deborah Haynes that a multimillion-pound push by Defence Secretary John Healey to transform how the UK rearms and fights is a "fiasco".

(c) Sky News 2026: More than 1,400 British troops cross to Europe by civilian ferry ahead of NATO exercise