The overall exercise commander for Grand Slam was Admiral Robert B. Carney USN, NATO's Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Southern Europe (CINCSOUTH).

[10] Land-based aircraft from all four nations, as well as American, British, and French submarines, rounded out the allied forces involved in this exercise.

[1][3] Allied warships escorted three convoys of supply ships which were subjected to repeated simulated air and submarine attacks.

[3] All three convoys arrived at their respective destinations although with numerous ships declared damaged or sunk by the simulated enemy attacks.

[3] Finally, a surface force consisting of eight cruisers and ten destroyers carried out a shore bombardment off the Sardinian coast.