This morning, at 10.00, aboard the destroyer Caio Duilio moored at the base of La Spezia, an exchange ceremony took place under the command of the first naval division between Rear Admiral Placido Torresi and Rear Admiral Angelo Virdis (successor).
Rear Admiral Torresi passes the baton after more than a year of command, an experience that has seen him occupied in various training and operational activities. These include the post of commander at sea of the surveillance operation Safe Sea, of which the first naval division is a fundamental part.
Rear Admiral Virdis comes from the headquarters of the naval operation Sophia, launched by the European Union in April 2015 aim to dismantle the smuggling of migrants in the Mediterranean, where he served as military assistant to the operation commander.
The rotation ceremony was held in the presence of the major civil, religious and military authorities and was presided over by the commander in chief of the naval team, Admiral Donato Marzano.
The surrender admiral Torresi, in the speech of the passage of the assignments, thanked and saluted his own "warriors", as he used to call the staff under his command, which counts more than 2700 men and women. Wishing his successor "calm sea and wind in its sails", he carried out the assignment under the blows of cannons.
The first naval division has the most modern vessels of the Italian Navy and carries out numerous tasks including the defense of national interests outside Italian territorial waters and the maritime defense of NATO and European Union territories. In recent years the real operations that involved the units of the first naval division (8 fregate, 1 destroyer, 1 supplier) were mainly of presence, rescue and maritime safety in the Central Mediterranean but anti-piracy missions were not missing in the areas adjacent to the Horn of Africa.
(photo of the author)
