Tuesday 20 February the European Multi-Mission Frigate (FREMM) Carlo Margottini set sail from the port of La Spezia for a campaign that will see it engaged in the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the adjacent Gulf and take part in the European anti-piracy operation Atalanta.
During the Nave campaign Margottini will stop in Karachi (Pakistan), will participate in Doha International Maritime Defense Exhibition & Conference (DIMDEX 18) in Qatar and will make some visits to the ports of Kuwait City (Kuwait), Damman (Saudi Arabia) and the United Arab Emirates before arriving in Djibouti in April to take command of the Operation Atalanta.
The location of the FREMM Margottini in addition to guaranteeing the presence and surveillance for the protection of maritime traffic lines of national interest, it is part of the activities that the Navy conducts with allied and friendly nations in the sector of multinational cooperation and dialogue between countries. At the same time, this activity makes it possible to guarantee a qualified presence in foreign countries with which Italy has important political-diplomatic, economic and military cooperation relations.
The campaign that has just started is also an important opportunity to promote the “Italian System” in an integrated way, supporting and supporting the activities of the great representatives of the national industry.
The participation in DIMDEX 2018 is part of this framework: a major event in the field of technologies and industrial capabilities for defense in the maritime sector. This is an event that has reached its 6th edition in its 10 years of life. Alongside purely commercial activities, the DIMDEX is also an opportunity to establish and consolidate contacts with the marinas that face the same threats, risks and challenges at sea every day: illicit trafficking, piracy, illegal exploitation of marine resources.
The middle-eastern dislocation of Nave Margottini it will be completed with participation in the operation Atalanta which, since 2008, on the decision of the European Council, has been carrying out activities to combat maritime piracy in the area of the Horn of Africa where, even today, it continues to represent a threat to the freedom of navigation of merchant traffic and, in particular, to the transport of humanitarian aid from the World Food Program.
The frigate Carlo Margottini
Under the command of frigate captain Giuseppe Lai, it is a unit of the Italian-French FREMM program (European Multi Mission Frigate). It was launched on 29 June 2013 at the Riva Trigoso shipyard (GE), delivered to the Navy on 27 February 2014 and received the Combat flag on 22 April 2016 in Reggio Calabria.
Distinguished by the F 592 optical badge, according to the NATO classification, it is a new generation frigate characterized by the possibility of use in various operational contexts. It is the third FREMM and the second in the ASW version. With a crew of 168 men and women, almost half that of frigates of other classes, it has a displacement of 6700 tons and reaches 27 knots of speed.
Ship Margottini He took part:
in the 2014, at the Operation Mare Nostrum;
in February of the 2015 to the anti-submarine exercise Smart Hunt, with the German Navy;
in June of the 2016 to the activity with the United States Navy for the promotion of the Green Fleet;
in May 2017 at the exercise Open Sea 2017.
Finally, the ship participated in four missions within the Operation Safe Sea, carrying out tasks of presence, surveillance and maritime security and will remain engaged in the Gulf of Aden until the next month of August 2018.
