The frigate I hope of the Navy started the 23 April from the Naval Base of Taranto, to participate in the NATO Sea Guardian operation.
The ship will reach the port of Aksaz, in Turkey, in the next days, to rejoin the NATO naval group. Ship I hope after a phase of integration and training with the other allied ships, it will leave the Turkish port Monday 28 April, to begin the patrolling operations in the Eastern Mediterranean, which will end the next 13 May.
Born after the NATO summit in Warsaw in July 2016, the operation Sea Guardian replaces the previous operation Active Endeavor, which had been set up in response to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States.
Sea Guardian it is a highly flexible operation that is able to guarantee a wide range of operational maritime security tasks including the surveillance of maritime spatial interests (Maritime Situational Awareness) and the fight against maritime terrorism, while ensuring training for the forces security of the riparian countries (Maritime Security Capacity-Building). In addition to these activities, the naval forces assigned to the operation can exercise maritime interdiction, protection of freedom of navigation, protection of sensitive maritime infrastructures and the fight against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
The frigate I hope, under the command of the frigate captain Giorgio Ochetto is a missile and anti submarine unit belonging to the Class Mistral. Built in Riva Trigoso shipyards, the ship was launched on November 19 1983 and 4 May 1985 entered service. The ship has a crew of about 160 men and women, including the specialized teams of the maritime brigade San Marco and the military component of the Navy with an embarked AB212 helicopter.
