The intense training period on board the destroyer continues Louis Durand de La Penne for the students of the 2nd class of the Naval Academy who, after having recently taken part in the operation Safe Sea alongside the crew and having lapped the picturesque Greek islands of the Aegean Sea, in mid-August they crossed the Anatolian Straits for the first time to enter the Black Sea.
Despite the impossibility of traveling on duty free due to the restrictions in force linked to the health emergency, the official pupils have nevertheless had the opportunity to increase their cultural background also through the study of the history, culture and traditions of the nations subject to the stops. , as testified by the words of the pupil Tiziana Parenti, of the maritime military medical corps "I am fascinated by the live memory of having transited for the first time in my life with the ship in the Strait of the Dardanelles and, after having admired the majestic mosques of Istanbul from the sea, of having entered the Black Sea through the Strait of the Bosphorus, before reach the cities of Varna and Odessa with the national flag on the shore ", thanks to the opportunity offered to reach distant countries during this Education Campaign and to experience as a protagonist also the experience in the international field linked to Naval Diplomacy, proof of the important role that the military units of the Navy play in this area for Italy.
In particular, on 24 August the Unit took part together with numerous foreign ships in a naval parade in the waters facing the port of Odessa, organized on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of Ukraine's independence. This is a particularly significant and touching moment especially for the 2nd class student Kyrylo Torubara, a student at the Naval Academy in Italy and originally from the city of Odessa.
End of use in the Black Sea, Ship de La Penne has pointed its bow to the west to return to the Mediterranean Sea, especially to the Adriatic Sea where the 2021 Education Campaign will continue.
At the end of this period, the students of the second class will wear the rank of aspiring ensign, thus definitively marking the transition from student to officer.
