Last Thursday the Libeccio ship, under the command of the frigate captain Cristo Salvatore Traetta, with a crew of 205 sailors between men and women, returned to the La Spezia headquarters after about five months of commitment outside the area in the operation Atalanta.
After the greeting of the Commander of the 1st Naval Group, Rear Admiral Francesco Sollitto, the crew was able to embrace their families again.
Before reaching the port of La Spezia, the unit made a brief stop in the naval base of Taranto, where it was joined by the commander in chief of the naval team, team admiral Filippo Maria Foffi.
Departed from La Spezia on 4 May 2015, after a pre-mission training recall at the training center of the Taranto Navy, from 10 June to 20 October it was included in the Task Force 465, operating in the Indian Ocean (Gulf of Aden, Somali Basin, Arabian Sea) for a total of 2.488 engine hours and 25.488 nautical miles traveled for the fulfillment of the mission.
During the surveillance operations in the Horn of Africa area, Libeccio, in addition to having conducted support and civil and military cooperation activities in the port of Djibouti, guaranteed 59 days of monitoring and protection of merchant ships sailing along the Somali coasts and in the Gulf of Aden, 31 days of monitoring fishing activities and 46 missions with the helicopter on board, one of which dedicated to assisting the crew of the patrol boat Focomar and the protection of the ship Rizzo, flying the Italian flag, in difficulty in the Gulf of Aden.
There were also several medical rescues operated by the on-board health team.
Operation Atalanta is a diplomatic-military mission of the European Union, which covers an area of operations greater than the surface of all Europe.
Begun in December 2008, it aims to protect merchant ships transiting between the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, preventing and repressing maritime piracy and carrying out escort activities to ships in charge of delivering food aid in Somalia.
