From today Nave Carabiniere it is assigned to the European Union mission EUNAVFOR Somalia - Operation “Atalanta”, overseeing the area between the southern Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Somali basin.
The mission for the Italian frigate will end next August.
For the ninth time the command of the operation Atalanta it will be entrusted to an admiral officer of the Navy, Rear Admiral Luca Pasquale Esposito. Under his command, the European air and naval task force of which the Carabiniere it will play the role of headquarters ship (flagship), it will ensure patrolling in the areas of interest and in the transit corridors of merchant units and the fight against piracy, cooperating with the other maritime forces present in the area.
The "Atalanta" operation, decided by the European Council in November 2008, was the first European-led maritime military operation, born with the aim of preventing and suppressing acts of piracy in the Horn of Africa area. (Gulf of Aden and Somali basin) which continue to represent a latent threat to the freedom of navigation of merchant traffic and in particular to the transport of humanitarian aid from the World Food Program (WFP) in Somalia and Yemen.
Departing from the port of Taranto on Sunday 14 March under the command of the frigate captain Alessandro De Lucia, the ship and its crew will also be engaged in activities of Civilian and Military Cooperation (CiMIC), to provide support and basic necessities to local populations in difficulty while respecting the anti-COVID restrictions in force.
