From April 1st to June 3rd, Ship Chioggia was engaged in operational and training activities in the waters of the central-western Mediterranean, as part of the aggregation to second permanent mine and mine countermeasures group of NATO. The unit, under the command of Lieutenant Marco Fagnani, left on 4 April from the port of La Spezia towards Toulon, France, where it reunited with the rest of the units of the group, including the Greek frigate HS Heracles, the Turkish TCG minehunter Amasra, the French minehunter FS Capricorn, the Greek minehunter HS Evropi and the Spanish ESPS minehunter Segura. This multinational naval device guarantees NATO countries the presence of maritime security assets and free access to ports in the Mediterranean.
During the Ship activity Chioggia participated in three major exercises focused on mine countermeasures: the Olives Noires-24, the Spanish Minex-24 and the ITA Minex-24, organized by the French, Spanish and Italian navies respectively.
As part of the task group's "weekly practice programme", the crew carried out numerous training activities for the different teams on board.
These trainings have made it possible to achieve a high operational readiness and an excellent level of interoperability between the units of the different NATO countries.
With the return to the La Spezia naval base Chioggia and its crew will continue training in order to maintain high operational readiness and ensure the fulfillment of institutional tasks, under the command of the mine countermeasures forces (MARICODRAG).
