August 19 Ship Durand de La Penne, on patrol in the Gulf of Aden as part of the EUNAVFOR operation Atalanta, conducted a tutorial of counter piracy on the Italian merchant ship Great Turin of a well-known shipping company.
The training activity aimed at reconstructing the hypothetical scenario in which the merchant ship, after having suffered a firearm attack by pirates, requested assistance from the military units in the area.
Ship Durand de La Penne promptly sent its own SH-90 helicopter with specialist personnel from the marine brigade on board Saint Mark who preliminarily checked the general conditions for the subsequent quick insertion with fast rope or "barbettone" of the boarding team, called to establish a security perimeter on board the merchant vessel and ascertain the conditions of the crew.
Having ascertained the presence of an unexploded device on the open decks, the dispatch of the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) unit was arranged, organic to the operating group divers of COMSUBIN, with which the controlled detonation of the bomb was simulated.
The exercise ended with the return on board of the teams via RHIB and with the landing of the aircraft on the ship's flight deck Durand de La Penne, which approached a very short distance followed and coordinated all phases of the activity. This exercise, conducted with the precious collaboration of the commander and crew of the merchant ship Great Turin, made it possible to verify in the field the coordination and synchronization between various specialized Nave teams Durand de la Penne.
Conducted along theInternational Recommended Transit Corridor of the Gulf of Aden, a strategic area of global maritime trade, this activity has also allowed numerous merchant ships in transit to ascertain the readiness and capabilities expressed by the forces assigned to the Operation and in particular by the Navy.
Operation EUNAVFOR Atalanta was born in 2008 with the main task of countering and repressing piracy attacks in the Indian Ocean and in the Gulf of Aden, in particular by protecting the merchant ships of the UN Food Program engaged in the transport of humanitarian aid to Somalia .
This was subsequently joined by the task of contributing to the fight against trafficking in narcotics, weapons, coal and illegal fishing.
During the exercise, the force commander of Operation Atalanta, rear admiral Fabrizio Rutteri, went on board the merchant ship to follow the activity firsthand and meet the captain and the merchant officers Great Turin, who have expressed great interest and gratitude for the activity that the Navy carries out in the Indian Ocean in support of the national merchant community.
At the end Rear Admiral Rutteri expressed "the full satisfaction for the success of the exercise, which allowed us to express and show the capabilities of the Navy as a first-level actor to guarantee maritime safety in the area and support freedom of navigation".
