Since her departure from the Romanian port of Constanta in September, the crew from Romanian frigate ROS Regele Ferdinand has certainly been very busy. The sailors have sailed over 7000 nautical miles and carried out a range of counter piracy missions in support of Operation Atalanta off the Somali Coast.
ROS Regele Ferdinand joined EU NAVFOR at the beginning of October and after sailing from Djibouti on 3 October, the warship commenced counter-piracy patrols in the internationally recommended transit corridor (IRTC) in the Gulf of Aden. She has also escorted a World Food Programme (WFP) ship along the Somali Coast to ensure the much-needed food on board arrived safely in to Somalia to help feed her people.
The warship has also conducted 3 ‘friendly approach’ missions. Friendly approaches are conducted to gather intelligence by speaking with the fishing communities and trading vessels in the area of operations, and to help make masters and crews aware of Best Management Practices (BMP) for protection against pirates in the region.
To enable Regele Ferdinand to remain on patrol continuously for 17 days, the ship has carried out 2 replenishments at sea (RAS) with supply ships. It was during one of these replenishments that the warship crossed the Equator, thus operating in the Southern Hemisphere for the very first time.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff,October 30, 2012; Image: EU NAVFOR