On Friday 2 August, Commodore George Novo Palma, who is the Force Commander of the EU Naval Force, went on board Swedish warship, HSwMS Carlskrona, to meet the Commanding Officer, Commander Mathias Jansson, and to bid farewell to his crew, as the Swedish warship is nearing the end of her deployment with Operation Atalanta.
HSwMS Carlskrona has been operating as part of the EU Naval Force for nearly four months.
During his time on board, Commodore Palma was given a tour of the highly specialised ‘Role Two’ Medical Department, as well as the Intelligence Cell, which has a specialised image analysis function. The image analysis function, together with the helicopter, has proven to be invaluable in capturing high quality images of the Somali shoreline to identify potential pirate activity.
The Force Commander also met the HSwMS Carlskrona’s specialist ordnance and boarding teams. The Boarding Team conducted a number of Friendly Approaches with local fishermen during the deployment.
Speaking about the contribution of HSwMS Carlskrona, the Force Commander said: “The ship’s company of HSwMS Carlskrona should be rightly proud of their contribution to Operation Atalanta. They have remained alert and at a high readiness, and completed all the operational tasks I asked of them.”
After his speech to the crew members, Commodore Palma presented an Operation Atalanta crest to Commander Jansson.
Commander Jansson thanked the Force Commander and stated: “One important thing for this mission is to have good relations and communications with each other. Since I met the Force Commander in Djibouti the 5th of April, we have had a really good and fruitful communication during the whole part of the mission.”
As a small gesture of appreciation, Commander Jansson gave Commodore Palma the European Union flag that has flown from the mast of Carlskrona during the participation in Operation Atalanta.
[mappress] Press Release, August 5, 2013; Image: EUNAVFOR