As the ship sailed towards the Gulf of Aden the crew maintained a high level of operational readiness. They conducted a hostage release exercise with a Dutch merchant vessel and had to coordinate a search and rescue operation. Also en route to the Gulf of Aden the ship embarked a boarding team from the Republic of Malta.

On Wednesday 14 May the exercise with the Dutch merchant ship “Nordnes” provided the embarked Maltese boarding team and ship’s NH90 flight crew with an opportunity to conduct training in a very realistic environment.