ESPS Navarra Joins EU Naval Force

On Tuesday 22 July 2014 Spanish frigate ESPS Navarra joined the EU Naval Force Somalia Operation Atalanta.

Over the next five months the task of the 214 men and women on board will be to deter, prevent and repress acts of piracy and armed robbery in the piracy high risk areas and escort World Food Programme (WFP) and African Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) vessels in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean to protect them from pirate attack.

This is the second time that she has deployed with Operation Atalanta, the first deployment being in 2010. The Spanish frigate has a Sikorsky helicopter embarked.

ESPS Navarra will be part of Operation Atalanta until December, after which she will return home to her base port of Rota, Spain.