Spanish Navy’s offshore patrol vessel ESPS Tornado, currently deployed to Operation Atalanta, recently visited Madagascar.
Whilst alongside in the port of Antsiranana, members of her crew invited counterparts from the Malagasy Navy on board to participate in training exercises.
The training focused on boarding operations. This included lessons in how to organise a boarding team, conducting boarding operations in different environments and situations, as well as searching a vessel’s cargo and verifying a vessel’s documents.
The sailors from the Malagasy Navy were a receptive audience and the Commanding Officer of ESPS Tornado, Commander Salvador Moreno, was pleased to have been able to host them.
On leaving Madagascar, ESPS Tornado will return to counter-piracy duties in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden.
ESPS Tornado is a Meteoro class Offshore Patrol Vessel commissioned into the Spanish Navy in 2012. This is the ship’s second deployment to Operation Atalanta, the first one being in 2014.