EU NAVFOR Force Commander welcomes Greek Ship Elli to its anti piracy operation

Apr 22, 2010 - 13:46
On 20th April 2010, a week after joining EU NAVFOR’s anti piracy operation off the coast of Somalia, the Greek frigate ELLI was officially welcomed to the task group with a visit from Force Commander Rear Admiral (LH) Jan Thörnqvist.

Taking the opportunity to visit HS ELLI when his own Command Ship, HSwMS CARLSKRONA, met HS ELLI during tasking in the Gulf of Aden, Force Commander Jan Thörnqvist said the arrival of the Greek Ship was “a most welcome contribution to the EU NAVFOR anti piracy operation” and expressed his delight “that so many of the crew of HS ELLI are experienced in operating in the waters around the Horn of Africa.  HS ELLI is a good reinforcement to our task force.”

During the visit, Commander Christos Deyannis, Captain of HS ELLI, was able to show his newly refitted ship to the Force Commander.  She is a very capable vessel with a built-in armament of guns, torpedoes and missiles.  She has an Agusta-Bell 212 helicopter and a highly capable Boarding Team.  She also has modern state of the art; radars, sensors, sonar’s and combat data systems.

HS ELLI joined EU NAVFOR on 14th April 2010 and is planned to stay until August.

EU NAVFOR Somalia – Operation ATALANTA’s main tasks are to escort merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid of the ‘World Food Program’ (WFP) and vessels of ‘African Union Mission for Somalia’ AMISOM, and to protect vulnerable ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and to deter and disrupt piracy.  EUNAVFOR also monitors fishing activity off the coast of Somalia.

 

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