ESPS Victoria has set sail from her home port of Rota in Spain to join Operation Atalanta off the coast of Somalia.

Over the next three weeks, the Spanish warship will sail via Italy and Greece and is expected to reach Djibouti port at the start of October to start her five month counter-piracy deployment with Operation Atalanta.

ESPS Victoria has a Seahawk helicopter embarked and a high-tech medical facility.

As part of Operation Atalanta, ESPS Victoria will conduct counter-piracy patrols and help protect World Food Programme vessels as they transit the Somali coast to deliver food to displaced people in Somalia.