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Romania's "Capitan-comandor Al. Catuneanu" naval hydrographic survey vessel docked on April 9 in the military port of Constanta after participating in the Ariadne 21 multinational mine counteraction exercise from a successful mission, according to the Romanian Navy.
The exercise was organised by the Greek Navy in the maritime area adjacent to the Greek port of Patras in the Ionian Sea, agerpres.ro confirms.
For almost three weeks, the Romanian military vessel travelled over 1,800 nautical miles and transited the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits, in both directions.
"The operations carried out at sea, together with NATO allies from Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Turkey, represented to the Romanian crew a real opportunity to improve the level of their training in the field of mine counteraction, while also being a good opportunity to increase the level of interoperability between the Romanian Navy and the NATO partners."
According to the Romanian Navy, the naval hydrographic survey vessel "Capitan-comandor Al. Catuneanu," a naval platform specialised in underwater hydrographic research and the creation of an integrated information support, has a crew of 46 soldiers and is commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Toma Laurentiu. To participate in the mission, a group of EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) fighters was also on board with an autonomous underwater vehicle, a specific piece of equipment for searching, discovering and identifying underwater mines.
"The participation of the Romanian military sailors in the Ariadne 21 exercise is further proof to the Romanian Navy's action in support of consolidating collective defence measures and developing the capacity of NATO forces to adapt to the changes of the security environment on the south-eastern flank."
