Completion of the BAM “Tornado” Deployment in Operation “Atalanta”

The Maritime Action Ship (BAM) “Tornado” (P-44) returned yesterday to its base at the Military Arsenal of Las Palmas, thus completing a deployment of nearly five months as part of the European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR), during which it participated in the “Atalanta” operation against piracy in the waters of the Indian Ocean.

The welcome ceremony was presided over by the admiral commander of the Naval Command of the Canary Islands, Rear Admiral Juan Luis Sobrino Pérez-Crespo. The BAM “Tornado” is under the command of Lieutenant Commander Salvador Moreno Regil and has a crew of 51 men and women, as well as a flight crew to maintain and operate a Sikorsky SH-60B “Seahawk” helicopter and eleven Marines as a security operational team. The crew is completed with a doctor and a nurse to provide medical support.

The deployment took place between January 15 and February 4, during which the BAM “Tornado” covered more than 26,000 nautical miles, equivalent to “more than one trip around the world patrolling the waters of the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden,” reports the Navy. It has been 139 days of mission, successfully completing the assigned missions and providing protection to vulnerable maritime traffic in those seas.

The deployment of the BAM “Tornado” is part of the commitment made by Spain in 2008, under the flag of the European Union, to combat piracy in the waters of the Gulf of Aden and Somalia, protecting both ships of the United Nations World Food Program and vulnerable maritime traffic and fishing vessels operating in those waters, as well as carrying out a deterrent role against pirate activity in these waters.

Photo: Spanish Navy