– SPANISH NAVY
The offshore patrol boat ‘Infanta Elena’, based in Cartagena (Murcia), will leave the Navy this Friday, 17 March, after almost 43 years of service, more than 730,000 miles covered and 4,200 days at sea, according to sources from the Ministry of Defence in a statement.
The farewell ceremony will take place at the Juan de Borbón dock and will be presided over by the Chief Admiral of the Cartagena Arsenal (ALARCART), Vice Admiral Pedro Luis de la Puente García-Ganges. The ceremony will be attended by civilian and military authorities, as well as former commanders and members of the crew.
During its service, the patrol boat has participated in different operational deployments and international missions such as ‘Operation Atalanta’ against piracy in Somalia (2012), the fight against piracy in the Gulf of Guinea (2014 and 2018), the Gulf War during the naval blockade imposed by the UN against Iraq (1991) and ‘Operation Perejil’ (2002).
It has also been involved in various maritime surveillance and security operations in national waters and waters of national interest.
Among the most relevant events in which it has participated are the operation carried out in Operation Atalanta (2012) off the coast of Tanzania, north of the Mozambique Channel, in which it freed the Sri Lankan-flagged fishing vessel ‘Nimesha Duwa’, which had been hijacked six months earlier in waters close to the Maldives.
The vessel was being used as a mother ship by Somali pirates to carry out attacks on the high seas off the African coast. The six freed fishermen, who were transferred to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam, were reunited with their families after their captivity.
Likewise, the ‘Infanta Elena’ expelled the ship ‘Endeavour’, off the coast of Malaga (2012), escorting it to the port of Algeciras until it was transferred to the Guardia Civil. It also participated in the rescue of 67 immigrants in waters near Cartagena (2017) and, recently, in the rescue of three survivors in a skiff 30 miles off the Chafarinas Islands (2022).
