The Colombian Warship “7 de Agosto” will shortly join the Counter Piracy operation of the European Union off the coast of Somalia, the Operation Atalanta as associated support. The arrival of the American Warship is attended the next 9th August 2015 and will remain until the 11 September.

So as to get prepared for the Operation Atalanta, the Colombian Warship has made a week long stop on the Spanish Naval Base of Rota in the Southwest of Spain. The Spanish Navy will guide the Colombian Navy in general and the Warship “7 de Agosto” in this particular case for the Counter Piracy fight off the coast of Somalia.

Once they arrived on harbor, they met the military authorities of the Spanish Navy and attended to a conference on the Counter Piracy operations in the Evaluation and Certification for the Combat at Sea Center of the Spanish Navy.

After the first day, they started an inspection of their capacities. They completed then many different exercises at harbor and at sea. The Spanish Certification Center made an evaluation on the capacities of the Colombian Warship to carry on the security operations integrated as a unit on a multinational military coalition.

As well, the Spanish Special Forces had a meeting with the Colombian Special Forces team on board the Warship “7 de Agosto” with the purpose of sharing information and experiences.

Besides the meetings and the inspection of capacities on the Spanish Navy Base of Rota, the Spanish Navy will guide the Colombian Warship “7 de Agosto” during their way throughout the Operation Atalanta, embarking a liaison team composed by an Officer, a Chief Petty Officer and a Corporal. This team will ease the coordination, the integration and the communications with the rest of the Force units and with the Force Headquarters commanded by the Spanish Rear Admiral Alfonso Gómez Fernández de Córdoba.

The Colombian Warship “7 de Agosto” with a length of 80,6 meters and 13 meters width, with a crew of 65 people, commanded by the Captain Darwin Alberto Alonso Torres is the second ship of her class and the first one that will participate in a real operation against piracy activity.