On the morning of the 3rd of October, three Spanish units currently deployed to fight piracy activity and protect all the vulnerable shipping transiting the Indian Ocean met up in the Gulf of Aden. ESPS “Meteoro” joined ESPS “Galicia”, flagship of Operation Atalanta, and ESPS “Victoria”, after these last two ships had performed a simultaneous refueling at sea in the Gulf of Aden.

For the refueling at sea, “Galicia” stationed on the port side of USNS Carl Brashear”, a supply ship of the American Navy, while “Victoria” positioned on her starboard side to take on fuel. The Flagship ESPS “Galicia” replenished a relatively small amount of fuel, approximately 115 thousands of fuel that will permit her to return back home. ESPS “Victoria” needed more than 300 thousands of fuel to replenish her stocks that were left depleted after her transit to the area of operations.

Meanwhile ESPS “Meteoro”, the smallest of the three Spanish warships, sailed close by awaiting the completion of the replenishment operation, waiting for the photo exercise that was going to take after the replenishment at sea.

Leaving no time for practice wasted, ESPS “Galicia” trained the emergency breakaway procedure when her tanks were full. While sounding the ships horn repeatedly, “Galicia” rapidly left the formation she had been in with “Carl Brashaer” and “Victoria”, while the latter two ships continued their refueling operations.

After more than 150 days in the EU´s counter piracy mission and almost 6 months of deployment, ESPS “Galicia” executed a maneuvering exercise with ESPS “Meteoro” and ESPS “Victoria”.

The Spanish Offshore Patrol Vessel “Meteoro” has been patrolling Somali waters since early September, where “Victoria” arrived in theater recently.  During the exercise the three Spanish units conducted close-quarter maneuvering, and adopted different formations while one of the helicopters – which was to transfer from “Meteoro” to “Galicia” – circled overhead to take photos.

Upon completion of the exercise, “Galicia” and “Meteoro” set sail for Djibouti. “Galicia” will leave Operation Atalanta and start her transit to her homeport of Rota, Spain, on the 6th of October. On that same day, ESPS “Victoria” will officially join the operation. She is to remain in the area of operations until early February 2016. “Meteoro” will continue the fight against piracy until mid-November.