Andrea PressendoThe destroyer “Luigi Durand de la Penne” (D 560) of the Italian Navy passed, on the morning of the 18 August, the Bosphorus channel to enter the Black Sea.
The Navy unit is the first ship from a NATO country outside the Black Sea to cross the Bosphorus since 27 July.
The “Luigi Durand de La Penne” is on his second transit after that of September 2017 when she moored for three days at the port of Odessa.
The reason for entering the Black Sea is not yet defined, although it is possible that the ship may make a stop again in Odessa to support the mission of freedom to navigation.
The Italian destroyer, according to a Russian statement, is already under “surveillance” by the Black Sea Fleet.
As usual, the military ship was escorted by a unit of the Turkish Coast Guard.
In July the FREMM frigate “Virginio Fasan” was present in the Black Sea, which participated in the multinational exercise “Sea Breeze 2021”.
The destroyer “Luigi Durand de la Penne” was launched on October 20, 1989 in Riva Trigoso and entered service on March 18, 1993, becoming one of the most iconic units of the Navy over time by virtue of the presence of a considerable amount of armaments (one 127mm cannon, three 76/62 guns, one launcher for eight Albatross missiles, one Mk 13 launcher with 40 SM-1MR missiles, 4 launchers for OTOMAT Mk2 missiles, four MILAS and two triple 324mm torpedo launchers).
The two units of the Ammiragli class, “Luigi Durand de la Penne” (ex-Animoso) and “Francesco Mimbelli” (ex-Ardimentoso) will be replaced by the new DDXs whose design has just begun.
