BUCHAREST, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Regele Ferdinand Frigate, the flagship of the Romanian Naval Forces, left its base in the Black Sea on Friday for the Mediterranean Sea to participate in NATO's Sea Guardian Operation.
The Frigate departed the southeastern Constanta Port with a Puma naval helicopter and a 240-strong crew onboard, for a month of joint operations under the Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2).
The event marks the resumption of the missions of the Romanian Naval Forces in the operation theatres under NATO mandate in the Mediterranean, interrupted in 2014, after the security situation in the Black Sea degraded, according to Colonel Corneliu Pavel, spokesperson of the Romanian Navy General Staff.
Regele (King) Ferdinand Frigate, a former Royal Navy Type 22 frigate, was purchased from Britain in 2003.
NATO launched Operation "Sea Guardian" on Nov. 9 2016, a new maritime security mission in the central Mediterranean.
