The lead boat of the Portuguese Navy’s Type 214 Tridente-class submarines has deployed from the Lisbon Naval Base, in Alfeite, Almada, for two months of operations in the Mediterranean Sea.
NRP Tridente and its 33 crew got underway on June 15, in a send-off ceremony attended by Portuguese defense minister João Gomes Cravinho.
In his speech, he highlighted the relevance of the Trident’s participation in international NATO and European Union operations. The operations that the submarine will be joining are NATO’s operation “Sea Guardian” and the European Union’s operation Irini. For operation Irini, Tridente will be joining German submarine U 35, which deployed for the mission five days ago.
Operation Sea Guardian was launched in 2016 as a non-Article 5 maritime security operation aimed at working with Mediterranean stakeholders to maintain maritime situational awareness, deter and counter terrorism and enhance capacity building.
Operation Irini is an EU-led mission designed to monitor shipping activity in the Mediterranean Sea and help enforce a United Nations arms embargo on Libya.
Just like U 35, Tridente will collect intelligence, analyze behavior patterns in its area, and help monitor the maritime space.
Tridente is one of two Type 214 submarines Portugal commissioned in 2010. The 67-meter boats were designed by Germany’s Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH (HDW) and replaced the previously decommissioned Albacora-class boats.
Tridente is scheduled to wrap up its deployment and return to Lisbon on August 13.
