L’Albatros: 31 years on patrol

Ship heading for anti-piracy duties in Gulf of Guinea.

L’Albatros heads for home after 31 years patrolling the Indian Ocean

The French Navy offshore patrol vessel Albatros (P681) arrived in Cape Town on Wednesday 3 June, having completed her final Indian Ocean patrol.

For 31 years, the 47 year-old Albatros, based in Port-des-Galets, Reunion Island, has been patrolling the French Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) in the southern Indian Ocean, north of the Antarctic.

Commander Riaz Akhoune, Officer Commanding Albatros, told defenceWeb that they has just endured some really rough seas and cold temperatures whilst performing a three-week surveillance patrol in the EEZ off the islands of Kerguelen, Crozet and Amsterdam, also known as the Desolation Islands.

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Source: defenceweb.co.za