Bucharest, Sept 24 /Agerpres/ – The M 271 “Captain Constantin Dumitrescu” minehunter carried out its departure manoeuvre on Wednesday from the Scottish port of Rosyth, setting course for the military port of Constanta, where it is expected to arrive in the first part of November, according to information from the Romanian Naval Forces.

According to the source, after a period of training the crew in the operation of the onboard equipment, both in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and in Romania on the M 270 minehunter “Second Lieutenant Ion Ghiculescu,” the vessel’s crew received certification from the Fleet Operational Standards and Training (FOST) team, the Royal Navy structure in charge with preparing and evaluating crews for the operation of military vessels.

The second vessel under the “Minehunter” programme – minehunter M 271 “Captain Constantin Dumitrescu,” which entered the service of the Romanian Naval Forces on 4 August, is commanded by Commander Madalina Dragan-Ghigalau and has a crew of 40 naval servicemen on board.

“The M 271 ‘Captain Constantin Dumitrescu’ minehunter, formerly HMS PEMBROKE in the Royal Navy, is the second vessel scheduled to be delivered under the government-to-government agreement between Romania and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The minehunter is a military vessel interoperable with NATO structures, belonging to the Sandown class, with a displacement of 600 tonnes, length of 52.7 metres, beam of 10.5 metres, draught of 2.4 metres, and is equipped with mine countermeasure (MCM) capabilities,” the General Staff of the Naval Forces informed in the press release.

The “Minehunter” programme increases the ability of the Romanian Naval Forces to act effectively to counter the current mine threat, with the aim of protecting navigation routes and critical infrastructure within their area of responsibility.