The Commandant Birot sloop in southern Sicily as reinforcement for Operation Triton
(B2) The order came directly from the Elysée, to deny all comments about apparent French timidity in bringing reinforcements to the Mediterranean and " prevent further loss of life as the European Council indicated last Thursday (23 April).
An emergency deployment
« Faced with the urgency of this situation, the President of the Republic has undertaken to provide the Frontex agency with a national navy building says the Defense statement. It's'Commander Birot (F-796) - a high seas patrol boat - which was expedited. No sooner said than done. The aviso had joined, on Monday (April 27), " the area of Operation Triton where it patrols an area stretching from southern Sicily to southern Italy we tell SIRPA Marine. This speed of response was “ made possible thanks to the permanent presence of the French Navy in the Mediterranean”.
A stopover in Brindisi to complete the equipment
Before starting its mission, the sloop Commandant Birot had also reached the Italian port of Brindisi on Saturday (April 25) to embark medical and sanitary equipment, as well as plenty of food (water, first aid rations , milk for babies, etc.) to help a population in need: refugees, migrants, dehydrated, malnourished, even sick or injured. An Italian port that he knows well for having made an operational break in mid-April, a stopover which allowed him to visit the famous maritime brigade of San Marco, an elite corps of the Italian navy.
A fairly limited capacity
The Commandant Birot sloop, which originally had a vocation for submarine warfare, and is used today both in support of strategic submarine forces and in sea policing functions, is not particularly suitable rescue at sea in numbers. It has, in fact, only a fairly limited capacity: the people rescued can only really take their place on the aft deck which is small, the cabins being normally reserved for the crew (about 90 sailors and officers) and the ship's military duties. On the other hand, it has an advantage: its speed (24 knots), which allows it to deploy quickly, and its armament. It can thus very well ensure the protection of the other Frontex ships, in particular against possible companies of "regaining force" from the traffickers (read: Frontex boats under fire from Kalashnikovs. A threat to rescue operations in the Mediterranean).
(NGV)
