Bħalissa, fil-Port il-Kbir hemm trakkat il-bastiment militari Franċiż, Alsace.
Dan huwa wieħed minn tmien vapuri Franċiżi ta’ din ix-xorta u jopera bit-turbini. Huwa twil 142 metru u ġie kkummissjonat fl-2021.
B’ bejn 120 u 160 membru tal-ekwipaġġ, il-bastiment huwa armat b’kull apparat ta’ moniteraġġ li wieħed jista’ jimmaġina, fosthom is-sonar.
Huwa speċjalizzat għad-difiża ta’ taħt il-baħar u dik tal-ajru.
F’intervista ma’ ONE News abbord il-bastiment, il-Kmandant tal-Frejgata, Sébastien Baquer, iddeskriva l-vapur bħala “villaġġ fuq il-baħar”, hekk kif fih kulma wieħed jista’ jsib f’villaġġ, saħansitra klinika u ħanut. Abbord hemm ukoll ħelikopter li jesa’ 12-il persuna.
“On board we are 120 sailors appointed all the year and when we are living at sea, we have one helicopter detachment. We have some sailors, with re-enforcement in order to improve our capabilities and so, when we have a long deployment, we are most 160 on board. We have sailors for navigation, of course, because we are onboard a ship, but we still have many sailors for operations, as the ship is fitted with many capabilities for anti-submarine, anti-surface and anti-air warfare.”
Huwa qalilna li fuq il-vapur rari jorqdu, għax dejjem għaddej bl-attività.
Il-motto tal-vapur huwa l-unur u d-dixxiplina, li huma pilastri tal-armata Franċiża.
Meta mistoqsi dwar l-iskop taż-żjara tagħhom f’pajjiżna, huwa qalilna li kultant jieqfu f’portijiet differenti u kif ukoll se jwettqu attivitajiet ta’ taħriġ mal-Maltin.
“We’ve been in Malta as a visit, in order to reinforce with the Maltese Armed Forces, during this visit, and a step of our deployment.”
Il-vapur ma joperax biss fil-Mediterran, iżda jmur lil hinn, fejn ikun hemm bżonn.
Baquer tenna wkoll is-sodisfazzjon tiegħu u tal-ekwipaġġ li bħalissa jinsabu f’pajjiżna.
“It’s very nice, we were very happy to arrive this morning. We arrived earlier in the morning, the Sun was rising, the colours were beautiful, so it was really nice.”
Għal kul min jixtieq jagħti titwila mill-bogħod lil dan il-vapur mill-isbaħ wieħed jista jagħmel dan sal-21 ta’ Frar.
