Danish Navy press release
The Arctic Command welcomes a Portuguese submarine in Nuuk these days. The Portuguese navy, Marinha Portuguesa, has sent the submarine ARPÃO to Nuuk, where it will remain in port for a few days before heading north together with the inspection vessel EJNAR MIKKELSEN.
The plan is for the submarine to make a voyage under the ice off Greenland, and EJNAR MIKKELSEN will support the submarine and be an escort ship. It provides good training for the crew of the EJNAR MIKKELSEN, who get the opportunity to train with and act as support for a submarine in Arctic waters.
The diesel-electric submarine ARPÃO will also sail in Baffin Bay between Canada and Greenland, and after sailing under the ice and another short stay in Nuuk, the submarine will sail towards Halifax.
For the citizens of Nuuk, there will be an opportunity to come and see the submarine and get on board on Friday. Follow the group Nuuk Citizen Info, where we announce the time and place.
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Author’s Note
The Portuguese Navy (Marinha Portuguesa) has deployed one of its two Tridente-class diesel-electric submarine (Type 214) to the North Atlantic region. The deployment will reportedly last until mid-May.
The Arpão was developed by the German company HDW, launched in 2010 and commissioned to the Portuguese Navy in 2011. It is 68 meters long and has a displacement of 2,020 tons, with a crew of 35. It is capable of conducting vigilance, patrol and reconnaissance missions, and equipped with advanced sonar and communications systems.
Aside from the two existing Tridente-class boats, the Chief of the Navy, Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo, has expressed on several occasions the need for Portugal to acquire at least two additional units over the following years: “We are in a crucial area for logistical movements between the Americas and Europe and this is crucial for NATO’s logistical movement […] If we Portuguese, who have the Azores, don’t take an active part in protecting these maritime lines of communication, be they for data, cargo transport or people, we are somehow diminishing our strategic value within the coalition itself.”
