The hydro-oceanographic campaign 2023 of the coastal hydrographic ships Aretusa, Galatea and Magnaghi is currently underway.
The units of the Nymph class, Galatea ship and Aretusa ship, are in operation respectively in the Tyrrhenian Sea and in the Adriatic Sea, the first from ’ 8 May is carrying out surveys on the island of Montecristo and will subsequently move to the waters of the Egadi islands. The second, on the other hand, is engaged in the waters in front of the Ancona coast to complete some reliefs on the seabed and on the water column off Fano: activity that falls within the collaboration agreements of the Navy with the Ministry of Environment and Energy Safety for the protection of the marine environment. Following the unit, he will head towards the Pianosa Island to update the nautical charts of the waters around the island.
To the work of the ships Aretusa and Galatea is also added that carried out by the ship Leonardo, until 2 June last engaged in the Tuscan archipelago for the activities of the Hydrographic Institute.
ITS Magnaghi, which left the Naval base of La Spezia on 18 May, was engaged near Golfo Aranci first, and subsequently in the Calabrian Ionian waters, to complete the activity already started during the 2022 campaign.
The activities that the units are carrying out during the campaign were requested by the Hydrographic Institute of the Navy on the basis of the need to update the nautical documentation and programmed by the squadron of hydrographic ships under the supervision of CINCNAV to ensure synergy with the wider maneuvering scheme of the Naval Team.
The strong link between the Institute and the Squadriglia units is also strengthened by the hydrographic traineeships carried out before the departure of the units, during which the specialist staff of the Hydrographic Institute of the Navy supports the on-board crews for the test phases of the equipment downstream of the maintenance carried out in the winter and discuss the continuous evolution technology involving the sector.
The hydrographic units, unique by gender in the Italian Navy fleet, deal with the collection of data relating to the seabed, the study of the chemical-physical parameters of the water column and the sampling of the seabed for the updating of cartography and nautical publications indispensable for the safety of navigation.