A second crew of sailors sailed from Halifax harbour Monday to join Operation REASSURANCE in the Mediterranean Sea.
Families stood on the jetty in Halifax bidding farewell to their loved ones, whose deployment on HMCS Charlottetown will take them out to sea for eight months.
READ MORE: Life at sea: an inside look into the world of a Royal Canadian Navy sailor
HMCS Charlottetown is taking the place of HMCS Fredericton. The Fredericton’s crew, who are expected back in Halifax on July 5, set sail for their six-month deployment on a cold day in January.
Operation REASSURANCE is a NATO-led mission aiming to bring stability to central and eastern Europe.
The mission was a response to the conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed 10,000 people in two years. A ceasefire between Russian-backed rebels and Ukrainian troops has been violated numerous times since it came into effect on Feb. 14, 2015.
As part of the operation, the crew will participate in several different exercises as well as patrolling and communicating with other ships, sometimes visiting other ships and making NATO’s presence known in the region.
There are about 250 navy personnel of all ranks that make up the crew of HMCS Charlottetown. The ship also carries a CH-124 Sea Kind Helicopter air detachment.
READ MORE: Canadian warship crew settling into NATO mission
HMCS Charlottetown is a Halifax-class frigate. It’s last international deployment was as part of Operationa METRIC and ARMETIS in 2012.
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