The Portuguese Navy base of the Hangars nucleus of Ilha da Culatra will be reactivated and will become the training site for the Marines of the Special Actions Detachment. This highly specialized elite troop will find in this location «the natural conditions» for their training and, eventually, «to launch operations, whenever justified», announced this Wednesday the Admiral Silva Ribeiro, head of state. largest in the Navy.
«This space was already being used for training our divers, in deactivating explosives, and marines. These actions will continue and be reinforced. But we also have the opportunity to transform this space that we have here into a training area for marines, namely for operations with high-speed vessels and the Special Actions Detachment. In other words, operations of great complexity, sophistication and discretion,” the Navy's chief of staff told journalists in the Hangars.
The head of the Navy was in this nucleus of Ilha da Culatra to participate in a ceremony promoted by the local population celebrating the XNUMXth anniversary of naval aviation in Portugal and took the opportunity to announce this novelty.
Previously, the participants in the ceremony had been treated to several moorings of a civil seaplane in Praça Larga, the water mirror located in front of the Hangares wharf, in an allusion to the aircraft that existed in the Maritime Aviation Center of the Algarve, which operated there for decades.
According to Admiral Silva Ribeiro, the new Hangar base "will start being built this year and will serve to support the operations of the Maritime Police and the operations of the Navy", which will mean that the military presence on the island of Culatra will be «daily and much more visible».
This advertisement, as well as the opportunity to see a seaplane mooring, turned out to be the cherries on the cake of a party organized by the residents of Hangares, during which a monument celebrating the hundred years of naval aviation and its role was inaugurated. nucleus in history and presented the book by Rosa Neves “Hangars – The War Effort – On the Centenary of the Great War (1917-2017)”.
The Navy was not indifferent to this gesture and was represented at the highest level. “We were very touched by this tribute. From the outset, because it is an initiative of the people of this nucleus. But also because it honors the traditions and people who built a capacity for response, at a time of great difficulty for the country, where naval aviation played a great role in patrolling and monitoring our waters», according to Admiral Silva Ribeiro.
The Government was also represented, in this case by the Secretary of State for National Defense Marcos Perestrello, who highlighted “the work that the residents' association has been doing to improve this piece of land, the conditions for those who live here and respect for the environment".
On the day that marked the hundred years of maritime aviation in Portugal, the Hangares also saw an old dream come true, an agreement with the Navy for greater use of the core's pier by the population.
«The protocol signed today will allow the regulation of access to the island. This wharf belongs to the Navy and what we did was, with the residents' association, to establish the rules for its use. We will also repair the pier and build a finger (floating pier), which will allow the mooring of small boats that had difficulty in using it», announced Admiral Silva Ribeiro.
This will be, both in the view of the Navy's chief of staff and José Lezinho, president of the Association of Residents of the Núcleo dos Hangares, “a significant improvement in accessibility to the nucleus”.
«This is a historic day! We have been fighting for many years for the improvement of accessibility here to the center, not only for the elderly, who had to come many times on foot from the center. Farol loaded, even falling into the water, and for the future of our young people,” said José Lezinho.
Photos: Hugo Rodrigues|Sul Informação
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