(With extra pictures) German frigate FGS Niedersachsen has received a special kind of air mail, when a Spanish Maritime Patrol Aircraft parachuted in voting papers for twenty sailors on board for the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Germany.
The warship, which has 230 men and women on board, is currently doing counter piracy patrols off the Somali coast as part of the European Union Naval Force.
Most of the sailors had received their election forms when the ship was alongside Djibouti earlier in the month, however, some of the voting forms did not arrive in time before the ship had to return to its sea patrols.
Spanish Maritime Patrol Aircraft
The Spanish maritime patrol aircraft, which is stationed in Djibouti placed the twenty election forms in a specially designed orange cylinder and flew out to the ship. When it was just 200 metres away, the cylinder was dropped into the sea and quickly recovered by the ship’s boarding team.
Once the election forms were filled in, they were sent back to Germany in time for the elections.
Pictures by EU Navfor
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