The Romanian Navy on Friday held a military and religious ceremony in the Constanta Military Port to fete 85 years since the hoisting of the Romanian tricolour national flag on the warships known as Regele Ferdinand and Regina Maria.
Attending the festivity in the Constanta Military Port were active, retired and reserve troops, war veterans, and the valedictorians of all the military higher education institutes of class of 2015 known as class Ferdinand 150.
Silver case containing the heart of Queen Maria displayed aboard Regina Maria
Aboard the two frigates and their hangars for helicopters picture exhibitions were mounted from the collection of the Museum of the Romanian Navy, marine themed painting exhibitions, along with classic music recitals by students of the Regina Maria National Arts College of Constanta. Aboard Regina Maria, care of the National Museum of Romanian History, a silver case containing the heart of Queen Maria was displayed. The case was moved from Balcic in Bulgaria to Constanta, Romania, aboard the Regina Maria destroyer after the Quadrilateral region was ceded to Bulgaria in 1940.
Commissioned for the active use of the Romanian Navy on September 4, 1930 as R type destroyers, the Regele Ferdinand and Regina Maria warships wrote glorious pages in the history of Romania after the country entered WWII.
One such instance is a battle in the Tuzla area against the Russian cruisers Kharkov and Moscow, part of the missions to defend the Romanian Black Sea coats, secure transport of troops and materials, and to protect the ships that would mine the coast of Romania and the coasts in northern Black Sea. The logbooks say on November 30, 1941 the Regele Ferdinand and Regina Maria destroyers sank a submarine in the Sabla area, Bulgaria, while on December 17, 1941 they sank an enemy submarine in the Burgas area. April-May, 1944, the two destroyers joined other Romanian ships in the biggest Black Sea navy operation known as the Operation 60,000 to evacuate the Romanian troops from Crimea.
In 2004-2005, the two names were taken over by the Type 22 (Batch 2) frigates Regele Ferdinand and Regina Maria purchased by the Romanian Government from the UK, thus carrying on a glorious tradition of the Romanian Navy for 85 years, Agerpres informs.
