The Alternate Minister of National Defence Dimitris Vitsas, today Friday 16 December 2016, at the facilities of the Naval Training Command of the Hellenic Navy, Skaramagas, inaugurated the leakage simulator and at the same time the naming ceremony of the Damage Control School was held.   The ceremony was attended by HNDGS Chief Admiral Evangelos  Apostolakis and the HNGS Vice-Admiral Georgios Giakoumakis.   

The Alternate Minister during his address stated the following:

“ The facilities we are inaugurating today are a characteristic example of the growth capabilities our country has, via the cooperation and the partnership of the Armed Forces, in this case of the Hellenic Navy and the Shipbuilding Industry and the wider private sector.

Such synergies will boost growth and will help the country and the Greek societyemerge from the vicious cycle of recession and will work as a force multiplier at many levels. We have manpower, we have infrastructure, and the know-how, but above all we have the political will to enhance these initiatives. Our ambition is based on this and we hope we will manage.

We are proud of naming this Damage Control School after “ Captain (HN) Konstantinos Arapis”, thus acknowledging this important personality of the first Engineers  of the ADRIAS Destroyer and his actions along with his crew,   which secured the floatability and the safe navigation towards Alexandria, Egypt during WWII.

The new simulator gives the capability to all crew of war vessels to continuously train, qualitatively and realistically. To train as they will fight, as they say in the Hellenic Navy.

This training capability is not only limited in the context of the Hellenic Navy. It is also qualitatively available to merchant vessels, whose shipping companies  pay for training fees, thus establishing a remarkable income source, which is rather encouraging especially at times such as this.

Times are hard, we can only show our worth at such times.
Or rather….: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”.