Iraq ordered this near-sister to the Italian navy’s Stromboli class.
Agnadeen spent 1984 and 1985 in Italian waters, training the Iraqi crew. In 1986 she docked at Alexandria, Egypt as it was not safe to sail for Iraq with Iranian troops threatening Basra. She has not moved an inch since then.
In 1991, the UN committee in charge of the armistice that ended Desert Storm awarded custody of Agnadeen to Italy.
For unclear reasons, the ship was never claimed and remained in Alexandria. In 2005, the Italian navy pledged unspecified “assistance” to the new Iraqi Coastal Defense Force |