The French nuclear submarine Améthyste, which has been operating in the Mediterranean under the auspices of UNSC Resolution 1973, with a crew of 68 men, arrived in Maltese territorial waters to disembark and embark personnel.

The Améthyste also took part in Operation Allied Force, the 1999 campaign in ex-Yugoslavia by protecting the NATO aero naval group. She was one of the two submarines that interdicted the Kotor straits to the Serbian Navy, thus effectively forbidding their use. She also gathered information for the coalition forces prior to her embarking in Malta.