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| A visit, board, search and seizure team from the guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun (DDG 103) approaches a dhow in the Gulf of Aden, Nov. 14, 2011. Truxtun was assigned to CTF 151, a multi-national, mission-based task force working under Combined Maritime Forces, to conduct counter-piracy operations in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Somali Basin and Arabian Sea. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Tony D. Curtis/Released) |
FROM: U.S. NAVY
Navy Efforts to Combat Piracy Continue
By Ericdurie
Somali Piracy off the Horn of Africa.
Motivated by escalating ransom payments that grew to millions of dollars, Somali men turned to piracy in the mid-2000s. As a result, piracy evolved from a fairly ad hoc, disorganized effort to a highly developed criminal enterprise that focused on hijacking entire merchant vessels in demand for ransom. At their peak, pirates could operate for weeks at a time 1,200 nautical miles from the Somali coast in an operating area greater than the size of the United States.
Why we’re seeing success: We began to see a decrease in the number of attacks and successful hijackings in 2011, which can be attributed to a number of factors to include: implementation of best management practices, an industry-developed set of guidelines for merchant vessels to prevent pirate attacks; the deployment of international naval forces under Commander, Task Force 151, whose mission is to deter, disrupt and suppress piracy in order to protect global maritime security and secure freedom of navigation for the benefit of all nations; and the increased use of privately contracted armed security personnel on merchant vessels — to date, no vessel with these armed security personnel has been successfully hijacked.
Moving forward:
In addition to the overall decrease in the number of pirate attacks and the number of successful hijackings, the combined effectiveness of best management practices, international naval presence and privately contracted armed security personnel has made a positive impact throughout the entire region. So far this year, there have been no successful hijackings or attacks.
