UK: Royal Navy’s Surge Against Piracy Scourge Ends after Making ‘Real Impact’

The Navy’s winter clampdown on piracy in the Indian Ocean – which has just ended – has been its most successful crackdown on the scourge to date. But the senior officer who led the four-month operation against the pirates says despite a series of successes by RFA Fort Victoria, and other allied vessels, seafarers cannot relax their guard.

That’s the message from the senior officer who led a four-month counter-piracy surge by UK naval forces in the Indian Ocean to strike at Somalia-based pirates.

Captain Gerry Northwood, who commanded the effort from supply ship RFA Fort Victoria and could call upon specially-trained Royal Marines Commandos and a Lynx from 815 Naval Air Squadron, said the concerted effort was the most successful counter-piracy operation by the UK by a large margin.

Operating under the wider banner of NATO’s Operation Ocean Shield, one of numerous international task groups striving to hold the pirates in check and keep the sea lanes open, the force – which at times was joined by other Royal Navy units operating east of Suez, including HMS Somerset:

• disrupted the actions of seven pirate groups,
• freed 43 sailors held hostage,
• handed over 36 suspects to the Italian and Seychelles authorities for prosecution,
• seized two dhows, two whalers and six skiffs.

Capt Northwood said:

“These successes were down to good planning, having the right people with the right kit on board, and a little luck.”

RFA Fort Victoria’s successes, from the release of the crew of the Italian merchantman Montecristo last autumn, to the recent handover of 14 suspects to officials in the Seychelles – has served once again to highlight the menace posed by modern-day buccaneers in Somalia, and efforts to stop them.

Of the pirates themselves, Capt Northwood said:

“Some were very well organised, moving from dhow to dhow as they continued their search for vessels to hijack.”

In the case of the Montecristo, Fort Victoria arrived on the scene in the nick of time. Although the ship’s crew had retreated to a secure citadel aboard, the pirates were doing everything in their power to force the men out, trying to set fire to compartments and cabins and smoke the sailors out of their safe room.

The pirates, Capt Northwood explains, are motivated purely by money. RFA Fort Victoria uncovered evidence of new properties springing up along the Somali coast, funded by ill-gotten gains.

“Some pirates deny everything, claim they are simple fishermen.

“Others regard themselves as warriors who are prepared to ‘tough it out’. When the latter realise that we are more heavily armed than they are, they believe there is no loss of honour in surrendering – and accept that it’s ‘game over’.”

The RN-RFA-Fleet Air Arm-Royal Marines task force on Fort Victoria set out to disrupt piracy, enhance Britain’s counter-piracy skills – and enhance Britain’s reputation.

The four-month surge, says Capt Northwood, has achieved all that – aided by support at home and abroad to tackle the piracy scourge.

“The combined effort of all the civilian and military authorities, the fact that pirates are being prosecuted, that merchant ships are taking steps to protect themselves, all of this is having a real impact.”

Figures provided by NATO confirm this. Taking January as an example, in 2011 six ships were hijacked, another 29 were attacked, while the actions of ten pirate groups were disrupted.

During the same month this year, not a single ship was captured by pirates, all four attacks made failed, and another nine groups were disrupted. Overall, two dozen vessels were captured in 2011 – roughly half the number of 2009 when the NATO mission began.

“It’s too early to say we have won the battle of piracy,” said Rear Admiral Hank Ort, Chief-of-Staff at NATO’s Northwood headquarters.

“We know that if the navies go away, the pirates will come back. What we can say is that we are making the seas safer for legitimate maritime traffic.”

His views are echoed by Capt Northwood:

“Piracy is back to the level it was in 2009 – but the pirates remain a potent threat. There are still people volunteering to become pirates, the income they receive from ransoms is significant.

“We need to maintain our watch on piracy – we cannot relax our guard.”

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Naval Today Staff , February 16, 2012; Image: royalnavy