Sailors and coast guardsmen from several African nations are gathered in Lagos, Nigeria, to participate in the start of Africa Partnership Station 2012 (APS), Feb. 14. APS is part of an ongoing international effort to assist African nations to improve maritime safety and security. The security coope
HMS Echo has visited the Seychelles Islands whose Coast Guard has been working with the Royal Navy to prevent piracy in the Indian Ocean and make the area safer for all seafarers. The combined efforts of the Royal Navy and the Seychelles Coast Guard over recent months have seen successful disruption
A team of 12 troops from Uganda, part of the African Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), received vessel protection training from French and Ukrainian specialists in Mombasa. The training is the second in an ongoing scheme and part of the comprehensive approach to improve AMISOM capabilities, in this case
The La Fayette Class Frigate, FS ACONIT, will join the EUNAVFOR counter piracy Task Force on 11 February. FS ACONIT has been in operational service with the French Navy since 1999 and has a displacement of 3,600 tons. The French ship joins OP ATALANTA operations with the mission to protect vulnerabl
The first 13 days of January were busy ones for NATO’s counter piracy task force; they successfully stopped and disrupted three separate pirate groups from launching attacks on legitimate maritime traffic. In the first incident on Friday 6th January the USS CARNEY acting on intelligence from other c
Guided-missile frigate USS Simpson (FFG 56) and senior staff members from U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa concluded a three-day port visit of training, band engagements, and senior staff talks in Casablanca, Feb. 2. During the visit, Simpson conducted visit, board, search and seizure training with R
HMS Daring, the first of the Royal Navy’s new Type 45 air defence destroyers, passed through the Suez Canal on 30 January 2012. This transit marks the first time the stealthy silhouette of a Type 45 has been seen gliding through this sea highway. The canal is 120 miles (193km) long, 205 metres wide,
The Royal Australian Navy frigate, HMAS Parramatta, and Royal Saudi Naval Force Ship, RSNF AL-TAIF, rendezvoused in the Southern Red Sea to conduct a coordinated transit on 20 January 2012. The two ships are both operating with Combined Task Force (CTF) 150 (maritime counter terrorism), which is par
Iranian warships rushed to help the tanker which was attacked by pirates near the Gulf of Aden, Navy’s Deputy Commander Rear Admiral Seyyed Mahmoud Mousavi said on Tuesday. The naval forces opened timely, massive fire on pirate boats, he added. Indian Ocean coast of Somalia waters is considered as t
Fourteen suspected pirates captured by a Royal Navy task force will face justice in the Seychelles. The suspects, arrested earlier this month by RFA Fort Victoria on a hijacked dhow, were handed over to local authorities when the supply ship visited the islands at the weekend. RFA Fort Victoria – pa
On 27 January 2012, the Spanish Chief of Defense, Admiral Fernando García Sánchez, visited the EU NAVFOR Flagship, ESPS PATIÑO alongside in Djibouti, accompanied by the Spanish Chief of the Navy, Admiral Manuel Rebollo, Chief of the Air Force, General Jose Jimenez Ruiz, Commander of the Joint Comman
USS Halsey (DDG 97) responded to a call of distress from M/V Albrouj, a Yemeni dhow that was en route to Somalia from Yemen, while the U.S. ship was conducting helicopter operations in the Gulf of Aden, Jan. 19. The guided-missile destroyer Halsey, which was two hours away from the position of the d
