USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer of the United States Navy. She is named after Sir Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. This ship is the 31st destroyer of her class and the 18th ship of be built at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. Construction began on 7 May 1998, and the vessel launched and christened on 17 April 1999. On 10 March 2001, she was commissioned during a ceremony at Town Point Park in Norfolk, Virginia.
USS Cape St. George (CG-71) is a Ticonderoga-class cruiser laid down by the Litton-Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation at Pascagoula, Mississippi, on 19 November 1990, launched on 10 January 1992, and commissioned on 12 June 1993. Cape St. George operates out of San Diego, California, and administratively reports to the Commander, Naval Surface Forces Pacific.
USS Vella Gulf (CG-72) is a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser that served with the United States Navy. She was the second ship named for the Battle of Vella Gulf, a naval engagement in the Solomons campaign of World War II, the first being USS Vella Gulf (CVE-111), an escort carrier commissioned in 1945. The ship's keel was laid down on 22 April 1991 at Pascagoula, Mississippi, by Ingalls Shipbuilding, then a division of Litton Industries. She was launched on 13 June 1992, sponsored by Mary A. McCauley, wife of Vice Admiral William F. McCauley (Ret.), and commissioned on 18 September 1993 at Naval Station Norfolk.
USS Gettysburg (CG-64) is a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser in the United States Navy. She is named for the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War.
USS Gonzalez (DDG-66) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She is named for Sergeant Alfredo Cantu Gonzalez, a Medal of Honor recipient in the Vietnam War.
USS Bulkeley (DDG-84) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She is named for Medal of Honor recipient Vice Admiral John D. Bulkeley. This ship is the 34th destroyer of its class. USS Bulkeley was the 15th ship of this class to be built at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and construction began on 10 May 1999. She was launched on 21 June 2000 and was christened on 24 June 2000. On 8 December 2001 she was commissioned during a pierside ceremony at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City, New York, with Commander Carlos Del Toro in command. Del Toro later became the 78th Secretary of the Navy in 2021.
USS Farragut (DDG-99) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She is the fifth Navy ship named for Admiral David Farragut (1801–1870), and the 49th ship of the Arleigh Burke class.
USS Nicholas (FFG-47), an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Major Samuel Nicholas, the first commanding officer of the United States Marines. A third-generation guided missile frigate of the Oliver Hazard Perry class, she was laid down as Bath Iron Works hull number 388 on 27 September 1982 and launched 23 April 1983. Sponsor at her commissioning there on 10 March 1984 was the same Mrs. Edward B. Tryon who sponsored DD 449 in 1942.
Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa (OEF-HOA) is a component of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). The Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) is the primary military component assigned to accomplish the objectives of the mission. The naval components are the multinational Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) and Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-151) which operates under the direction of the United States Fifth Fleet. Both of these organizations have been historically part of United States Central Command. In February 2007, United States President George W. Bush announced the establishment of the United States Africa Command which took over all of the area of operations of CJTF-HOA in October 2008.
Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) is a multinational coalition naval task force working under the 34-nation coalition of Combined Maritime Forces and is based in Bahrain established to monitor, board, inspect, and stop suspect shipping to pursue the "War on Terror" and in the Horn of Africa region (HOA) includes operations in the North Arabia Sea to support operations in the Indian Ocean. These activities are referred to as Maritime Security Operations (MSO).
Piracy off the coast of Somalia occurs in the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel, and Somali Sea, in Somali territorial waters and other surrounding places and has a long and troubled history with different perspectives from different communities. It was initially a threat to international fishing vessels during the early 2000s, only to rapidly escalate and expand to international shipping during the War in Somalia (2006–2009).
MV Tygra is a container ship currently operated by the Waterman Steamship Corporation and owned by Element Shipmanagement SA of Piraeus, Greece. She was previously owned by the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group and operated by Maersk Line and Maersk Line Limited.
The Close Range Naval-91 is a naval version of the Medak 30mm automatic gun installed on the Sarath Infantry fighting vehicle, a variant of the Russian BMP-2 manufactured in India under license by the Ordnance Factory Medak. The Medak gun itself is based on the Russian Shipunov 2A42 30 mm automatic cannon.
On 5 May 2010, Somali pirates hijacked MV Moscow University, a Liberian-flagged Russian tanker, in the Gulf of Aden. Her crew was freed by the Russian Navy destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov the following day.
The West Indies Anti-Piracy Operations were a series of military operations and engagements undertaken by the United States Navy against pirates in and around the Antilles. Between 1814 and 1825, the American West Indies Squadron hunted pirates on both sea and land, primarily around Cuba and Puerto Rico. After the capture of Roberto Cofresi in 1825, acts of piracy became rare, and the operation was considered a success, although limited occurrences went on until slightly after the start of the 20th century.
The Battle of Minicoy Island was a single ship action in January 2011 between Indian naval forces and Somali pirates, during Operation Island Watch. Pirates in the former Thai fishing trawler Prantalay 14 resisted and attacked the Indian Navy patrol vessel INS Cankarso and, in a long surface action off Minicoy Island, the Indians sank the hostile ship and rescued twenty captives.
Operation Ocean Shield was NATO's contribution to Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa (OEF-HOA), an anti-piracy initiative in the Indian Ocean, Guardafui Channel, Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea. It follows the earlier Operation Allied Protector. Naval operations began on 17 August 2009 after being approved by the North Atlantic Council, the program was terminated on 15 December 2016 by NATO. Operation Ocean Shield focused on protecting the ships of Operation Allied Provider, which transported relief supplies as part of the World Food Programme's mission in the region. The initiative also helped strengthen the navies and coast guards of regional states to assist in countering pirate attacks. Additionally, China, Japan and South Korea sent warships to participate in these activities.
The action of 7 September 2009 took place when the German frigate Brandenburg, taking part of Operation Atalanta, chased and captured a pirate skiff south of Mukalla, in the Gulf of Aden, after suspicious activity was spotted on the small vessel by the frigate's helicopter during a reconnaissance mission. The boat was disabled by gunfire, and one suspect from her crew was killed. Four individuals were captured and weaponry confiscated and eventually destroyed.
Operation Dawn 8: Gulf of Aden was a naval operation carried out by the Royal Malaysian Navy against pirates in the Indian Ocean on 20 January 2011. In response to the hijacking of MV Bunga Laurel, the Malaysian Shipborne Protection Team deployed an attack helicopter and 14 members of the naval counter-terrorism group PASKAL in two rigid-hulled inflatable boats to retake the vessel and rescue the crew. After one night of trailing the tanker, the Malaysian forces successfully retook the ship by force on 20 January 2011, resulting in the wounding of three and the capture of four out of 18 pirates, and all 23 vessel crewmembers rescued.
United States