8 Jun 2013 Leave a comment
The Turkish Navy announced that, the Gabya class Frigate F-497 TCG Göksu will take part in Joint Task Force-151 (CTF-151) between 6 June and 6 December 2013.
On 6 June 2013, on board of TCG Göksu was command hand over ceremony of CTF-151. Real Admiral Muhammad Ihsan Qadir from Pakistani Navy, replaced Read Admiral Giam Hock Koon from Singapore Navy.
TCG Göksu will serve as the flagship for Real Admiral Muhammad Ihsan Qadir in the next 3 months.
4 Apr 2013 Leave a comment
TCG Gökçeada escorting the merchant vessel M/V Aqua Luna in Gulf of Aden. Photo: Official Turkish Navy Photo.
The Turkish frigate F-494 TCG Gökçeada escorted the merchant ship M/V Aqua Luna carrying Turkish aid to Somalia.
M/V Aqua Luna chartered by Turkish Red Crescent was carrying 90 thousand canned goods, 5 thousand tons of sugar, 5 thousand tons of flour and many other goods and machinery need to overhaul Somalia’s infrastructure.
I was assuming that this escort duty would be performed by TCG Gökova as she has been in the with SNMG-2. The departure of TCG Gökçeada to the region was not announced either by the Turkish Navy or The Turkish General Staff. Both organisations used to be open about these deployments in the past.
Now, Turkish Navy has again two warships “East of Suez”.
23 Feb 2013 Leave a comment
This from the official web site of Ukrainian Ministry of Defence:
This was announced Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, opening on Friday in Brussels meeting of NATO-Ukraine Commission.
- I just exchanged letters with the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Pavel Lebedev, confirming Ukraine’s participation in the NATO operation against piracy “Ocean Shield” – said the secretary general of NATO.
Recall that the February 21-22, Ukraine’s defense minister Pavel Lebedev is on an official visit to NATO Headquarters in Brussels, where he participated in the meetings of the NATO-Ukraine Commission and the North Atlantic Council in Defence Ministers.
As explained in the Mission of Ukraine to NATO, the agreement formalizes Ukraine’s status as the first partner country participating in the operation to combat piracy, “Ocean Shield” and the only NATO partner country that participates in all its operations.
It is expected that in November the flagship of the Naval Forces of Ukraine frigate “Hetman Sagaidachny” with helicopter deck and a group of special forces take part in the NATO operation against piracy “Ocean Shield”
This is the first time that Ukraine will take part in the Operation Ocean Shield. Years ago Bulgaria wanted to take part but was not able to finance it. Last year Romania send a frigate to take part in EU’s anti piracy Operation Atalanta.
6 Feb 2013 2 Comments
Today, Turkish Parliament accepted a submitted motion to extend the presence of Turkish Navy in Gulf Of Aden for one year.
In 2009, Turkish Parliament gave the government the power to send units from Turkish Navy to Gulf Of Aden and adjacent waters, in order to participate the multinational efforts of anti-piracy.
The as duration of this permission is limited to one year each year it has to be extended.The current mandate will en on 10th February 2014.
Turkish warship are tasked with:
29 Jan 2013 2 Comments
The original text of the thank you note. Photo: Turkish General Staff.
Today, The Turkish General Staff website run a thank you note (an e-mail actually) from a recovering Turkish merchant sailor who got very ill when his ship was in Gulf of Aden 15 days ago.
According to the e-mail, the sailor, electrician officer on board of M/V Tuna 7 (in the actual e-mail the name of the ship is not mentioned but the maritime portal denizhaber.com confirmed the ship) got sick at very late night on 13th January 2013.
The ship was in a convoy protected by the Chinese Navy. The Chinese warship offered help over the radio but this was not enough.
The Turkish frigate F-496 TCG Gökova was 80 miles away at this point but the ship send its RHIB any way with the executive officers, medical officer and a small security team on board. This team performed the first medical treatment to the ill sailor who was later transferred to a hospital in Salalah, Oman.
It is no easy feat to travel 80 miles on a small boat in the middle of pirate infested waters in the dead of the night to save a life. Hats off to those who made gave this episode a happy ending.
24 Dec 2012 Leave a comment
The international crew of board of TCG Gemlik as she was the flagship of CTF-151.
Photo: Commonwealth of Australia 2012
This is a text about the cooperation between RAN and Turkish Navy in CTF-151. I have found it on the official page of Department of Defence of Australian Government.
In a first for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), two officers were recently embedded as part of the Command Staff for counter-piracy operations aboard the Turkish Navy Flagship, TCG (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Gemisi) Gemlik, in the Middle East Area of Operations.
Lieutenant Commander Al Byrne from HMAS Albatross and Lieutenant Kelli Lunt from Navy Strategic Command joined a staff of 19 personnel from five nations to support the sea-based Turkish-led Command Headquarters for Combined Task Force 151 (CTF 151).
With a focus on deterring piracy around the Gulf of Aden, Somali Basin and around the Arabian Sea, the two RAN members worked for the Commander CTF151 Rear Admiral Oguz Karaman of the Turkish Navy, assisting assigned maritime assets to ensure the sea lanes were free from piracy.
For a majority of their mission, CTF151 had experienced substantially lower levels of piracy – due to the effective operations of Coalition forces and independently deployed navies. This deterrent was further enhanced by an increased awareness of merchant vessels that transit the area.
As the Air Operations Officer, Lieutenant Commander Byrne ensures all aircraft assigned to the various Task Forces in the region provide the best possible watch over key areas.
“Our Coalition of nations operates numerous long-range patrol aircraft flying from a number of air-bases throughout the region, as well as a substantial number of ship-borne helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles,” Lieutenant Commander Byrne said.
“We cover the primary trade route between Europe and Asia so there’s lots of ocean to cover and lots of ships to protect.”
Lieutenant Commander Byrne said the experience of working with such a diverse group on such an important mission had been more than he had expected.
In the role of CTF151 Public Affairs Officer, Lieutenant Kelli Lunt said the opportunity to use her skills on an operation as well as adapt to the battle rhythm of a coalition environment had been very rewarding.
“I am working in an environment which allows me to generate ideas, contribute to operational planning and provide timely advice to the Commander,” Lieutenant Lunt said.
“Although I have been deployed to the area before, for this rotation I have been far more involved in engaging with regional nations on the counter-piracy mission.”
TCG Gemlik is a Golf (Perry) Class frigate based out of Marmaris on the south-west coast of Turkey. More than 270 personnel have been embarked on Gemlik and deployed since June in support of counter-piracy operations.
Lieutenant Commander Byrne and Lieutenant Lunt remained on the Gemlik until the Change of Command ceremony in mid-December when Pakistan assumed the role.
16 Dec 2012 2 Comments
F-496 TCG Gökova escorting M/V Aqua Luna. Photo: Official Turkish General Staff photo.
F-496 TCG Gökova escorting M/V Aqua Luna. The Mk-41VLS launcher is clearly visible.Photo: Official Turkish General Staff photo.
According to the announcement made by Turkish General Staff, the Turkish frigate F-496 TCG Gökova escorted the cargo vessel M/V Aqua Luna as she was carrying humanitarian cargo to Somalia. The Turkish owned and Monrovia flagged freighter left the port of Mersin in late November and passed through the Suez Canal on 30th November.
TCG Gökova escorted the cargo vessel during her 2650 nautical miles long trip. M/V Aqua Luna was chartered by Turkish Red Crescent and was carrying undisclosed humanitarian aid to Somalia. The Trip took 11 days from the Suez Canal to Mogadishu.
Although it has not been officially announced yet it is highly possible for F-496 TCG Gökova to replace the F-492 TCG Gemlik in CTF-151.
16 Dec 2012 Leave a comment
Commodore Muhammad Hisham, Pakistan Navy relieved Rear Admiral Oguz Karaman Turkish Navy as Commander Combined Task Force (CTF) 151 (counter-piracy), during a change of command ceremony onboard TCG Gemlik , Mina Salman, Bahrain, 13 December 2012.
The ceremony concluded the Turkish Navy’s third command of CTF 151, which consisted of a multi-national staff embarked in the flagship TCG Gemlik.
12 Dec 2012 1 Comment
Today, on 13th December 2012, Turkish Navy will formally hand over the command of the Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-151) which is one of three task forces operated by Combined Maritime Forces (CMF).
Turkey took the command of the CTF-151 in September from South Korea and the task force will be commanded by Pakistan between December and March.
F-492 TCG Gemlik is the retiring flagship of the task force.
5 Dec 2012 Leave a comment
The Romanian frigate F-221 ROS Regele Ferdinand will be returning home shortly. She left Romania in mid September and sailed the seas off the coast of Somalia as a part of EU’s anti piracy operation Atalanta.
The crew from Romanian frigate ROS Regele Ferdinand are proud to be sailing home to their base port of Constanta after completing Romania’s first counter piracy operation as part of the EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia, Operation Atalanta.
ROS Regele Ferdinand joined EU NAVFOR at the beginning of October and after sailing from Djibouti on 3 October, the warship commenced counter-piracy patrols in the internationally recommended transit corridor (IRTC) in the Gulf of Aden. She also escorted a World Food Programme (WFP) ship along the Somali Coast to ensure much-needed food arrived safely in to Somalia to help feed her people.
During her time with EU NAVFOR, the warship also conducted seven ‘friendly approach’ missions. Friendly approaches are conducted to gather intelligence by speaking with fishing communities and trading vessels in the area of operations, and to help make masters and crews aware of Best Management Practices (BMP) for protection against pirates in the region.
In the meantime Ukraine is planing to send their frigate Getman Sagaidachny to Gulf Of Aden to take part in the anti-piracy operations in the region.
It is planned to deploy Ukrainian frigate Getman Sagaidachny to East African coast in order to fight sea piracy, reports Ukrainian Navy Press Center referring to the Navy Commander Yury Ilyin.
The commander stressed that Ukrainian Navy would resume its presence in certain zones of the Black and the Mediterranean seas. In particular, it is planned that frigate Getman Sagaidachny with a helicopter and a special-task unit aboard will be deployed near the Horn of Africa as a part of the international anti-piracy campaign, says the press-release.
Yury Ilyin said at the Navy Council session that the year of 2012 was a breakthrough in arms recovery. In the current year, financing of ship repair works was five times as large as in previous years.
Presently, we continue this work, but even now one can say with confidence that early in 2013 the fleet’s core will comprise 11 warships fully ready for combat use, emphasized the Navy commander. He added that Ukrainian Navy would also have 10 aircraft and 31 supply vessels.
It is not clear to which anti piracy task force the Ukraine frigate will join.
