TCG Giresun Escorts Turkish Aid Ship To Somalia

7 Jun 2017 1 Comment

M/V Sebat leaving Mersin harbour. Photo: AFAD.

On 4. June 2017, bulk carrier M/V Sebat, left Turkey with 13 thousand tons of food and aid on board. The ship’s destination is Mogadishu, Somalia.

The cargo on board of M/V Sebat was organised by Turkish Red Crescent, Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) and Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD).

The ship will be escorted by Turkish frigate TCG Giresun. In pervious years Turkish Navy, provided protection to other ships, carrying humanitarian aid from Turkey to the region.

After escorting the aid ship to her destination TCG Giresun will join the piracy task force CTF-151 and perform patrols in Gulf of Aden. There is a Seahawk helicopter a diving chamber, one naval special forces team and one VBSS team on board. The ship will return to Turkey in November 2017.

This is the fifth deployment of TCG Giresun to the region. She was there in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2015.

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>TCG Giresun to fight pirates off Somalia (Part-2)

11 Feb 2009

>As mentioned previously, the motion for sending warships to Gulf of Aden, adjacent waters and Somalian territorial waters for one year, was accepted by Turkish Parliament.

The full transcript of the motion and the comments of the political parties can be found here.

One important issue regarding this motion is that it denies any action on land.

The first ship to sail down is F-491 TCG Giresun. Currently she is at the Aksaz Naval Base in Marmaris. She will leave on 17th February 2009.

I wish her and her crew fair winds and following seas.

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>TCG Giresun to fight pirates off Somalia (Part-1)

8 Feb 2009 2 Comments

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On 5th February 2009 Turkish government submitted a motion to Turkish Parliament about sending a warship to Gulf of Aden and adjacent waters, in order to, participate the multinational efforts of anti-piracy.

If the parliament ratifies the motion the government will have the power to send warships to Gulf of Aden for one year. I do not expect any surprises and I think it is almost certain that this motion will be accepted.

Turkey has received permission from the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG), to enter Somalia’s territorial waters and use force on 13 January 2009, in accordance with the UN resolution 1846.

“The threat to our commercial vessels has reached a dimension where it negatively affects our country’s trade and economic interests,” the motion said.

Turkish warship will be tasked with:

  • Performing reconnaissance and patrol duties,
  • Calling on ships suspected of piracy/ armed robbery, on the radio, boarding them if their flag country approves and interfering in accordance with the international law if the ship is not showing any flag,
  • Escorting and protecting merchant ships,
  • Helping merchant ships under attack of pirates/sea robbers,
  • Intervening, stopping, neutralizing, and confiscating any vessels used by pirates/sea robbers, and using appropriate force if necessary,
  • Arresting and detaining pirates/sea robbers and armed persons in these vessels,
  • Accepting the representatives of the countries that will prosecute pirates/ armed robbers on board, for the preparations of judicial proceedings, according to the UN resolution 1851.
  • Arresting and detaining, pirates/armed robbers on board until they are being handed over to the countries that will prosecute them,
  • Turning in, the suspects of pirates/sea robbers with the exception of the case that these are Turkish citizens, to the authorities the nation where the pirates/sea robbers will be prosecuted,
  • Executing all kinds of policing duties including interrogation, collecting evidence

The first ship to be sent will be F-491 TCG Giresun. She is a Gabya / Perry class frigate. On board will be of course a detachment of naval special forces and a detachment of naval air service. TCG Giresun is one of the GENESIS fitted ships of this class.

The spokesman for Turkish General Staff Gen. Gürak said on the weekly press conference the preparations were continuing to send the ship in February.

This means that the motion the government submitted to the parliament will come the agenda pretty soon.

According to Turkish Foregin minister Babacan, TCG Giresun will be part of the UN-led anti-piracy force. This means either Turkey will join US led CTF-151 as reported previously or she will work closely with the international task forces and their command centers.

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TCG Giresun Catches Seven Pirates

23 Mar 2012

This is not a new story. Sorry for the delay.

On 17th March 2012, the Turkish frigate F-491 TCG Giresun caught 7 pirates in a skiff of the coast of Somalia.

At first, the skiff was intercepted by the on board helicopter of the frigate 60 nautical miles south of Yemeni coast just inside the IRTC. When the frigate reached the skiff, the special forces teams boarded the skiff and neutralized  7 pirates. The five AK-47 infantry rifles, one RPG-7 rocket launcher, ammunition and other piracy paraphernalia such as hooks, ladders, extra fuel barrels, GPS devices and mobile phones found on the skiff were sized.

TCG Giresun is the Turkish flagship of NATO’s  Standing Maritime Group 2 which is currently conducting Operation Ocean Shield.

Below are official photos from Turkish General Staff web site:

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TCG Giresun Returned Home

18 Jun 2011

The frigate F-491 TCG Giresun, Turkish contribution to NATO’s SNMG-2  has completed its anti-piracy mission with this task force, off Somalia and returned to Turkey, Turkish Naval Forces Command said in a statement on Wednesday.

The frigate docked at the Aksaz Naval Base in Marmaris after a 151-day mission.

During its mission off Somalia, TCG Giresun captured a total of 26 Somali pirates. The crew of the frigate boarded M/T Guanabara and M/V Full City when they were attacked by pirates. She also saved as Yemeni fishing boat, captured by the pirates and used as mother ship.

The Turkish Naval Task Force is the current Turkish anti piracy force in the region. Click here to read about the acts of TCG Giresun in Gulf Of Aden.


 

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TCG Giresun Saves M/V Full City (UPDATED)

6 May 2011 1 Comment

 The Panama flagged and Chinese owned merchant ship M/V Full City was attacked by Somali pirates yesterday (05.05.2011) morning. She was 400 nautical miles off the coast of India.

The Turkish frigate F-491 TCG Giresun, the nearest coalition warship was ordered to proceed and help the attacked merchant ship.

During the deployment TCG Giresun contacted the Chinese naval units in the region and received the information that the crew of M/V Full City was able to hide themselves inside a citadel before being captured by the pirates. 

Upon arriving to M/V Full City, that was damaged by the rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire of the pirates, communication with the crew of the ship was established.  Later the naval special forces teams of board of the Turkish frigate, fast-roped to the ship and secured her.

When the search revealed that there were no pirates on board, and all the crew was safe and sound M/V Full City continues her journey.

The deployment of TCG Giresun turned out to be a exciting one. This is the sixth occasion where the frigate had to intervene.

The damage of RPG fire is visible

TCG Giresun Frees Yemeni Dhow
TCG Giresun Helps M/V Hanjin Tianjin
TCG Giresun Finds 2 Pirate Skiffs And Arrests The Pirates
TCG Giresun Helps M/T Guanabara
TCG Giresun Foils A Pirate Attack To M/V Kıran Asya

All photos from Turkish General Staff webpage.

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UPDATE: According to influential naval blog Information Dissemination, a ASW patrol plane of Indian Navy scared the pirates on board of M/V Full City away, before the arrival of TCG Giresun.

An Indian Navy TU-142 maritime reconnaissance aircraft made several low sorties over the MV Full City, 450 nautical miles (850 km) off Karwar in Karnataka, warning the pirates to immediately leave the vessel or face the wrath of Indian Navy and Coast Guard ships that were fast closing in.

The warnings worked and the pirates scampered into the skiff from which they had boarded the vessel and sailed toward a nearby mothership, which immediately set off toward Somalia at full speed, the official said, requesting anonymity due to service rules.

And as it seems, USN found the dhow used as mothership during the attack to M/V Full City and estroyed paraphernalia on the dhow, including weapons, excessive fuel and other equipment commonly used in the commission of acts of piracy. They also sank a small skiff towed by the dhow; these skiffs are often used for actual attacks and boardings by pirates.

Turkish naval special forces team with the Chinese crew

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TCG Giresun Finds Two Pirate Skiffs And Arrests Pirates

6 Apr 2011 2 Comments


Somali pirates surrender to Turkish Navy

Somali pirates surrender to Turkish Navy

On 4. April 2011, TCG Giresun cought two skiffs, apparently used for piracy, Turkish General Staff reported.

A japanse naval patrol plane spotted two skiffs, approximately  70 nautical miles north of Somalia on 4 April 2011, at 09:15 local time.

The current Turkish contribution to NATO’s SNMG-2, TCG Giresun was tasked with the interception of these skiffs. The frigate arrived at the vicinity of the skiffs at around 14:14 local time. The on board helicopter stopped the skiffs and the Turkish Naval special forces teams boarded the skiffs, arresting the pirates and confiscating piracy paraphernalia.

A very interesting and obvious piece of information omitted in the announcement of Turkish General Staff is the number of the pirates arrested. The text is written in such manner as if the frigate found the skiffs and confiscated them. If there were no photos with the text it would be impossible to realize that some (my personal guess is at least 7 – 8) pirates have been arrested.

More(?) Somali pirates surrender to Turkish Navy

RPG rounds found on the skiff

RPG rounds found on the skiff

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>Admiral Ataç to visit TCG Giresun

6 Mar 2009 2 Comments

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According to spokesman for Turkish General Staff Gen. Gürak, F-491 TCG Giresun escorted her first convoy between 6- 7 March. Turkish merchant vessel M/V Sürmene-4 was among the escorted ships.Among the planned future escorts are two more Turkish merchant ships: M/V Eylül-K and M/V Nazlı-G

Further more the commander of Turkish Navy Admiral Metin Ataç will fly to Somalia next week (9 – 15 March) and will stay a few days on board of TCG Giresun

The visit of Admiral Ataç indicates clearly that the mission of TCG Giresun in Gulf of Aden is taken very seriously in Ankara. If I am not mistaken this might be the first visit from a commander of a navy to the region.

The first pictures of TCG Giresun from the region has also been published. Interestingly the official web page of CTF-151 is very silent about Turkish contribution.

Photos are form Hürriyet.

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>TCG Giresun is off to join CTG-151

17 Feb 2009

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Today with a big cheer and with some tears in the eyes F-491 TCG Giresun sailed from her homeport.

Usually Turkish warships leave and return to their ports quietly. Only the family members know when their loved ones has left or has arrived. But this time it was a big media event. I suppose that this big fanfare has something to do with Turkey’s election as a temporary member of UN Security Council.

It is now official that TCG Giresun will be a part of the US-led CTF-151. This fact was told for the first time by the spokesman for Turkish General Staff Gen. Gürak last friday. It was obvious that Turkish participation was going to be into the CTF-151 and that EU led “Operation Atalanta” was from political reasons, off limit. But the fact that Turkey was going to join to a US led operation was never clearly and openly admitted or spoken during the public debate in parliament.

The commander of TCG Giresun, Captain Dalkılıç told in this speech, that there were 32 officers, 159 petty officers and 72 enlisted personnel on board. This is 44 more than the official numbers of Turkish Navy. The difference is a result of the special forces teams and other extra personnel of board.

Here is photo of some of the weapons the special forces are taking with them. It is interesting that RPG-7, a favorite of Somalian pirates was chosen by Turkish special forces teams as well. May be this weapon is really suitable for such conditions.

The ship carries at least one AB-212 ASW helicopter.

As seen here a machine gun of Russian origin was installed on a door mount. This is not a standard procedure of Turkish Navy.

As always “Goodbye” seems to be the hardest word to say. TCG Giresun will start her patrol on 25th February and will stay in the region for 4 months.

Source for photos: Hürriyet

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Turkish Parliament Extended The Anti-Piracy Mission Of Turkish Navy

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:

  • Performing reconnaissance and patrol duties,
  • Calling on ships suspected of piracy/ armed robbery, on the radio, boarding them if their flag country approves and interfering in accordance with the international law if the ship is not showing any flag,
  • Escorting and protecting merchant ships,
  • Helping merchant ships under attack of pirates/sea robbers,
  • Intervening, stopping, neutralizing, and confiscating any vessels used by pirates/sea robbers, and using appropriate force if necessary,
  • Arresting and detaining pirates/sea robbers and armed persons in these vessels,
  • Accepting the representatives of the countries that will prosecute pirates/ armed robbers on board, for the preparations of judicial proceedings, according to the UN resolution 1851.
  • Arresting and detaining, pirates/armed robbers on board until they are being handed over to the countries that will prosecute them,
  • Turning in, the suspects of pirates/sea robbers with the exception of the case that these are Turkish citizens, to the authorities the nation where the pirates/sea robbers will be prosecuted,
  • Executing all kinds of policing duties including interrogation, collecting evidence.

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