Operation Allied Protector was an anti-

piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

military operation A military operation is the coordinated military actions of a state, or a non-state actor, in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state or actor's favor. Operations may ...

undertaken by

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

forces from March – August 2009 in the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden ( ar, خليج عدن, so, Gacanka Cadmeed 𐒅𐒖𐒐𐒕𐒌 𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒗𐒒) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channe ...

, the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

, and the

Guardafui Channel The Guardafui Channel ( so, Marinka Gardafuul) is an oceanic strait off the tip of the Horn of Africa that lies between the Puntland region of Somalia and Socotra to the west of the Arabian Sea. It connects the Gulf of Aden to the north with the ...

to protect maritime routes from pirates within the International Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC).''Operation Allied Protector.''
NATO. Retrieved: 27 December 2013. It was the second NATO anti-piracy operation in area following Operation Allied Provider and was succeeded by

Operation Ocean Shield 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 Al ...

. From 24 March – June 2009, the operation was conducted by Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1). This was the first time that SNMG1, which had previously operated in the Eastern

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

, was deployed to

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

. From 29 June – August 2009, Standing NATO Maritime Group Two (SNMG2) took over responsibility from SNMG1.''Counter-piracy Operations.''
North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Retrieved: 27 December 2013.

Operations

On 16 March 2009, SNMG1 departed from

Souda Bay Souda Bay is a bay and natural harbour near the town of Souda on the northwest coast of the Greece, Greek island of Crete. The bay is about 15 km long and only two to four km wide, and a deep natural harbour. It is formed between the Akr ...

for the

. On 28 March 2009, received a piracy emergency call from ''Grandezza'', a Maldivian-flagged yacht in the Gulf of Aden. The vessel reported that it was under machine gun and

rocket-propelled grenade A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) is a shoulder-fired missile weapon that launches rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. Most RPGs can be carried by an individual soldier, and are frequently used as anti-tank weapons. These warheads are a ...

attack from at least one pirate

skiff A skiff is any of a variety of essentially unrelated styles of small boats. Traditionally, these are coastal craft or river craft used for leisure, as a utility craft, and for fishing, and have a one-person or small crew. Sailing skiffs have devel ...

. Two

Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk The Sikorsky SH-60/MH-60 Seahawk (or Sea Hawk) is a twin turboshaft engine, multi-mission United States Navy helicopter based on the United States Army UH-60 Black Hawk and a member of the Sikorsky S-70 family. The most significant modificatio ...

helicopters were scrambled from ''Halyburton'' and disrupted the attack. Due to the distance from the incident, the pirates were able to retreat before NATO surface forces arrived. later debriefed the crew of ''Grandezza'' and obtained statements and photographs from the attack. On 18 April 2009, at approximately 3:00 pm local time, stopped an attempted pirate attack of the Norwegian

oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crud ...

MV ''Front Ardenne''. Seven pirates were ultimately detained after a several hour pursuit involving , USS ''Halyburton'', and ''Wave Knight''. According to NATO, the suspects were "interrogated, disarmed,... ndere set free according to national regulations." From 26–27 April 2009, SNMG1 made a port call in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. Due to an increased amount of pirate activity, two other port visits in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

were cancelled. Furthermore, the end of SNMG1's participation in the operation was brought forward from June to May. On 1 May 2009, intervened in an attempted pirate attack of the Norwegian oil tanker MV ''Kition''. The sole pirate skiff retreated to a

dhow Dhow ( ar, داو, translit=dāwa; mr, script=Latn, dāw) is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with settee or sometimes lateen sails, used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Typically spor ...

mothership A mother ship, mothership or mother-ship is a large vehicle that leads, serves, or carries other smaller vehicles. A mother ship may be a maritime ship, aircraft, or spacecraft. Examples include bombers converted to carry experimental airc ...

, which was later intercepted by NATO surface forces. Eight Portuguese marines boarded the craft and detained 19 suspects and recovered several weapons, including several high-explosives. According to ''Côrte-Real''s commander, this was the first time that such weapons were recovered from a pirate vessel. On 24 May 2009, a Canadian frigate boarded two pirate skiffs off the coast of Somalia, resulting in seizure of equipment, arms, and ammunition.''NATO Task Force disrupts pirate attack.''
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 2009. Retrieved: 27 December 2013.

Operations

Deployed units

Standing NATO Maritime Group One

Standing NATO Maritime Group Two

References

Notes