Seychelles CG Cadets Enter Seamanship Training
On Friday, March 21, 17 trainees who are part of the Basic Training Program for the Seychelles Coast Guard received training in seamanship skills on board the Dutch warship, HNLMS Evertsen, operating under NATO Ocean Shield Task Force 508. The Basic Training Program for the Seychelles Coast Guard is a 27 week program for new trainees that have been developed by the Coast Guard and EUCAP Nestor. The program is also supported by other international partners such as Operation Ocean Shield.
NATO Warship Captures Suspected Pirates
On Sunday, November 10, 2013, NATO’s counter-piracy Operation Ocean Shield warship HDMS Esbern Snare boarded two small craft and detained nine suspected pirates, following an attack in the area the previous day. On Saturday, the Danish flagged vessel Torm Kansas reported she was attacked unsuccessfully by pirates in the Indian Ocean, but the ship’s armed security team repelled the attack. Esbern Snare, the closest NATO unit to the failed attack, was directed to the scene by the Commander of the Ocean Shield Task Force (CTF-508), Commodore Henning Amundsen.
Pirate Alley
Even with a multi-national flotilla of warships, armed security guards on merchant ships, and phalanxes of lawyers making policy and negotiating ransoms, seemingly unsophisticated Somalis and their small, simple skiffs still attack ships on the high seas and hold seafarers, ships and cargos for ever-growing sums of money. Rear Adm. Terry McKnight, a retired naval officer, had a front row seat in the effort to deter and defend against piracy on the high seas. McKnight, who with Michael Hirsh wrote Pirate Alley – Commanding Task Force 151 Off Somalia…
