Navy News, news from Iraq - Navy Times

Anti-pirate task force stands up

NORFOLK, Va. — With pirates off the coast of Somalia grabbing more ships, cargo, crews and international headlines in recent months, the Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain has established a new command aimed directly at regional seaborne crime.

In a Jan. 8 announcement, Rear Adm. Terry McKnight was named as the head of Combined Task Force 151, which is expected to be “fully operational” in days.

Allied naval forces have patrolled the waters of the Middle East under several combined force units assigned to specific regions, such as CTF-150, which is responsible for maritime security in a vast area outside the Persian Gulf. But pirate attacks have grown in the past months despite broader United Nations authorization to pursue suspected hijackers at sea and ashore.

“Some navies in our coalition did not have the authority to conduct counterpiracy missions,” Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, commander of 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces, said in the announcement. “The establishment of CTF-151 will allow those nations to operate under the auspices of CTF-150, while allowing other nations to join CTF-151 to support our goal of deterring, disrupting and eventually bringing to justice the maritime criminals involved in piracy events.”

In a recent interview, Gortney told Navy Times that several international efforts were underway to allow military forces to not only pursue and capture pirates, but also establish a justice system for those taken into custody.

“The most effective measures we’ve seen to defeat piracy are non-kinetic and defensive in nature,” Gortney said in the Jan. 8 statement. “But the problem of piracy is and continues to be a problem that begins ashore and is an international problem that requires an international solution. We believe the establishment of CTF-151 is a significant step in the right direction.”

A surface warfare officer and a native of Norfolk, McKnight had recently been the commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 2, since Sept. 2007.

The new task force will operate in the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, Red Sea and Indian Ocean.