U.S. admiral takes over piracy task force - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

U.S. admiral takes over piracy task force

ABOARD THE CRUISER ANZIO IN THE NORTH ARABIAN SEA — The cruiser Anzio, now with a U.S. admiral aboard leading a multinational counter-piracy task force, has left the Persian Gulf and is preparing for stepped-up pirate attacks the Horn of Africa region as weather conditions improve.

Last Thursday, Rear Adm. Scott Sanders took command of Task Force 151 from Rear Adm. Caner Bener, of the Turkish navy, who had been leading 5th Fleet’s counter-piracy campaign from the Norfolk, Va.-based Anzio.

Sanders inherits a mixed staff of U.S. and British officers. A four-man Coast Guard law enforcement detachment is aboard to work alongside Anzio’s three boarding teams, and a small surgical team is also embarked.

Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, 5th Fleet commander, has reiterated that piracy may center on hijacking ships for ransoms, but it’s a problem that cannot be solved by navies.

“We’re not going to be successful because we are working at the prevention effort at sea. And not enough is being done at the root cause,” he said during an Aug. 16 interview with Navy Times in Bahrain. “No one is trying to cure the cancer. We’re dealing with the symptoms.”

As Task Force 151 commander, Sanders leads one of several multinational forces operating in the Gulf of Aden and in the Somali Basin. Officers from 23 nations including Russia, China and India met recently in Bahrain to discuss the effort.

Pirate activity usually picks up here at this time of year, as rough seas in the region give way to more permissive conditions at sea.

“The numbers are way down for the last couple months but that’s because Mother Nature is on our side, the southwest monsoon,” Gortney said. “[Pirates] are starting to come out. They took one of the pirated vessels, WinFar and took it way out because they’re using it as a mother ship. And 880 miles is [our] closest ship.”

Anzio left Norfolk on May 13.

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