Anti-Piracy:
Forces for Good in the Gulf of Aden

Emergency! We' re under pirate attack! Help!"

On May 18 last year, at 11:45 a.m., an SOS from a commercial freighter being pursued by a small boat was received by the Samidare, a destroyer of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) sailing in the Gulf of Aden in the Middle East.

The Samidare immediately dispatched a surveillance helicopter to the scene, about 50 nautical miles or 90 kilometers away. The helicopter arrived within fifteen minutes but found no trace of the small boat. The freighter had fortunately suffered no damage.

"In the Gulf of Aden there can be as many as a dozen SOSs a day from merchant ships claiming pursuit or attack by pirates," says MSDF Captain Goto Hiroshi. "Captains of commercial ships have sometimes confused an ordinary fishing boat with one belonging to pirates and radioed for help, but we fully understand the extreme apprehension they feel as they pass through those waters."

From March to August 2009, Goto was commander of the dispatched surface unit consisting of two destroyers, the Samidare and Sazanami, with a total crew of 400, which conducted escorts for commercial ships in the Gulf of Aden, 12,000 km distant from Japan.

A designated sea lane crosses the international waters of the Gulf of Aden, which lies between Yemen on the southwest corner of the Arabian Peninsula and Somalia in east Africa. The destroyers sail a 900-kilometer route to provide an escort for commercial ships that have requested it in advance. The destroyers position themselves to the front and rear of the commercial ships, and a surveillance helicopter keeps an eye on the surrounding sea area. The escort usually lasts for a period of about thirty-six hours.

The first dispatched surface unit under Goto's command escorted from March to August 121 vessels on forty-one occasions, none of which, fortunately, came under attack by pirates. (In November the third surface unit took over from the second unit.)

The job of the dispatched surface unit in the area is to escort commercial ships, but they also go to the rescue of vessels being pursued or attacked by pirates, so long as their main task is not affected. As soon as pirates notice naval vessels or helicopters, they usually flee the scene. The various countries with naval vessels deployed in the Gulf of Aden work in collaboration, sending a ship and helicopter that can reach the site of an SOS call in the shortest time.

The Japanese dispatched surface unit is constantly prepared to respond to an emergency situation, but they have no idea when or where pirates might attack a commercial vessel. As the pirates use small boats that look like fishing boats, it is next to impossible to identify them until they show their hand. They are cunning, too, often striking a ship in the dead of night or immediately after a ship has separated from its escort. The dispatched unit steers clear of fishing fleets as much as possible, and monitors fishing boats at night using infra-red sensors.

"Our job is not to eliminate the pirates, so we are not able to launch a strike against them unilaterally," explains Goto. "Dealing with piracy requires ingenuity and concentration."

Many words of thanks have been received for the force's work. A Japanese merchant ship's crew sent the message: "We would like to thank you for the escort you provide despite a cloud of dust, scorching heat, the severe monsoon weather and other difficult environmental conditions. The armed attacks by pirates that have become so frequent since last year have posed a serious threat to ships passing through the Gulf of Aden, but the deployment of your destroyers has been of immeasurable value in reducing the stress on our crew." A foreign ship's crew said, "I would like to send my note of thanks to you and all your staff on JS Sazanami/JS Samidare for the great help and great cooperation for our safe transit through the high risk piracy area, the Gulf of Aden."

"After we complete an escort, we almost always receive a message or e-mail of thanks, and we print them out and post them up in the mess hall," says Goto. "The crew carry out their duties in a tense state, and these words of thanks are a great encouragement and help relieve their stress."