A request for assistance from a Japanese-owned merchant vessel in the Somali Basin led to Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) warship USS ‘Bulkeley’ securing the release of the vessel and its 24 crew members from four suspected pirates on March 6.
At approximately 15:00 local time on March 5, the oil tanker ‘Guanabara’ reported it was under attack when it was 328 nautical miles south east of Duqm, Oman.
‘Bulkeley’, assigned to CMF’s counter-piracy mission Combined Task Force (CTF) 151, was directed to intercept ‘Guanabara’, supported by the Turkish warship TCG ‘Giresun’ of NATO’s counter-piracy Task Force 508.