Piracy reports for Gulf of Guinea, Dec 2015 – Jan 2016

NIGERIA: On 12 January, a merchant ship in the Lagos Secure Anchorage Area reported to local authorities of being followed by five men in a speedboat. The merchant ship soon after reported that they had seen two men in the rudder trunk and the unknown men had reportedly left the ship soon after their sighting. The ship was instructed to drop anchor and await further inspection.

CONGO: On 4 January, three robbers boarded an anchored vessel near position 04:47 S – 011:52 E, Pointe Noire Anchorage. Duty crewmen spotted the robbers on deck and raised the alarm. The robbers jumped overboard and escaped in their rowboat.

NIGERIA: On 27 December 2015, an unknown number of pirates attacked an anchored tanker near position 05:35 N – 005:00 E, approximately 10 nm west of Warri. The attack was reportedly repelled by an onboard detachment of Nigerian Navy personnel.

NIGERIA: On 24 December, seven gunmen in a speedboat attacked a passenger boat in the Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. One person was killed and six others injured.

NIGERIA: On 21 December, pirates attacked three passenger boats in the Kula waterways in the Akuku-Toru local government area of Rivers State. Several dozen people are believed to have perished in the attack as many could not swim when the pirates forced them to jump in the river before stealing belongings.

DR CONGO: On 16 December, two robbers armed with knives in a boat boarded an anchored general cargo ship near position 05:50 S – 013:25 E, Matadi Anchorage. Five accomplices waited in the boat. The robbers were spotted by duty crewmen and the robbers fled. Nothing stolen. Incident reported to local authorities through
the local agents.

Source: Office of Naval Intelligence, Worldwide Threat to Shipping Report, 14 January 2016.

President Calls for More Icebreakers

Source: President Calls for More Icebreakers

Summary of Horn of Africa piracy events 2011-2015

Summary of Horn of Africa piracy events to 7/22/2015.

2011
Hijacked: 27
Boarding: 17
Fired Upon/Attempted Boarding: 122
Total: 166

2012
Hijacked: 7
Boarding: 1
Fired Upon/Attempted Boarding: 24
Total: 32

2013
Hijacked: 0
Boarding: 0
Fired Upon/Attempted Boarding: 9
Total: 9

2014
Hijacked: 0
Boarding: 0
Fired Upon/Attempted Boarding: 0
Total: 0

2015 (to 7/22)
Hijacked: 0
Boarding: 0
Fired Upon/Attempted Boarding: 0
Total: 0

Source: Office of Naval Intelligence.

Gulf of Aden anti piracy convoy schedules June and JJuly 2015

Government of Japan convoy schedule for June and July 2015. To apply for JMSDF escort, visit http://www.mlit.go.jp/en/maritime/maritime_fr2_000000.html, please contact directly the Anti-Piracy Contact and Coordination Office, Maritime Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MILT), Japan: Tel: +81-3-5253-8932 Fax: +81-3-5253-1643 Email: INFO-PIRACY@mlit.go.jp.

Korean Navy convoy schedule for June and July 2015. All merchant vessels wishing to join the convoy group must submit their application forms directly to the ROK naval warship carrying out the mission. The ROK MTG can be reached directly at INMARSAT: 00-870-773-110-374, Email: cheonghaeetg@navy.mil.kr.

Chinese Navy convoy schedule for June and July 2015. For further information, please email planavy@navy.mil.cn, or call Tel: 86 10 652 92218/96, Fax: 86 10 652 92245.

Indian Navy convoy escort schedule for June and July 2015. To register, email dgcommcentre-dgs@nic.in or visit www.dgshipping.com. Telephone numbers for contact are: 91-22-22614646 or fax at 91-22-22613636.

Russian Navy convoy escort schedule for June and July 2015. For further information email smb@msecurity.ru, isps@msecurity.ru or fax +7 (499) 642-83-29.

Gulf of Aden: Japan Maritime Self Defense Force convoy schedule for May and June 2014

Gulf of Aden: Japan Maritime Self Defense Force convoy schedule for May and June 2014. Merchant vessels that wish to apply for JMSDF escort operation should visit http://www.mlit.go.jp/en/maritime/maritime_fr2_000000.html, please contact directly the Anti-Piracy Contact and Coordination Office, Maritime Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MILT), Japan: Tel: +81-3-5253-8932 Fax: +81-3-5253-1643 Email: INFO-PIRACY@mlit.go.jp

Gulf of Aden: Korean Navy convoy schedule for May and June 2014

Gulf of Aden: Korean Navy convoy schedule for May and June 2014. All merchant vessels wishing to join the convoy group must submit their application forms directly to the ROK naval warship carrying out the mission. The ROK MTG can be reached directly at INMARSAT: 870-773-110-299, Email: rokcheonghae@gmail.com

Gulf of Aden: Chinese Navy convoy schedule for May and June 2014

Gulf of Aden: Chinese Navy convoy schedule for May and June 2014. For further information, please e-mail planavy@navy.mil.cn, or call Tel: 86 10 652 92221, Fax: 86 10 652 92245.

Former Royal Navy submarine HMS Onyx towed to scrapyard

HMS Onyx has left Barrow-in-Furness and is on her way to the ship breakers at Helensburgh. If nobody could raise the funds to preserve her as a museum ship during the last eight years, then it’s unlikely that anyone is going to step in at the last minute and save her.

Story from the North West Evening Mail follows:

Falklands veteran sub leaves Barrow and embarks on her final voyage
Thursday, 01 May 2014

A SUBMARINE left rusting in docks has been towed away after eight years.

HMS Onyx, an Oberon-class vessel which saw service in the Falklands War, was brought to Barrow in 2006 by businessman Joe Mullen as part of plans to use it as a museum.

Mr Mullen paid £117,000 for the sub after an idea by the Barrow branch of the Submariners Association, led by Terry Spurling, that it could become an interactive centrepiece at a submarine heritage centre.

Yesterday HMS Onyx was towed from Buccleuch Dock, in Barrow.

Mr Spurling said: “It is a hope more than anything that she is saved but at the moment she is going to Helensburgh for scrap.

“I happen to know there are people in Helensburgh trying to do what we tried to do here.

“It would be a tragedy if she was to be scrapped, she’s in such good condition internally and she is one of the Falklands boats.

“She’s one of the last O-boats available for a heritage centre, I do hope she is not scrapped.”

HMS Onyx (S21) was built at Cammell Laird, Birkenhead and commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1967. She served throughout the Cold War and saw honourable service during the Falklands War, landing special forces along the coast. Decomissioned in 1991, Onyx was placed on display in Birkenhead by the Warship Preservation Trust. In 2006, the trust went into liquidation and Onyx was sold to Barrow businessman Joe Mullen for £100,000. Funds to preserve Onyx as a museum ship were not forthcoming… and so we reach the end of her story.

Royal Navy survey vessel HMS Echo continues search for MH370

Echo was launched at Appledore Shipbuilders, Bideford on 4 March 2002 and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 13 March 2003. Lead vessel in her class (HMS Enterprise is Echo’s sister ship), she was designed to carry out a wide range of survey work, including support to submarine and amphibious operations, through the collection of oceanographic and bathymetric (analysis of the ocean, its salinity and sound profile) data.

The search for Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.

On 20 March, 2014, Echo was operating in the Persian Gulf, midway through an 18-month hydrographic surveying deployment, when she was tasked to assist the Royal Australian Navy search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 in a sector of the Indian Ocean 2,400 km (1,295 nmi) southwest of Perth, Australia.

Echo’s Commanding Officer Commander Phillip Newell said his 60 men and women were giving the search their all. “My ship’s company are working 24/7 to find MH370. They are young, bright and enthusiastic and will step up to every challenge in the search for the missing aircraft. I am immensely proud of them.”

The Australian govt is overseeing search operations from its newly created Joint Agency Coordination Centre. Eight countries are involved in the search.

Royal Navy survey ship HMS Echo (H87) and Royal Australian Air Force P-3C Orion aircraft in search for Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. Photo: Crown copyright, 2014.

HMS Echo (H87) Royal Navy hydrographic survey ship. Photo: Crown copyright, 2013.

On the bridge of HMS Echo (H87), Royal Navy hydrographic survey ship. Photo: Moshi Anahory, 2012.

HMS Echo (H87), 2012. Photo: SAC Dave Vine , Crown copyright.

Peaceful Coexistence

Given the furor over Vladimir Putin’s irredentist claims to Crimea, Novorossiya, Narva, et al, there has been a great deal of rumbling  about “a return to the Cold War” and a great deal of inflammatory language by Western politicians (Obama, McCain) who should know better. This represents an abject failure of diplomacy and a complete misunderstanding of how to deal with the Russian bear. Perhaps a view from 1976 will clear up the matter. We simply have to substitute the world “Soviet” for “Russian.”

The Meanings of ‘Peaceful Coexistence’
IT IS SAID, correctly, that the Soviet perception of “peaceful coexistence” is not the same as ours, that Soviet policies aim at the furthering of Soviet objectives. In a world of nuclear weapons capable of destroying mankind, in a century which has seen resort to brutal force on an unprecedented scale and intensity, in an age of ideology which turns the domestic policies of nations into issues of international contention, the problem of peace takes on a profound moral and practical difficulty. But the issue, surely, is not whether peace and stability serve Soviet purposes, but whether they also serve our own. Constructive actions in Soviet policy are desirable whatever the Soviet motives. [From an address by the U. S. Secretary of State].
HENRY A. KISSINGER

Source: Kissinger, Henry A. “The Meanings of ‘Peaceful Coexistence.'” The American Journal of Economics and Sociology 35, no. 1 (January 1976): 8. Accessed
March 21, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3485130.