EU Naval Force - Somalia
Operation ATALANTA

On 15 July 2015, EU Naval Force Commander, Rear Admiral Alfonso Gómez Fernández de Córdoba, assumed the counter-piracy coordination role from the Combined Task Force (CTF) 151 commander, Rear Admiral Hiroshi Ito, during a meeting at sea on board Operation Atalanta flagship, ESPS Galicia.

After being welcomed onboard, Rear Admiral Hiroshi Ito was given an update on the EU’s counter-piracy operation, which was launched by European Union Member States in December 2008 to deter and disrupt acts of piracy in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden.  After a tour of the Spanish Navy ship, the EU Naval Force Commander took the opportunity to thank Rear Admiral Hiroshi Ito for his efforts to coordinate counter-piracy operations in the piracy High Risk Area.

The counter-piracy coordination role is rotated every six months amongst the three military coalitions that currently operate off the Horn of Africa: European Union Task Force 465, Combined Task Force 151 and NATO’s Task Force 508.