Operation Ocean Shield

Operation Ocean Shield
Part of Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa
USS Farragut destroying a pirate skiff in the Gulf of Aden (March 2010)
Date 17 August 2009 – 24 November 2016 Location Indian Ocean, Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel, Arabian Sea, Red Sea Result Coalition victory Number of Somali pirate attacks reduced dramatically
Belligerents
NATO  Denmark  United Kingdom  United States  France  Netherlands  Spain  Greece  Romania  Germany  Belgium  Canada  Italy  Portugal  Turkey  Norway Non-NATO:  Australia  China  Colombia[1]  India  Indonesia  Japan  Malaysia  New Zealand[2]  Oman  Pakistan  Peru  Philippines  Russia  Saudi Arabia  Seychelles  Singapore  Somalia  South Africa  South Korea  Taiwan  Thailand  Ukraine[3]  Yemen	Somali pirates

Operation Ocean Shield was NATO's contribution to Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa (OEF-HOA), an anti-piracy initiative in the Indian Ocean, Guardafui Channel, Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea. It follows the earlier Operation Allied Protector. Naval operations began on 17 August 2009 after being approved by the North Atlantic Council, the program was terminated on 15 December 2016 by NATO.^[4] Operation Ocean Shield focused on protecting the ships of Operation Allied Provider, which transported relief supplies as part of the World Food Programme's mission in the region. The initiative also helped strengthen the navies and coast guards of regional states to assist in countering pirate attacks. Additionally, China, Japan and South Korea sent warships to participate in these activities.

The US Navy was the largest contributor of ships, followed by the Indian Navy.^[5][6] The taskforce was composed of ships from the contributing navies, led by a designated leadship. The role of leadship was rotated among the various countries involved. In October 2015 this was the Turkish frigate TCG Gediz.^[7]