WATCHING OVER TROUBLED WATERS

Nicknamed "pirate alley", the Gulf of Aden is a vital but dangerous waterway for commercial ships. Read about how the Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF's) latest deployment to the Gulf foiled attempts at piracy and kept the waters safe.

In a moment of fierce concentration, Military Expert (ME) 1 Sathesh s/o Ram Chand trained his gun on the target, then pushed the button to fire.

With bated breath, he waited out the split second it took for the round to strike the abandoned skiff.

Earlier, the same skiff with five armed men on board was reported to be hot on the heels of a merchant ship. The Landing Ship Tank (LST) RSS Endeavour, which was patrolling the Gulf of Aden, was called upon to assist the merchant vessel.

After the crew on RSS Endeavour foiled the suspected pirates' plans, they ordered them off the skiff and back to their mother ship before they proceeded to destroy the skiff with a hail of gunfire.

Relating how he felt about the disruption operation on 1 Nov 2011, ME1 Sathesh, who operated the Typhoon Gun on RSS Endeavour, said: "This is what all the training and hard work I put in was for, so I was very excited, as this was the first time I fired at a real target."

On top of the game

For the 279 servicemen from the Army, Navy and Air Force who were part of the SAF's counter-piracy task group, this incident was the highlight of their deployment.

Comprising RSS Endeavour with two Super Puma helicopters, the task group set sail for the Gulf of Aden in August 2011 and operated under the ambit of Combined Task Force (CTF) 151. CTF 151 is a multinational task force established in 2009 to conduct counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden.

During the deployment, RSS Endeavour spent 77 days on active duty, responded to five calls for assistance and flew 110 helicopter sorties to provide air surveillance and warn off suspicious boats.

Senior Lieutenant Colonel (SLTC) Richard Lim, who commanded the task group during the first half of the deployment, noted that pirates have become more aggressive in their attacks, and that skiffs now operate with mother ships or dhows which provide supplies to the skiffs.

On such evolving methods of piracy, SLTC Lim, who is Commanding Officer of 191 Squadron, said: "Warships must be able to adapt to be on top of the game...we have better surveillance with the improved sensors we have on the ship, so we were able to deal with issues on the ground."

Doing something meaningful

While the crew had their fair share of excitement with the action out at sea, there were also times when the going was tough.

Captain Ng Kehang, for example, had to grapple with operating on rough seas. The Super Puma pilot said: "If the sea state is bad, it's difficult to launch and land the helicopter on the deck of the LST... Trying to spot tiny skiffs was also a challenge at the height that we fly, so we have to be extra vigilant and careful."

Work challenges aside, being away from family members for an extended period of time was tough, according to Staff Sergeant (SSG) Mohammad Salleh bin Osman, a weapons operator from Headquarters Guards.

He recalled how he felt before heading to the Gulf: "I was a bit apprehensive because my daughter was only about a year old, and I was worried about my wife having difficulties handling two young children on her own. But I spoke to my children over the phone as and when I could during the deployment, and that was my source of motivation."

Despite such personal challenges, ME1 Moganasaravan s/o Rajandran considered the deployment a meaningful experience, a sentiment he believes is shared by many other crew members.

He summed up what he thought of the deployment: "As shipping is one of our primary interests in Singapore, what we're doing is essentially economic defence, so there's a lot of meaning in what we do (in the Gulf)."

The Gulf through his eyes

He's not a sailor, but he spent 18 days in the Gulf of Aden on RSS Endeavour.

While it was no cruise to the Caribbean, Defence Media Centre video journalist Choh Kian Keong had a whale of a time capturing video footage of the SAF task group operating in the pirate-infested waters.

What he documented will be produced as a mini Web video series to give viewers a better idea of Singapore's contribution towards the international counter-piracy efforts in the Gulf.

Besides featuring the maritime air surveillance operations by the Fokker 50 Maritime Patrol Aircraft detachment based in Djibouti from April to August 2011, it will also show the day-to-day operations of the task group deployed from August to November 2011.

Be sure to catch the series when it airs in mid-February on the cyberpioneerTV channel on YouTube!