CANADIAN AND SINGAPOREAN WARSHIPS ASSIST STRICKEN DHOW

Posted on September 19, 2012  

The Royal Canadian Navy’s Frigate, Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Regina, currently assigned to Combined Task Force (CTF) 150 (Maritime Security), together with Republic of Singapore Navy Frigate, Republic Singapore Ship (RSS) Intrepid, currently assigned to CTF 151 (Counter Piracy), provided assistance to a stricken dhow in the Gulf of Aden on 18th September 2012.

A CH-124 Sea King helicopter from HMCS Regina, observes a vessel in distress in the Gulf of Aden during Operation Artemis on September 18, 2012

“RSS Intrepid’s Sikorsky helicopter sighted a Yemeni dhow, whose crew were waving their hands, indicating some form of distress,” said Naval Lieutenant Jolene Lisi, Regina’s Operations Room Officer.  “With that information, Regina’s Sea King helicopter located the dhow and provided further visual assessment.  It then remained overhead until Regina arrived.  As the closest vessel, the Canadian frigate was able to arrive and begin offering assistance within 30 minutes.”

Regina sent members of their small boat inspection team, an electrician and an interpreter in their rigid-hulled-inflatable boat (RHIB) to investigate and provide assistance.  The dhow in distress had run out of both fuel and food.  Regina was able to manoeuvre and secure the dhow alongside to provide fuel along with fresh food and water for the crew.

“These type of good will operations are important, because they show the local mariners that we care,” said Commander Jason Boyd, Commanding Officer of HMCS Regina. “In return, the relationships that we build are critical to achieving mission success and CMF goals, because they provide us with invaluable information that allows us to track illicit activities in the region.”

HMCS Regina provides fuel and food to a dhow that ran out of fuel and food in the Gulf of Aden

CTF-150 and CTF-151 are two of three task forces operated by Combined Maritime Forces (CMF). CMF is a 26 nation naval partnership, which exists to promote security, stability and prosperity across approximately 2.5 million square miles of international waters covering the Arabian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean an area which encompasses some of the world’s most important shipping lanes.