Philip Smart | Adelaide
Royal Australian Navy replenishment ship HMAS Success has notched up a Navy first during its current Middle East deployment, becoming the first RAN vessel to join NATO’s Ocean Shield counter piracy operation.
Operation OCEAN SHIELD is a NATO-led counter piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden and off the Horn of Africa that is tasked with providing Naval escort and deterring piracy with the goal of increasing general security in the region.
Success spent two weeks on Ocean Shield, conducting surveillance, collecting ‘patterns of life’ information and using its Seahawk helicopter in surface searches and replenishment at sea evolutions.
Commanding Officer HMAS Success Captain Justin Jones said the two week multi-national exercise ranked as a highlight for the ship’s company.
“We are incredibly proud to be a part of this important operation, particularly as we have already been working in support of many of the coalition forces in the area as part of our deployment,” he said.
Success has been on deployment in the Middle East Region as part of Operation MANITOU, the Australian Defence Force’s contribution to maritime security, counter-piracy and counter terrorism in Middle Eastern waters since December 2014.