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.

The initiative also helped strengthen the navies and coast guards of regional states to assist in countering pirate attacks.

"[9] NATO has been supporting international efforts to combat piracy in the Indian Ocean, as well as in the Gulf of Aden and off the Horn of Africa since 2008, at the request of the United Nations.

It had been working alongside other missions including the European's Union's Operation Atalanta, the US-led Combined Task Force 151 and other individual countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea.

These meetings allowed for shared tactics among a large number of international entities, including China, Japan, Russia, India and South Korea but is definitely not limited to them.

They also utilized EUNAVFOR’s innovative electronic network called Mercury which shared anti-piracy tactics with other task forces and operations.

[10] On 10 January 2010, Admiral Pereira da Cunha, of the Portuguese Navy held a meeting regarding piracy with the Puntland coast guard.

It was held aboard the frigate NRP Álvares Cabral near Bosaso, Somalia and focused on human intelligence gathering, capacity building and counter piracy co-operation between NATO and Puntland authorities.

One pirate was killed by Almezaan's crew during the boarding, and shortly afterwards the Spanish Navy frigate Navarra arrived and launched a helicopter.

[11] The small Seychelles Coast Guard patrol boat Topaz engaged in another battle with pirates five days later on 30 March.

[12] The frigate USS Nicholas was attacked by small arms from a pirate skiff while steaming off the coast of Kenya and the islands of Seychelles.

The ship was confiscated by the Americans according to news reports and pirates were put in Nicholas' brig, to await court either in Kenya or the United States.

That same day, the destroyer USS Farragut, as flagship of Combined Task Force 151, was involved in a pirate attack on a Sierra Leone-flagged tanker, MV Evita.

Evita was fired on by three skiffs but was able to escape and increase speed and due to her crew who shot flares at the rifle and rocket-propelled grenade-armed pirates.

[13][14] Operation Dawn of Gulf of Aden was launched by Republic of Korea Navy Special Warfare Brigade commandos with support from Oman and the United States in January 2011.

[15] A failed rescue operation was carried out by the Danish frigate HDMS Esbern Snare and a Seychellois Coast Guard patrol boat on 26 January.

In the first attack on an American private ship since the Maersk Alabama hijacking in 2009, the yacht SV Quest was taken over by nineteen pirates on 4 February.

An Indian Navy Tu-142 maritime patrol aircraft located Full City, and while TCG Giresun boarded the merchant vessel, USS Bunker Hill and its embarked helicopters intercepted a dhow believed to be the mother ship for the pirate attack.

"[22] NATO is reallocating resources to the Mediterranean to deal with the immigrant crisis and human smuggling but believes that the efforts put into the Gulf of Aden will help stem the tide of returning piracy or prevent it altogether.