2009 2010 2012 The action of 3 March 2009 took place when the German Bremen-class frigate Rheinland-Pfalz chased and captured a pirate skiff in the Gulf of Aden, after the persons on board the small vessel fired at and attempted to stop the German-owned tanker MV Courier.

[2] On 22 January 2009, the frigate Rheinland-Pfalz, under the command of Markus Rehbein, relieved her sister ship Karlsruhe on her patrol station around the Horn of Africa.

The German warship dispatched her Westland Lynx helicopter to the scene, which opened warning shots at the hostile launch.

[5] The nine suspects were handed over to Kenyan authorities on 10 March 2009, in accordance with an agreement reached between the European Union and Kenya just four days before.

[6][7] The Kenyan high court questioned the procedures, on the basis that key evidence was unintentionally destroyed by the German Navy when the arms were disposed of.