Combined Task Force 150
Other nations who have participated include Italy, India, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Thailand and Turkey.
After arrival in-theatre in late 1991, Vice Admiral Henry H. Mauz "retained the Middle East Force, designated CTG 150.1 [Commander Task Group 150.1], for most warfighting functions inside the Persian Gulf.
Under this hat, Rear Admiral [William M. "Bill"] Fogarty would control only the half-dozen ships or so of the Middle East Force, augmented by the battleship Wisconsin when it arrived.
On 9 December 2002, the Spanish frigate Navarra intercepted and boarded the freighter So San, several hundred miles southeast of Yemen at the request of the U.S. government as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
The ship from North Korea was carrying a cargo of 15 Scud missiles, 15 conventional warheads with 250 kg of high explosive, 23 fuel tanks of nitric acid and 85 drums of chemicals.
[10] On 20 December 2002, a meeting was held aboard USS Mount Whitney with military leaders from Djibouti regarding the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa.
[13] On 17 August 2005, French Vice Admiral Jacques Mazars replaced Royal Navy Commodore Tony Rix as commander of CTF-150.
On 22 January 2006 USS Winston S. Churchill captured a suspected pirate vessel in the Indian Ocean as part of an ongoing effort to help maintain law and order in the region.
On 4 April 2006, the South Korean fishing vessel MV Dong Won reported it had come under rocket attack off the coast of Somalia.
Immediately two ships from the task force, the Dutch frigate HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën and the U.S. guided-missile destroyer USS Roosevelt responded.
In March 2007, the Dutch frigate HNLMS Evertsen deployed to the waters of the Horn of Africa, as part of CTF-150, and in response to a request from the United Nations World Food Programme, against piracy off the Somali coast.
The CTF-150 established the Maritime Security Patrol Area on 22 August 2008, through a narrow corridor within the Gulf of Aden aimed at deterring attack and hijacking of ships seeking safe passage through the zone.
Absalon, according to The New York Times report, "was deployed in the Gulf of Aden [in] September ['08] as part of an international effort to curb piracy.
Under the leadership of officers aboard Absalon," "Task Force 150 divided the [waters] into 12 patrol "boxes", [each] of which was responsible for defending shipping in its designated area.
By early 2007 it became actively involved in providing a maritime cordon to prevent the escape of members of Al Qaeda suspected of being embedded within the ranks of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU).
[29] April 2014 saw HMAS Darwin, an Adelaide-class frigate, intercept 1,032 kg (2,275 lb) of heroin from a dhow off the east coast of Africa.
