On 15th July 2015, the Force Headquarters of the Operation Atalanta relieved the Combined Task Force 151 in the fight against piracy activity at sea. The Operation Atalanta will lead the important task of Counter-Piracy coordination among the three big military coalitions in the Indian Ocean region until the next 15th January 2016.

Since the 15th January the Counter-Piracy role was held down by the Commander of the Combined Task Force 151, Japanese Rear Admiral Hiroshi Ito who hand over with the, Commander of the Task Force 465, Spanish Rear Admiral Alfonso Gómez Fernández de Córdoba.

The coordination among the European Task force 465, the Combined Task Force 151 and the Task Force 508, was created with the strong commitment of cooperate and coordinate the Counter-Piracy efforts to ensure the success in fighting the scourge of piracy at sea.

Although there has not been a formal hand over between the two Tasks Forces, on the 16th July, the Japanese Admiral with his delegation paid a visit to the flagship with the intention of sharing different views and experiences in the Counter-Piracy effort.

The Force commander together with the Commanding Officer of the Flagship welcomed on board the Japanese Commander on the hangar.  After greeting the CCTF-151 and his delegation, they both received a briefing on the Operation Atalanta mission, the concept of the operation and the force flow expected for the next months.

“I am impressed on the huge effort done by the CTF-151 over the last 6 months, you have done an outstanding work on the first time you lead a multinational military coalition after the Second World War, BZ”, stated Rear Admiral Alfonso Gómez on the briefing room of the ESPS “Galicia”.

Afterwards, they visited the hospital, the bridge and the Admiral’s cabin of the Spanish Warship “Galicia”. Even though the visit was only two hours long, they had some talks in the Admiral’s cabin were they share some important information about the actual situation of the piracy activity in the Indian Ocean region.

Unfortunately, the visit could not be prolonged since the Spanish Warship “Galicia” was attending the visit of the Spanish Chief of Defense, due to the celebration of the Spanish Navy Day.

This meeting at sea was a great occasion to strengthen ties among the two military coalitions to better deter and disrupt piracy activity. The Japanese Admiral, Commander of the Combined Task Force-151, and his delegation were then transported by a Spanish helicopter back to Djibouti.