Somalia: Ross Aboard HMS Northumberland

Lieutenant Commander Rob Kitt is the Weapon Engineer Officer onboard HMS Northumberland.

Ross spends time with the British Navy off the coast of Somalia and learns about the EU launched Operation ATALANTA.

Onboard HMS Northumberland as it patrols the Gulf of Aden – the first time since 1816 that a Royal Navy ship has been sent on an anti-piracy mission.

The total number of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden and off east-coast Somalia so far in 2009 has already overtaken the figure for all of 2008, according to statistics collated by the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC). In 2008, there were 111 incidents including 42 vessels hijacked. So far in 2009, there have been 29 successful hijackings from 114 attempted attacks.