Written question asked by Lord Tebbit (Conservative), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Astor of Hever (Conservative) on Monday, 1 November 2010.

Shipping: Piracy

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the action recently taken by HMS ““Montrose”” against suspected Somalian pirates.

Answer: HMS ““Montrose”” is currently deployed as part of NATO's mission Op Ocean Shield, patrolling the Gulf of Aden and Somali Basin as part of the international effort to counter piracy. The most recent incident involving HMS ““Montrose”” occurred on the 14 October 2010, when she was engaged in disrupting a suspect pirate group. HMS ““Montrose”” acted in line with NATO and UK guidelines successfully disrupting the group, and confiscated all pirate paraphernalia to ensure that the suspected pirates no longer posed a threat to merchant ships.

Secondary information