GULF OF ADEN, Mar. 8 (ChinaMil) – The comprehensive supply ship Taihu (Hull 889) attached to the 28th Chinese naval escort taskforce successfully escorted the merchant ship "Jinda" to the designated sea area on March 6, local time.
This is the first time that the Taihu ship has conducted escort missions independently. It also marks the first on-board escort mission for the special operations force of the Chinese naval escort taskforce.
The merchant ship Jinda set sail from central China's Tianjin Municipality for Egypt through the Gulf of Aden. It could not take advantage of the Chinese naval escort force's normal escort schedule as its speed is slow and freeboard is low.
The 28th Chinese naval escort taskforce therefore dispatched the comprehensive supply ship Taihu to escort the merchant ship Jinda and assigned five special operations soldiers to conduct the on-board escort.
During the escort mission, the supply ship Taihu used a variety of observation methods to closely monitor the activities of various suspicious targets.
Taking into account the actual conditions of the merchant ship, the special operations soldiers revised and improved the anti-pirate plan onboard and conducted anti-pirate exercise with Jinda’s crews.
The 28th naval escort taskforce has successfully provided escorts for 19 Chinese and international vessels in 15 batches and effectively improved its capability to perform diversified military missions.
