Royal Bahrain Naval Force takes over CTF 152 command

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Royal Bahrain Naval Force has taken over the command of the Combined Duty Force (CTF 152) — one of the three task forces of Combined Maritime Forces — from Kuwait.

Bahrain took over the command in a ceremony attended by BDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Theyab bin Saqr Al Nuaimi and the Commander of United States Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT), and Commander of United States Fifth Fleet (C5F) Vice-Admiral Charles Bradford Cooper.

This is also the third time RBNF leads CTF 152 after the first time on 4th March 2008 and the second time on 6th January 2011.

CTF 152 (Arabian Gulf security and cooperation, CTF 150 (maritime security and counter-terrorism), and CTF 151 (counter-piracy) forces form CMF - a multi-national naval partnership to promote security, stability and prosperity across approximately 3.2 million square miles of international waters.

The 34-nation grouping is commanded by a US Navy Vice Admiral, who also serves as Commander US Naval Forces CENTCOM and US Fifth Fleet. All three commands are co-located at US Naval Support Activity Bahrain. India has formally commenced its cooperation with the Bahrain-based multilateral partnership recently.