The Indian Navy has been deploying one ship in the Gulf of Aden on anti-piracy tasking since October 2008. The IN ships escort merchant ships through the 490 nautical mile long Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC) and thus far 50 IN warships have been deployed. As on 15 Mar 15, a total of 40 attempts have been successfully thwarted by the IN ships on patrol. IN has safely escorted 3075 merchant ships manned by nearly 22,448 Indian sailors as on 15 Mar 15.