Visit, board, search and seizure team boarding officer, Lt. j.g. James Fuentes, stationed aboard the guided-missile cruiser USS San Jacinto, awaits permission from the bridge to conduct a night time boarding. USS San Jacinto is part of Combined Task Force 151, a multinational task force established in January 2009 to conduct counter-piracy operations under a mission based mandate to actively deter, disrupt and suppress piracy in order to protect global maritime security and secure freedom of navigation for the benefit of all nations. Combined Task Force 151 operates in the Gulf of Aden and the east coast of Somalia, where it has had a significant effect disrupting piracy. Although the number of piracy attempts has increased over the past year, the number of successful attacks has been reduced by 40 percent over this same time.