Taurus 09

The taskforce reduced in number for the second phase of the deployment which was to be East of Suez.^[12] After traversing the Suez Canal a group of vessels, including Ocean, Somerset, Talent, Wave Ruler and Mitscher successfully transited the Gulf of Aden between Yemen and Somalia, scene of recent pirate activity.^[13] During this transit Somerset assisted the Yemen coastguard in intelligence gathering using her Lynx helicopter.^[14]

Bulwark called at India while the rest of the group carried out underwater warfare exercises in the Arabian Sea.^[15] Somerset and its Merlin helicopters hunted for Talent using a number of Thales sonar systems including a 2087 surface-ship towed-array sonar, the 2076 submarine sonar, the FLASH helicopter dipping sonar, and the 2050 bow-mounted active sonar.^[16] Taurus 09 also carried out a trial of Raytheon's Deep Siren Tactical Paging system designed to communicate with submerged submarines at distances in excess of 100 nautical miles (190 km; 120 mi). The taskforce successfully communicated tactical messages and contact data to the submarine.^[17]

A portion of the task group, including eight Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels and two submarines, with Dupleix and Mitscher carried out training exercises with the Bangladesh Navy. This was the first time the Royal Navy had trained with the Bangladesh Navy for ten years.^[18] The exercises took place in a number of Bangladeshi rivers from 29 April and were known as Exercise Shomudro Torongo.^[19][20]

The task group transited the Strait of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia, scene of other pirate activity.^[13] Ocean attended the International Maritime Defence Exhibition in Singapore in May.^[6] The group took park in joint Five Power Defence Arrangements and Commonwealth of Nations Exercise Persma Shield off Malaysia in June with the Royal Marines taking part in survival exercises.^[21] Bulwark rejoined the task group for jungle training exercises in Brunei.^[6][15] These included survival exercises and practice in navigation and river crossings.^[21]

The task group returned home after the Brunei exercises, which marked their furthest travel east (at 114 degrees longitude).^[14] During the return journey 81 members of the crew of Somerset rowed the length of the Suez Canal, in 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) legs, in a time of 10 hours and 40 minutes.^[14] On the return journey Wave Ruler visited Valletta, Malta from 16 July 2009 to carry out an operational stand down and changeover of crew.^[22] Wave Ruler was a particularly active member of the task group, providing fuel and other supplies on more than 100 occasions, and travelling 35,000 nautical miles (65,000 km; 40,000 mi); she returned to Devonport on 2 August 2009.^[14] The last British ships, Ocean, Somerset and Bulwark returned to Devonport in the UK on 3 August.^[23] The returning ships were greeted by thousands of spectators and welcomed to music by the Royal Marines Band Service.^[5] By the time of its return it was commanded by Commodore Paul Bennett who had succeeded Hudson in the role of Commander Amphibious Task Group.^[23]

The deployment covered 20,400 miles (32,800 km) and involved 3,300 Royal Navy personnel, at its maximum strength, training with 17 foreign nations.^[23][3][4] During the deployment the task group was visited by the serving First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff Sir Mark Stanhope and his predecessor Sir Jonathon Band. A Granada Television film crew also visited to film for series two of the Channel 5 series Warship.^[14]

In the years following the deployment the Royal Navy retired its aircraft carriers and for some years before the commissioning of HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) in 2017 did not operate any. The Amphibious Task Group, renamed the Response Force Task Group became the primary deployable force of the navy.^[24]