South Korea’s Cheonghae Unit, which is on a mission to protect merchant ships from pirates in Somali waters, will lead the multinational Command Task Force 51 starting in April.

An official of the Navy said the Cheonghae Unit will assume the rotating command of the CTF 51, taking over the reigns from Singapore.

South Korea’s 45-hundred-ton destroyer, the “Gang Gam-chan,” will leave for the Gulf of Aden in March and will lead the multinational naval force.

The U.S., Singapore, Turkey, Australia and Pakistan have all held the rotating command of the CTF 51, which is under the Combined Force Maritime Component Command.