RSN will deploy a Landing Ship Tank (LST), with two Super Puma Helicopters on board, and 200 personnel, as part of an international flotilla that will patrol the waters off Somalia, a major flashpoint where pirates have attacked more than 100 ships last year.

For three months, the LST will work with the US-led Combined Task Force 151 and other ships to escort the vessels that ply the pirate-infested waterway everyday.

American, European, Chinese and, most recently, Japanese naval vessels have all been dispatched to the Gulf of Aden. There are already about 45 warships from various countries in the area.

Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean told Parliament on Thursday that as a maritime nation, Singapore must play its part to keep sea lanes safe and secure.

He said: 'It is not possible for any country, including Singapore, to protect its own shipping in all the key sea lanes of the world. All countries therefore have to depend on international cooperation to secure the sea lanes for everyone's use.'

Singaore, Malaysia and Indonesia started the Malacca Strait patrols in 2004 to combat piracy. Thailand has also joined in.

Mr Teo said since 2004, the number of piracies in the strait has declined from a high of 21 to six in 2008.

Singapore has also sent LST vessels to waters near Iraq to support coalition forces there.

On Wednesday the US Navy, which currently leads the CTF-151, said it had arrested seven suspected pirates in the Gulf of Aden, the first time the task force has apprehended suspected pirates since its formation a month ago.

Pirates attacked more than 130 merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden last year, an increase of more than 200 per cent in 2007, according to the International Maritime Bureau, which tracks piracy and shipping security issues.