HONG KONG — In China’s first modern deployment of battle-ready warships beyond the Pacific, a naval task force set out Friday to begin escorts and patrols in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, state news media reported.

A supply ship and two destroyers departed from Sanya, on the island province of Hainan, carrying a total of about 800 crew members, according to Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency.

“In addition to missiles, artillery and satellite communications, special troops who are trained for the tasks will also be on board the warships,” said Xiao Xinnian, deputy chief of China’s naval forces, in a news broadcast on CCTV, the state network.

The task force commander, Rear Adm. Du Jingcheng, said the primary mission of the destroyers, which are carrying helicopters, would be to protect Chinese merchant ships, especially tankers with crude oil, that pass through the gulf, which separates the coasts of Somalia and Yemen. About 60 percent of China’s imported oil comes from the Middle East, and most of that passes through the gulf, along with huge shipments of raw materials from Africa.

Stratfor, a private intelligence agency based in the United States, said in a report that a Chinese antipiracy patrol would afford its navy “some very real opportunities for on-the-job training, covering everything from logistics far from home and combat against seaborne opponents to communications and joint operations with other, more experienced navies.”

The analysis also said the Chinese would probably monitor the way NATO warships, especially those of the United States, “communicate with each other and with their ship-borne helicopters.” The navy will acquire new skills, it said, “under the banner of internationalism.”

Lt. Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the United States Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, said the coalition would welcome the Chinese ships.

The Piracy Reporting Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, said Friday that 110 ships have been attacked in the gulf this year, and 42 have been hijacked. Fourteen ships are still being held for ransom.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao, said that 1,265 Chinese commercial vessels passed through the gulf so far this year and that seven were attacked. A Chinese fishing trawler and 18 crew members are still being held by pirates, he said.

A European Union flotilla has begun patrolling the gulf in recent days, joining naval ships from India, the United States, Iran and Russia. On Thursday, a helicopter from a German frigate drove off a pirate boat that was attacking an Egyptian cargo ship with a load of wheat.

Chinese Warships Sail to Pirate-Infested Waters – NYTimes.com