Ha Ha! U.S. Navy got 'em some pirates!!

[82Rigger]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The U.S. Navy boarded an apparent pirate ship in the Indian Ocean and detained 26 men for questioning, the Navy said Sunday.

"The 16 Indians and 10 Somali men were aboard a traditional dhow that was chased and seized Saturday by the guided missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill, said Lt. Leslie Hull-Ryde of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain.

The dhow stopped fleeing after the Churchill twice fired warning shots during the chase, which ended 87 kilometers (54 miles) off the coast of Somalia, the Navy said. U.S. sailors boarded the dhow and seized a cache of small arms."

Wonder if this is the same bunch that tried to hijack that cruise ship not too long ago.

Sailors on the boarded ship are telling the Navy that their ship was hijacked six days ago and the pirates have been using it to hijack merchant vessels.

So, the Navy will be sorting out who is the legitimate crew and who is the pirates.

Not sure where it goes from there. Maybe one of our Navy folks can tell us what happens next.

Piracy is rampant in that area.

Glad somebody had the cajones to do something about it.

GOOD ON YA, NAVY!!!

[82Rigger]

USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81)

[Seascamp]

In those troubled waters, one small boat that has more fire power than another small boat is likely to try piracy. And some of those small boats have been taking on much larger freighters and getting away with it.
The Churchill was operating with an International task force and piracy being an international crime, would likely have the perps end up in The Hague and tried for piracy. Before transfer, the Churchill crew will be tending to needs and wants, but in a secure environment, and at least initially sorting out the bad actors from the hostages.

Most likely there was no Marine Detachment on a ship that size so there was a trained and equipped boarding party and once aboard, the Master at Arms would have responsibility for prisoner security, etc. Very small Brig so only the known pirates and perceived real bad actors would be put in the brig and the rest in a birthing compartment or compartments and security would be very tight.

No doubt the Sailors will be mighty happy to hand off all of them to some other authority. Also there was probably a prize crew of a Junior Officer, CPO Boatswain and some hands to take the dhow into custody and to some destination. Now that would be fun, I?d say, and virtually no one since Vietnam can have a sea story about being prize crew of a real captured pirate ship.

Scamp

[82Rigger]

Thanks, Scamper, for the additional info.

Was wondering, because there seem to be at least two nationalities involved among the occupants of the pirate ship...Indian and Somalian.

Also, I didn't see any mention of how the ship was flagged or registered. Will that have any bearing in this?

[Seascamp]

Most likely, the dhow will be returned to the owner when it is proven that it was pirated, if not, then probably not and sold or scuttled. It?s not large enough or valuable enough for other claims or ?ambulance chasers? to go after so it will all be settled quietly if claims of piracy are substantiated. I believe there is an International Maritime Commission court that settles ownership issues.

Not all that long ago, Singapore was having major problems with pirates from Malaysia and the Shell port refinery was always being raided and a shoot em? up deal going down at regular intervals. Singapore got them some helicopter gunships and something like Swiftboats but a bit shorter, and poof, no more Malaysian pirates. And I think the poof part is very literal and I did hear the distinctive two blade wop wop and rat a tat tat one night and maybe that was part of the poofing exercise, I really don?t know for sure. In that neck of the woods when the Government doesn?t want the media to discuss something, they don?t say a peep, not so much as a single word and nobody knows nothin.

Scamp

[locksly]

Updated: 03:28 PM EST
U.S. Navy Seizes Pirate Ship Off Somalia
By JIM KRANE, AP

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (Jan. 22) - The U.S. Navy boarded an apparent pirate ship in the Indian Ocean and detained 26 men for questioning, the Navy said Sunday. The 16 Indians and 10 Somali men were aboard a traditional dhow that was chased and seized Saturday by the U.S. guided missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill, said Lt. Leslie Hull-Ryde of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain.

The dhow stopped fleeing after the Churchill twice fired warning shots during the chase, which ended 54 miles off the coast of Somalia, the Navy said. U.S. sailors boarded the dhow and seized a cache of small arms.

The dhow's crew and passengers were being questioned Sunday aboard the Churchill to determine which were pirates and which were legitimate crew members, Hull-Ryde said.

Sailors aboard the dhow told Navy investigators that pirates hijacked the vessel six days ago near Mogadishu and thereafter used it to stage pirate attacks on merchant ships.

The Churchill is part of a multinational task force patrolling the western Indian Ocean and Horn of Africa region to thwart terrorist activity and other lawlessness during the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

The Navy said it captured the dhow in response to a report from the International Maritime Bureau in Kuala Lumpur on Friday that said pirates had fired on the MV Delta Ranger, a Bahamian-flagged bulk carrier that was passing some 200 miles off the central eastern coast of Somalia.

Hull-Ryde said the Navy was still investigating the incident and would discuss with international authorities what to do with the detained men.

"The disposition of people and vessels involved in acts of piracy on the high seas are based on a variety of factors, including the offense, the flags of the vessels, the nationalities of the crew, and others," Hull-Ryde said in an e-mail.

Piracy is rampant off the coast of Somalia, which is torn by renewed clashes between militias fighting over control of the troubled African country. Many shipping companies resort to paying ransoms, saying they have few alternatives.

Last month, Somali militiamen finally relinquished a merchant ship hijacked in October.

In November, Somali pirates freed a Ukrainian ore carrier and its 22 member crew after holding it for 40 days. It was unclear whether a $700,000 ransom demanded by the pirates had been paid.

One of the boldest recent attacks was on Nov. 5, when two boats full of pirates approached a cruise ship carrying Western tourists, about 100 miles off Somalia and fired rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles.

The crew used a weapon that directs earsplitting noise at attackers, then sped away.

Somalia has had no effective government since 1991, when warlords ousted a dictatorship and then turned on each other, carving the nation of 8.2 million into a patchwork of fiefdoms.


01/22/06 12:07 EST
By Steven Donald Smith
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2006 - A U.S. Navy ship captured a suspected pirate vessel in the Indian Ocean about 54 miles off the coast of Somalia Jan. 21.

The vessel was "an Indian-flagged bulk carrier, and the USS Winston Churchill liberated it about six days after the crew claimed they had been hijacked," Navy Cmdr. Jeff Breslau, a public affairs officer with U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, said.

The Churchill is a guided missile destroyer attached to the U.S. 5th Fleet and is part of a multinational task force patrolling the western Indian Ocean and Horn of Africa region.

After receiving a report from the International Maritime Bureau in Kuala Lumpur about an incident of piracy off the Somali coast Jan. 20, the Churchill and other naval forces located the suspected dhow and shadowed it through the night. On the morning of Jan. 21, after repeated unsuccessful attempts to contact the vessel by radio, the Churchill began "aggressive maneuvering" to stop it from advancing, Navy officials said.

When the vessel refused to stop, the Churchill fired warning shots, which brought the pirates to a halt. It took a second warning shot to get the crew aboard the vessel to establish radio communication and begin obeying instructions to disembark onto small boats the vessel had in tow.

Sailors from the Churchill then boarded the pirated vessel, where they found a small-arms cache.

Ten suspected pirates were detained and are still aboard U.S. ships. "An interagency and international process is under way to determine final disposition," Breslau said.

Several incidents of piracy aimed at international shipping off the Somali coast have been reported over the past year, officials said.

In the fall of 2005, Somali pirates held 22 crewmembers of a Ukrainian ore carrier for 40 days.

In November 2005, two boat loads of pirates approached a Western cruise ship about 100 miles off the Somali coast and fired rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles at the ship. The cruise ship took evasive action and outran the pirates, officials said.

"Piracy is an issue off the coast of Somalia as well as in many parts of the world. It is an international problem that requires an international solution," Breslau said.

Somalia has been without a central government since 1991, when warlords toppled the country's dictator and split the nation into factions. A reconciliation process has been ongoing. In August 2004 a transitional parliament was formed, and the assembly approved a prime minister in December 2004. The formation of transitional governing institutions, known as the Transitional Federal Institutions, continues to move forward, according to the U.S. State Department Web site.


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