March 30, 2009

Accidental Q-Ship

Hah!

A group of Somali Pirates attacked a tanker off the horn of Africa several hours ago. This would be sad but not remarkable as the piracy in the area has been bad for years and exploded in the last few months. However the tanker they attempted to board was the FGS Spessart, a German Navy supply ship.

...and so...

The German sailors returned fire and pursued the skiff while also calling in for support. Several naval ships — including a Greek and a Dutch frigate, a Spanish warship and the USS Boxer — sped to the area while a Spanish marine aircraft and two U.S. Marine Cobra helicopters joined the pursuit.
Five hours later, Greek sailors reached the pirate skiff, boarded it and seized the seven suspects and their weapons, including assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, the Greek navy said. The suspects were disarmed and transferred for questioning to the German frigate Rheinland-Pfalz where they remain Monday, pending a decision on whether they will be legally prosecuted, Christensen said.


Wasp, meet sledgehammer.
(Hat Tip: Information Dissemination)



Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 08:22 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 179 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Don't gloat too soon. The last time pirates got captured, they were held for a few days and then freed.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Tue Mar 31 01:30:13 2009 (+rSRq)

2 Oh, go ahead and gloat for a while.  Though I was SO hoping that you were going to say the not-Q-ship lowered false sides to reveal a couple of 5" guns...

Posted by: Wonderduck at Tue Mar 31 20:58:26 2009 (tMdKd)

3

The piracy problem in those waters isn't going to diminish significantly until pirates start dying in significant numbers. The ships there won't be safe untill they start shooting back.

Even if they take one or more RPG hits because of it. In the long run that's cheaper than being captured and held for ransom.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Wed Apr 1 02:02:03 2009 (+rSRq)

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