Indian Navy attacks Somali pirate mother ships

NY Times:

Days after pirates seized a Saudi-owned supertanker carrying more than $100 million worth of crude oil, the Indian Navy said on Wednesday that one of its warships fought a four-to-five-hour battle at sea with would-be hijackers in the Gulf of Aden, sinking one suspect vessel in flames and forcing the pirates to abandon a second as they fled at high speed.

The drama on the night-time waters of the Indian Ocean late Tuesday underscored the growing international concern at the audacity with which armed pirates, mostly based in Somalia, range across vast areas of the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, attacking at will. The fate of the enormous Saudi-owned supertanker Sirius Star, now anchored off the coast of Somalia, remained unclear on Wednesday.

In a statement, Cmdr. Nirad Kumar Sinha, a spokesman for the Indian Navy, said the INS Tabar, encountered a flotilla of three pirate vessels some 320 miles south west of the Omani coast in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday evening. One ship was apparently a “mother ship” used by pirates to extend their range, with two speedboats in tow. The suspect vessel matched the description of a pirate vessel issued by international anti-piracy authorities, Commander Sinha said.

He said the ‘“whole operation lasted four to five hours” and was “the first such incident in which the Indian Navy sank the pirate’s mother ship.”

When the Indian vessel tried to halt the ship, he said, “the vessel’s threatening response was that she would blow up the naval warship” if it came closer.

“Pirates were seen roaming on the upper deck of this vessel with guns and rocket propelled grenade launchers. The vessel continued its threatening calls and subsequently fired upon INS Tabar. On being fired upon, INS Tabar retaliated in self defense and opened fire on the mother vessel,” Commander Sinha said..

“As a result of the firing by INS Tabar, fire broke out on the vessel and explosions were heard, possibly due to exploding ammunition that was stored on the vessel. Almost simultaneously, two speedboats were observed breaking off to escape. The ship chased the first boat which was later found abandoned. The other boat made good its escape into darkness,” he said.. There was no immediate word on casualties among the pirates.

The Indian account suggested that pirates had attacked the Tabar, deployed to repulse pirates — equaling the brazenness of the hijacking on Sunday of the Sirius Star, a 1,080-foot supertanker with 25 crew on board.

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It is a start.

The pirates should have recognized the mismatch. RPGs can be intimidating to unarmed vessels, but they are no match for naval gunfire. The darkness did aid the escape of one of their speed boats which they use to approach targeted ships. Whether they have enough fuel to make it back to Somalia may be another question.

All of the mother ships need to be destroyed as well as the base areas along the coast.

One thing short of destruction that the warships should be able to accomplish is a naval blockade of all the Somalia coast. The blockade would keep the pirates in check and could be used as leverage to make them give up the ships they have captured.

The fact is the Indian navy got lucky in not only finding the mother ship, but in also provoking fire from the pirates on board, giving the naval vessel an excuse to open fire.

CNN has more on the battle with the pirates. It also has this:

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Michael Howlett, assistant director of the International Maritime Bureau in London, which tracks pirate attacks, said the recent upsurge in activity was unprecedented. "We've never seen a situation like this," he said. Watch Mersk CEO describe how "all ships are at risk" »

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The paying of ransom has been a big inducement to the pirates. It is clearly the best money making business in Somalia. Until no ransoms are paid the piracy will continue.