Indian Navy Goes After Pirates

The upswing in pirate attacks around the world but especially off the Horn of Africa has been going on for awhile now but it's finally starting to break into the MSM (hijacking an oil tanker will do that).

Several nations have sent warships to that troubled area in an attempt to deal with the problem. It looks like the Indian Navy has drawn the first series bit of pirate blood.

An Indian naval vessel sank a suspected pirate "mother ship" in the Gulf of Aden and chased two attack boats into the night, officials said Wednesday, as separate bands of brigands seized Thai and Iranian ships in the lawless seas.

..."Pirates were seen roaming on the upper deck of this vessel with guns and rocket propelled grenade launchers," said a statement from the Indian navy. Indian forces fired back, sparking fires and a series of onboard blasts — possibly due to exploding ammunition — and destroying the ship.

They chased one of two speedboats shadowing the larger ship. One was later found abandoned. The other escaped, according to the statement.

Larger "mother ships" are often used to take gangs of pirates and smaller attack boats into deep water, and can be used as mobile bases to attack merchant vessels.

The British Royal Navy, once the scourge of pirates has been told to ignore the problem lest captured pirates press a claim for asylum. The Indians seem to have dealt with that problem nicely by not taking prisoners. Nice.

If you are interested in following the pirate situation I recommend Eagle 1's blog. I've been reading him on this subject for at least a year now and he's all over it.

posted by DrewM. at 12:10 PM

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