Royal Navy Shoots Up Pirate Mothership

I thought it was very interesting yesterday when the Indian Navy became the first nation other than France this year to open fire on pirates. I never imagined this could become a pattern, but today the Royal Navy engaged pirates with lethal force, and it was lethal for a pair of unfortunate, "non compliant" pirates.

Pirates caught redhanded by one of Her Majesty’s warships after trying to hijack a cargo ship off Somalia made the grave mistake of opening fire on two Royal Navy assault craft packed with commandos armed with machineguns and SA80 rifles.

In the ensuing gunfight, two Somali pirates in a Yemeni-registered fishing dhow were killed, and a third pirate, believed to be a Yemeni, suffered injuries and subsequently died. It was the first time the Royal Navy had been engaged in a fatal shoot-out on the high seas in living memory.

Are we seeing something new or is this simply the byproduct of successful ISR capabilities being deployed to the region to fight piracy? It is difficult to tell at this point. The Times article does a very good job of covering the entire incident, including this paragraph regarding the Rules of Engagement that the Royal Navy is operating under.

Under rules of engagement which allows the Royal Navy to intervene when pirates are positively identified, the commandos were dispatched from the frigate in rigid-raider craft and sped towards the pirates’ dhow. The Ministry of Defence said the Marines circled the pirates’ boat to try and persuade them to stop.

As they approached, however, several of the pirates, a mixed crew of Somalis and Yemenis, swung their assault rifles in their direction and opened fire. The MoD said the Royal Marines returned fire “in self defence”, and then boarded the dhow — a stolen Yemeni-registered fishing vessel.

The commandos found guns and other “paraphernalia” on board the dhow and a handful of terrified pirates. The MoD said it was unclear whether the Yemeni who died had been shot by the Marines or was wounded from a previous incident involving the pirates.

Previous engagement? That makes it sound like the Indian Navy may have had more success than the original news reporting from yesterday indicated. Are we dealing with the same pirates the Indian Navy engaged? There is a lot of confusion, but the signs point towards a more aggressive international approach.

The Times article highlights this. It begins by contrasting this incident with the incident last year in the northern Persian Gulf when the boarding party was captured by Iranians. Clearly the ghost of Nelson was being channeled through Royal Navy spokesman Captain Mike Davis-Marks when he said this today, because we haven't seen this kind of logical thinking from a Royal Navy officer in the media in awhile.

“This is bound to have an impact on pirates who for the last two years have been getting away with seizing vessels and receiving large ransoms. Now suddenly there’s the threat of death and this may force them to think again, but they are determined people, so we’ll have to see.”

Another interesting twist, the Russians claimed they were part of it while the Royal Navy is saying they had no idea Russia was helping. So much for cooperation, maybe they shot the Yemeni guy the Royal Navy was unsure about and not the Indians? Fog of war, either way I tend to agree with “Captain Mike Davis-Marks, once pirates have to weigh black and white options like "life and death" the deterrence the international community is attempting to establish becomes more effective.