MV Full City: The Rest of the Story

Last week I discussed the international cooperation involved in the MV Full City piracy incident. Navy News has the rest of the story.

Guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) boarded a suspected pirate vessel in cooperation with international forces while responding to a distress call May 5.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization received a distress call from the Panamanian-flagged merchant vessel Full City and passed the information to U.S. 5th Fleet.

An Indian maritime patrol aircraft was able to locate the vessel, and
broadcast that warships were on the way. The crew had locked themselves in
a secure space from which they could control the ship, known as a 'citadel.'

Bunker Hill and aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) were the closest naval vessels to the Full City and set course to intercept. The Turkish ship Giresun, part of NATO's counter piracy operation Ocean Shield, also responded.

While Giresun boarded Full City, Bunker Hill approached a dhow in the area believed to be the 'mothership' for the pirate attack. An SH 60 Sea Hawk helicopter from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 49, deployed with Bunker Hill, fired warning shots to stop the dhow and instructed the suspected pirates to move to the bow of the vessel. In the early evening, a visit board, search and seizure team from Bunker Hill boarded the suspected pirate dhow.

The team found and destroyed paraphernalia on the dhow, including weapons, excessive fuel and other equipment commonly used in the commission of acts of piracy. They also sank a small skiff towed by the dhow; these skiffs are often used for actual attacks and boardings by pirates.

It wasn't said so we must assume... the pirates were released. I wonder where the real owners of the dhow are, because odds are good they are dead, and the US Navy just let the pirates go in a stolen dhow.

US policy towards piracy needs to concentrate on making two things happen:

• All equipment, including vessels, must be confiscated.
• Pirates must encounter some form of punishment.

The US Navy can do more, but how much more is determined by political leaders who are currently doing as little as possible to give naval forces the ability to better address the problem. When the next major tragedy occurs resulting in the loss of human life or catastrophic environmental damage, it is only valid to lay all the blame at the feet of politicians who ignore the problem and offer no policy guidance towards working solutions.