Pirates hijack ship with 20 Americans onboard

[headhuntersix]

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somali pirates hijacked a U.S.-flagged, Danish-owned container ship on Wednesday with 20 American crew on board in a major escalation in attacks at sea off the Horn of Africa nation, officials said.

Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Program, told Reuters the 17,000 ton Maersk Alabama had been seized off Mogadishu far out in the Indian Ocean, but all its crew were believed to be unharmed.

Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk confirmed that the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama had been attacked by pirates about 500 km (300 miles) off Somalia and had probably been hijacked. The company said it had 20 American crew on board.

A spokesman for the U.N.'s World Food Program (WFP) in Nairobi told Reuters that among the vessel's cargo were 232 containers of WFP relief food destined for Somalia and Uganda.

In the latest wave of pirate attacks, gunmen from Somalia seized a British-owned ship on Monday after hijacking another three vessels over the weekend.

In the first three months of 2009 just eight ships were hijacked in the Gulf of Aden, which links the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea and is used by ships traveling between Europe and Asia.

Last year, heavily armed Somali pirates hijacked dozens of vessels, took hundreds of sailors hostage -- often for weeks -- and extracted millions of dollars in ransoms.

MORE ATTACKS

Foreign navies rushed warships to the area in response and reduced the number of successful attacks. But there are still near-daily attempts and the pirates have also started hunting further afield near the Seychelles.

On Monday, they hijacked a British-owned, Italian-operated ship with 16 Bulgarian crew on board.

Over the weekend, they also seized a French yacht, a Yemeni tug and a 20,000-tonne German container vessel. Interfax news agency said the Hansa Stavanger had a German captain, three Russians, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos on board.

The Maersk Alabama is owned and operated by Maersk Line Ltd, a Norfolk, Virginia-based subsidiary of A.P. Moller-Maersk and the world's biggest container shipper.

A Moller-Maersk spokesman said it had been transporting general goods to Mombasa from Djibouti when it was attacked.

The pirates typically launch speed boats from "mother ships," meaning they can sometimes evade warships patrolling the strategic shipping lanes and strike far out to sea.

They then take captured vessels to remote coastal village bases in Somalia, where they have usually treated their hostages well in anticipation of a sizeable ransom payment.  Continued...

[headhuntersix]

Ok Barry,

Shipboard take-downs are a Navy Seal METL task (basic job required by SEALS). While difficult, its a main task for them. Will it be Navy SEALs in the dark of night or will it be months of negotiation as his poll numbers fall on his apparent impotence. More sleepless nights that we’ll be bombarded with as excuses? Lets go Barry, send em in. So is this one of those tests Biden warned us about? Will this be the latest Jimmy Carter moment for President Obama?

[shootfighter1]

Its insane how many ships have been hijacked around somalia in the past couple years.  What are countries doing about this?  This sounds like something that would happen 100 yrs ago.

[headhuntersix]

At this point I have no idea why these shipping companies don't hire a PMC....5 or 6 guys could repel borders long enough for help to arrive or drive em off. These guys don't want to get into a pissing contest, to many other targets. Obama has a chance to grow some balls. These are US citizens...somebody somewhere is breaking out zodiacs. Its up to Barry to let em do what they're trained to do.

[Soul Crusher]

Ok Barry,

Shipboard take-downs are a Navy Seal METL task (basic job required by SEALS). While difficult, its a main task for them. Will it be Navy SEALs in the dark of night or will it be months of negotiation as his poll numbers fall on his apparent impotence. More sleepless nights that we’ll be bombarded with as excuses? Lets go Barry, send em in. So is this one of those tests Biden warned us about? Will this be the latest Jimmy Carter moment for President Obama?

I wish Barry would go Thomas Jefferson on their asses over this, but I doubt it.  More like Jimmy Carter on the way.

[LurkerNoMore]

I don't see why someone doesn't just send a cargo ship to those waters where the "cargo" is actually a tank full of mercenaries. 

You get one or two instances where these raggedy ass pirates hop on what they think is a sitting duck for them, only to be butchered, killed and thrown over the side as a message and you will find the attacks will stop.

[headhuntersix]

Not a bad idea...

These guys now have money apparently and may be picking targets based on intel as opposed to just rolling up on a ship. U can always pay off somebody at a port to tell u whats on a ship etc. But throwing a trojan horse is not a bad idea at all. There are billions at stake with shipping.

[Soul Crusher]

Not a bad idea...

These guys now have money apparently and may be picking targets based on intel as opposed to just rolling up on a ship. U can always pay off somebody at a port to tell u whats on a ship etc. But throwing a trojan horse is not a bad idea at all. There are billions at stake with shipping.

Why dont these boats get a few .50 cal guns on them and rpgs?

[headhuntersix]

I have no idea...some companies have hired PMC's but with all the cash invloved...u would think that a 500,00 contract would be worth it to them. One of the PMC's is hiring ex seals to do just that. Its a growth industry.

[Nordic Superman]

I don't see why someone doesn't just send a cargo ship to those waters where the "cargo" is actually a tank full of mercenaries. 

You get one or two instances where these raggedy ass pirates hop on what they think is a sitting duck for them, only to be butchered, killed and thrown over the side as a message and you will find the attacks will stop.

That's actually a great idea and would be entertainingly satisfying.

[Soul Crusher]

I don't see why someone doesn't just send a cargo ship to those waters where the "cargo" is actually a tank full of mercenaries. 

You get one or two instances where these raggedy ass pirates hop on what they think is a sitting duck for them, only to be butchered, killed and thrown over the side as a message and you will find the attacks will stop.

That is all it will take.  A few high profile incidents and it will stop.

But wait . . . . . we cant torture people, no interogations, no waterboarding.

I guess we will just have to talk to them. 

[headhuntersix]

SEALS are cray and I'm sure this has crossed somebodies mind. Its all about money and risk. The conventional military was and to an extent still very risk averse. As u go up the latter of SOF units, that aversion is mitigated by the high level of training these guys get. Taking down a ship, underway is very difficult. But it is a main mission for SEALS, as taking down an airliner is for CAG/Delta.

It will be up to Barry to give them the nod. The folks at JSOC will have to bless off the plan and then kick it up to DOD and the Whitehouse. It might never get to Barry, who might want to do it. His political handlers might stop it before it gets to him. This happened with Reagan and Clinton. It might die at DOD. Under Bush, he allowed alot of stuff in Afghanistan and Iraq to be pushed down to lower level commands. As a result the SOF community has conducted thousands of succesful missions and become extremely good at their job. 911 changed how we think and what we have allowed these guys to do.

Jerry Bruckheimer is coming out with a movie about our cia/Green Berets in Afghanistan during the ass kicking they gave AQ and the Taliban.

[Soul Crusher]

SEALS are cray and I'm sure this has crossed somebodies mind. Its all about money and risk. The conventional military was and to an extent still very risk averse. As u go up the latter of SOF units, that aversion is mitigated by the high level of training these guys get. Taking down a ship, underway is very difficult. But it is a main mission for SEALS, as taking down an airliner is for CAG/Delta.

It will be up to Barry to give them the nod. The folks at JSOC will have to bless off the plan and then kick it up to DOD and the Whitehouse. It might never get to Barry, who might want to do it. His political handlers might stop it before it gets to him. This happened with Reagan and Clinton. It might die at DOD. Under Bush, he allowed alot of stuff in Afghanistan and Iraq to be pushed down to lower level commands. As a result the SOF community has conducted thousands of succesful missions and become extremely good at their job. 911 changed how we think and what we have allowed these guys to do.

Jerry Bruckheimer is coming out with a movie about our cia/Green Berets in Afghanistan during the ass kicking they gave AQ and the Taliban.

I have a buddy who was in Afghanstan and he told me that the Marines own the Taliban in every area.  He said it was almost embarassing.

[LurkerNoMore]

Why dont these boats get a few .50 cal guns on them and rpgs?

Probably because of insurance/registration purposes.   Also some waters do not allow armed ships to enter.

[headhuntersix]

I'm sure all the cable news stations  will have ex SEALS and sof explaining what can be done etc....if they're good, they explain how hard it will be to do, but possible. U have to get a small group on board, and then secure enough of the ship to get more guys via fast rope from a chopper. It all depends on weather, light and the size of the ship. They had a guy on Fox who explained it all, last time they took a ship, a few months ago.


3....the Taliban fight, but we don't run and we have kicked their asses constantly. We're not the Russians. When we have a big TIC (troops in contact) all the air around them gets shunted over to cover em. So u can have a guy with a GED controlling millions of dollars worth of air power in. They call in the air and smoke em...These kids are hero's. I'v watched it first hand and am amazed at what our guys do.

[shootfighter1]

There is some crap law about merchant vessels not carrying weapons but something clearly has to change.  There were 6 hijackings in the past 2 weeks and who knows how many in the past year. 
I'm all for providing weapons, escorts or ex-military hired to protect these ships from pirates.

[SAMSON123]

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somali pirates hijacked a U.S.-flagged, Danish-owned container ship on Wednesday with 20 American crew on board in a major escalation in attacks at sea off the Horn of Africa nation, officials said.

Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Program, told Reuters the 17,000 ton Maersk Alabama had been seized off Mogadishu far out in the Indian Ocean, but all its crew were believed to be unharmed.

Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk confirmed that the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama had been attacked by pirates about 500 km (300 miles) off Somalia and had probably been hijacked. The company said it had 20 American crew on board.

A spokesman for the U.N.'s World Food Program (WFP) in Nairobi told Reuters that among the vessel's cargo were 232 containers of WFP relief food destined for Somalia and Uganda.

In the latest wave of pirate attacks, gunmen from Somalia seized a British-owned ship on Monday after hijacking another three vessels over the weekend.

In the first three months of 2009 just eight ships were hijacked in the Gulf of Aden, which links the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea and is used by ships traveling between Europe and Asia.

Last year, heavily armed Somali pirates hijacked dozens of vessels, took hundreds of sailors hostage -- often for weeks -- and extracted millions of dollars in ransoms.

MORE ATTACKS

Foreign navies rushed warships to the area in response and reduced the number of successful attacks. But there are still near-daily attempts and the pirates have also started hunting further afield near the Seychelles.

On Monday, they hijacked a British-owned, Italian-operated ship with 16 Bulgarian crew on board.

Over the weekend, they also seized a French yacht, a Yemeni tug and a 20,000-tonne German container vessel. Interfax news agency said the Hansa Stavanger had a German captain, three Russians, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos on board.

The Maersk Alabama is owned and operated by Maersk Line Ltd, a Norfolk, Virginia-based subsidiary of A.P. Moller-Maersk and the world's biggest container shipper.

A Moller-Maersk spokesman said it had been transporting general goods to Mombasa from Djibouti when it was attacked.

The pirates typically launch speed boats from "mother ships," meaning they can sometimes evade warships patrolling the strategic shipping lanes and strike far out to sea.

They then take captured vessels to remote coastal village bases in Somalia, where they have usually treated their hostages well in anticipation of a sizeable ransom payment.  Continued...

DAMN....More CIA BULLSHIT.

I keep wondering how does some poor starving Somali get on a bamboo raft, or a tire inner tube and make it hundreds of miles out to sea, then climb up the side of a tanker (aprox 180 feet) which has smooth sides, get up on deck, get to the Captains tower and take over with nothing more than sharpen sticks?? Well I guess they followed the same technique that allowed supposed Arab men to get on board four airliners with box cutters and hijack the planes, fly them into buildings...

At some point the world will stop being stupid and will see exactly what is going on. america has hallibuton/CIA in Dubai which is the throat of the Persian Gulf and controlling that region will control the flow of oil out of the region. Somalia sits right at the throat of the Red Sea which again would allow america to control the flow of oil from that region once it sets up military bases and/or war ship in the region, which it will claim are there to protect the tankers. So the CIA will continue these "ATTACKS" and blaming the Somali "PIRATE" until justification is had in bringing the war ships or military into the picture.

The stage for WWIII is being set up right now. As america provokes the anger of the worlds nations by trying to control the oil flow...enter European and Asian nations to do battle over the resources...america destroyed

[Dos Equis]

I don't see why someone doesn't just send a cargo ship to those waters where the "cargo" is actually a tank full of mercenaries. 

You get one or two instances where these raggedy ass pirates hop on what they think is a sitting duck for them, only to be butchered, killed and thrown over the side as a message and you will find the attacks will stop.

What the . . . ?  I actually agree with Lurker.   

[Hedgehog]

 I don't know if this been posted but..
The Americans pwned the Somali clowns and taught them a lesson.
Apparently chased them off the ship.  

[Soul Crusher]

I don't know if this been posted but..
The Americans pwned the Somali clowns and taught them a lesson.
Apparently chased them off the ship.  

The passengers on the 9/11 plane in Shankesville PA, set a great standard for the rest of us to follow.

Good on this crew!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[headhuntersix]

Great job guys....

SAMSON ur a moron.

[Emmortal]

I don't know if this been posted but..
The Americans pwned the Somali clowns and taught them a lesson.
Apparently chased them off the ship.  

Yup, here's the details

Pentagon says crew retake US ship from pirates
Wed Apr 8, 2009 11:29 AM CDT


04/08 11:28 CDT Pentagon says crew retake US ship from pirates

Pentagon says crew retake US ship from pirates


The official said the status of the other pirates was unknown but they were
reported to "be in the water." The official spoke on condition of anonymity due
to the sensitivity of the matter.





http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gB7YMEDuCwwY9ncDOtPAkEI4-H2wD97ECSV01


US crew reportedly takes over ship from pirates

4 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The crew of a U.S.-flag ship seized by pirates off Somalia is believed to have retaken the vessel, the Pentagon said Wednesday, even as a shaken national security establishment confronted troubling questions about the hostage-taking at high sea.

Capt. Joseph Murphy, an instructor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, told The Associated Press the Department of Defense that his son Shane, the second in command on the ship, had called him to say the crew had regained control.

"The crew is back in control of the ship," a U.S. official said at midday, speaking on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak on the record. "It's reported that one pirate is on board under crew control — the other three were trying to flee," the official said. The status of the other pirates was unknown, the official said, but they were reported to "be in the water."

The crew apparently contacted the private shipping that it works for. That company, Maersk, scheduled a noon news conference in Norfolk, Va, defense officials said.

Somali pirates today hijacked a U.S.-flagged cargo ship with 20 American crew members onboard, hundreds of miles from the nearest American military vessel in some of the most dangerous waters in the world.

The 17,000-ton Maersk Alabama was carrying emergency relief to Mombasa, Kenya, when it was hijacked, said Peter Beck-Bang, spokesman for the Copenhagen-based container shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk. It was the sixth ship seized within a week, a rise that analysts attribute to a new strategy by Somali pirates who are operating far from the warships patrolling the Gulf of Aden.

The company confirmed that the U.S.-flagged vessel has 20 U.S. nationals onboard.

Cmdr. Jane Campbell, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, said that it was the first pirate attack "involving U.S. nationals and a U.S.-flagged vessel in recent memory." She did not give an exact timeframe.

When asked how the U.S. Navy plans to deal with the hijacking, Campbell said: "It's fair to say we are closely monitoring the situation, but we will not discuss nor speculate on current and future military operations."

It was not clear whether the pirates knew they were hijacking a ship with American crew.

"It's a very significant foreign policy challenge for the Obama administration," said Graeme Gibbon Brooks, managing director of the British company Dryad Maritime Intelligence Service Ltd. "Their citizens are in the hands of criminals and people are waiting to see what happens."

Brooks and other analysts interviewed by the AP declined to speculate on whether American military forces might attempt a rescue operation. A senior Navy official in Washington said the Obama administration was talking to the shipping company to learn "the who, what, why, where and when" of the hijacking.

The U.S. Navy confirmed that the ship was hijacked early Wednesday about 280 miles (450 kilometers) southeast of Eyl, a town in the northern Puntland region of Somalia.

U.S. Navy spokesman Lt. Nathan Christensen said the closest U.S. ship at the time of the hijacking was 345 miles (555 kilometers)away.

"The area, the ship was taken in, is not where the focus of our ships has been," Christensen told The Associated Press by phone from the 5th Fleet's Mideast headquarters in Bahrain. "The area we're patrolling is more than a million miles in size. Our ships cannot be everywhere at every time."

Somali pirates are trained fighters who frequently dress in military fatigues and use speedboats equipped with satellite phones and GPS equipment. They are typically armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rocket launchers and various types of grenades. Far out to sea, their speedboats operate from larger mother ships.

Most hijackings end with million-dollar payouts. Piracy is considered the biggest moneymaker in Somalia, a country that has had no stable government for decades. Roger Middleton, a piracy expert at the London-based think-tank Chatham House, said pirates took up to $80 million in ransoms last year.

A NATO official said from Brussels that the alliance's five warships were patrolling the Gulf of Aden at the time of attack.

"That's where most of the shipping goes through and we can provide most of the protection in that vital trade route," said the official who asked not to be identified under standing rules.

The official said the taking of the crude-filled Saudi supertanker Sirius Star also happened in open water far off the Somali coastline. The Sirius Star was released in January,

NATO has five warships that patrol the region alongside three frigates from the European Union. The U.S. Navy normally keeps between five to 10 ships on station off the Somali coast. The navies of India, China, Japan, Russia and other nations also cooperate in the international patrols.

NATO sees piracy as a long-term problem and is planning to deploy a permanent flotilla to the region this summer.

On March 29, a NATO supply ship itself came under attack by Somali pirates who appear to have mistaken it for a merchant ship. The crew quickly overcame the attackers, boarded their boat and captured seven.

This is the second time that Somali pirates have seized a ship belonging to the privately held shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk. In February 2008, the towing vessel Svitzer Korsakov from the A.P. Moller-Maersk company Svitzer was briefly seized by pirates.

Before this latest hijacking, Somali pirates were holding 14 vessels and about 200 crew members, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

/Associated Press writers Barbara Surk in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Pauline Jelinek in Washington; Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen; and Tom Maliti and Anita Powell in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this report./

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[headhuntersix]

DAMN....More CIA BULLSHIT.

I keep wondering how does some poor starving Somali get on a bamboo raft, or a tire inner tube and make it hundreds of miles out to sea, then climb up the side of a tanker (aprox 180 feet) which has smooth sides, get up on deck, get to the Captains tower and take over with nothing more than sharpen sticks?? Well I guess they followed the same technique that allowed supposed Arab men to get on board four airliners with box cutters and hijack the planes, fly them into buildings...

At some point the world will stop being stupid and will see exactly what is going on. america has hallibuton/CIA in Dubai which is the throat of the Persian Gulf and controlling that region will control the flow of oil out of the region. Somalia sits right at the throat of the Red Sea which again would allow america to control the flow of oil from that region once it sets up military bases and/or war ship in the region, which it will claim are there to protect the tankers. So the CIA will continue these "ATTACKS" and blaming the Somali "PIRATE" until justification is had in bringing the war ships or military into the picture.

The stage for WWIII is being set up right now. As america provokes the anger of the worlds nations by trying to control the oil flow...enter European and Asian nations to do battle over the resources...america destroyed

Somali pirates are trained fighters who frequently dress in military fatigues and use speedboats equipped with satellite phones and GPS equipment. They are typically armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rocket launchers and various types of grenades. Far out to sea, their speedboats operate from larger mother ships.


I'm betting u'd piss ur panties wouldn't u?

[George Whorewell]

To whomever is bitching about sending supply ships where there are mercenaries, get your head out of your tightly puckered ass. That supply ship was going to Kenya which unfortunately borders the terrorist/ pirate haven Somalia. Unless you want that food blasted out of a bazooka into the sky over Kenya, it needs to be sent via freight. Better yet, lets just not send aid to any poor people. Maybe you can blame Obama for not caring about the colored folk.


PS Samson- Please commit suicide as soon as possible. While the ticks and lice that live in your fur will be forced to share sustenance with the flys and vultures, the rest of the food chain and civilized world will benefit greatly.

[loco]

I don't know if this been posted but..
The Americans pwned the Somali clowns and taught them a lesson.
Apparently chased them off the ship.  

"It was the first time in recent history that pirates targeted a U.S.-flagged ship."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/04/09/ship.hijacked/index.html

Even pirates are testing Obama now?