Pirates surprised when ship fires back
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009I love this story! Pirates off the coast of Somalia engaged what they thought was a cargo ship. Turned out to be a German Navy supply ship. The pirates were surprised when the Germans defended themselves. I bet they were shocked when the ship turnd and began pursuit!
According to an AP article entitled “Pirates attacking German ship captured off Somalia”
In the attack on the German ship, pirates apparently mistook German FGS Spessart supply vessel for a commercial ship when they opened fire on it on Sunday afternoon, U.S. Navy 5th Fleet spokesman Lt. Nate Christensen said.
The German sailors returned fire and pursued the skiff while also calling in for support. Several naval ships — including a Greek and a Dutch frigate, a Spanish warship and the USS Boxer — sped to the area while a Spanish marine aircraft and two U.S. Marine Cobra helicopters joined the pursuit.
Five hours later, Greek sailors reached the pirate skiff, boarded it and seized the seven suspects and their weapons, including assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, the Greek navy said.
Pirates have had it easy attacking unarmed merchant ships. This is not what they expected at all. German Navy FTW!
Head over and read the entire article for all the details:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gB7YMEDuCwwY9ncDOtPAkEI4-H2wD978EB703
