Royal Marines Free Pirated Ship Off Somalia
Royal Marines from RFA Victoria board a pirate vessel in November 2010. Click on the pic for the NATO story on the op.
Eleven men were detained by British Royal Marines as suspected pirates today, October 11, 2011, after the Marines boarded the MV Montecristo about 1,000 kilometers off the coast of Somalia. Montecristo, with a crew of 23, had been hijacked yesterday. Two ships from NATO’s Operation Ocean Shield were able to immediately respond. RFA Fort Victoria, and the USS De Wert, closed on the ship and forced the pirates’ surrender.
Royal Marines from RFA Fort Victoria boarded the Montecristo without resistance. Eleven suspected pirates were detained. The twenty-three members of the crew were then able to leave their strong room and resume control of the ship. The ship is loaded with scrap metal and bound for a port in Vietnam.
MV Montecristo is owned by the Italian firm The D’Alessio Group. It was delivered new in June. A bulk carrier, it can carry up to 70,700 cubic meters of cargo. Calling the operation “brilliant”, the ship’s owners expressed their appreciation to the Italian military and those of the United Kingdom and the United States.
NATO’s SNMG1, which dispatched the two Naval vessels, is currently under the command of Rear Admiral Gualtiero Mattesi (Italian Navy). The unit consists of an Italian Navy ship, two American ships and one from Portugal. NATO’s SNMG2 is also engaged in anti-piracy operations in the region with four ships under the command of a Dutch officer.
The Italian government and the Italian Confederation of Ship Owners have signed an agreement that will allow the Italian military to station armed troops aboard Italian merchant ships traveling through areas where there is a threat of piracy. Six person teams will be provided to those ships. The owners will pay the costs of this military operation.
Table of contents for Pirates
- Peleliu Stops Pirate Attack
- Navy Tanker fights Off Pirates
- Navy Continues to Eye Pirates
- US Navy Aids Ship Released By Pirates
- US Navy Jugs Somali Pirates
- Navy Detains Somali Pirates
- Maersk Alabama Taken By Somali Pirates
- Navy Rescues Pirate Captive
- Pics From the Pirate Rescue Off Somalia
- This Is a Pirate Ship?
- USS McFaul nabs pirates off Oman
- Marine Hymn still echoes: Pirates taken down off Somalia
- German Navy Intercepts Somali Pirates
- Royal Marines Free Pirated Ship Off Somalia
- Pirate Mother Ship Taken Down, Sailors Freed
- Pirates Attack Spanish Warship
- Somali Piracy Update
- Dutch Navy sinks Somali pirate ship
the attachments to this post:
RFA Fort Victoria
This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 11th, 2011 at 3:02 pm and is filed under Crime and Punishment, Original writing, Original writing, Reporting, War on Terror. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
