US Marines Recapture Magellan Star from Somali Pirates

NAIROBI, Kenya — In a predawn raid with helicopters hovering nearby, 24 American Marines scaled aboard a hijacked ship in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday, arrested the nine pirates on board and freed the ship — all without firing a shot, the American military said.

American officials said the rescue appeared to be the first time the American military had boarded a ship commandeered by Somali pirates, who have been hijacking vessel after vessel off Somalia’s coast and wreaking havoc on some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.
The Americans, however, are active in the area.

Last year, Navy Seal snipers killed three pirates who were holding an American cargo ship captain in a lifeboat, after he had offered himself as a hostage in exchange for the safety of his crew.

Despite the intense international naval presence in the region, the pirates are on track to have another banner year, with more than 30 ships hijacked so far in 2010 and tens of millions of dollars in ransoms.

But not this time.

According to American officials, around 5 a.m. on Thursday, two teams of 12 Marines each motored up in inflatable boats to the hijacked ship, a 436-foot-long German-owned cargo vessel called the Magellan Star. A band of Somali pirates had seized the ship and its crew of 11 in the Gulf of Aden, between Yemen and Somalia, on Wednesday morning. It was carrying steel chains.
The Marines clambered up portable ladders — much as pirates have been doing — and swiftly took over the ship, American officials said. Two helicopters hovered overhead, throwing down cones of light. A Turkish frigate, part of an American-led anti-piracy task force, was nearby. All nine pirates surrendered without a shot, American officials said. The Magellan Star’s crew was safe, too.

Cmdr. Amy Derrick-Frost, a spokeswoman for the Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, said the Marines had been able to stay in constant contact with the crew on board, receiving specific information about the number of pirates and their locations on the ship, as well as the locations of crew members. That lent military planners a big advantage when organizing the raid, Commander Derrick-Frost said.

Lt. John Fage, an American Navy spokesman, also credited extensive coordination among several players.

“There was an amazing amount of teamwork between the Navy and the Marines and several ships in the task force,” Lieutenant Fage said, “including the Turkish frigate, which was running the show.”

After the operation, Rear Adm. Sinan Ertugrul of the Turkish Navy said: “This regional problem, truly, has global impact, and we are completely committed to bringing the disruptive acts of piracy to an end. We have full support of the international community and will continue to do everything possible to bring security to the Gulf of Aden and Somali Basin.”

It is not clear what will happen to the captured pirates. They are in custody aboard one of the ships in the task force, and the officers on the scene are awaiting orders from higher levels.

While hundreds of Somali pirates have recently been sent to jail in Kenya, the Seychelles or Somalia, and a few have even been taken to Europe and the United States, many more have been set free by Western navies in a controversial “catch and release” approach because of the complications of prosecuting suspects arrested on the high seas.

The Rest @ The New York Times