Royal Navy in firefight with Somali pirates

The Times ^ | November 12, 2008 | Michael Evans, Defence Editor and Rob Crilly

[Mercia]

Pirates caught redhanded by one of Her Majesty’s warships after trying to hijack a cargo ship off Somalia made the grave mistake of opening fire on two Royal Navy assault craft packed with commandos armed with machineguns and SA80 rifles.

In the ensuing gunfight, two Somali pirates in a Yemeni-registered fishing dhow were killed, and a third pirate, believed to be a Yemeni, suffered injuries and subsequently died. It was the first time the Royal Navy had been engaged in a fatal shoot-out on the high seas in living memory.

[Doug4McCain]

The way England is today? It’s an even match.

[nralife]

[End Times Sentinel]

I pronounce the word "Pirates" to rhyme with "Pilates".

I've got an interesting spin on Pontius Pilate too.

Owl_Eagle

“When the stock market crashed,
Franklin Roosevelt got on the television
and didn’t just talk about
the princes of greed, he said,
‘Look, here’s what happened.’"
-Slow Joe Biden

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Where is MadIvan when you need him?

[stevie_d_64]

See...If you actually defend yourself, most of the time you’ll win...

Now why they didn’t do this back when all their guys and gals got captured by a bunch of Iranian tards is beyond me...

[Deb]

I wish there was footage of this. How exciting to see the Brits in action.

[Mercia]

[Mr. Mojo]

It was the first time the Royal Navy had been engaged in a fatal shoot-out on the high seas in living memory.

Guess the authors are pretty young. (Falklands War, 1982).

[Mercia]

can we keep the snide comments to the minimum, and focus on the serious matter at hand?

Namely, stopping the piracy around the Horn of Africa. Good to see isn’t it, that such a large coalition of vessels have converged in the region to perform these kinds of actions?

[MrB]

After they capture them, they’ll gently set them on a beach somewhere,

as is policy.

[TexasCajun]

I remember reading where the Somalians hijacked an Iranian ship full of radioactive material/waste.

Once they opened the sealed containers everyone who came in contact with its contents died shortly after.

[Ingtar]

I think the shoot-out refers to hand held weapons. The Falklands War did not involve this sort of fighting (at sea.)

[Ingtar]

The Barbary Pirates are back. Will the US Marines clear them out again? I doubt it.

[Mr. Mojo]

Yeah, probably so.

[MrB]

That’s something that isn’t being mentioned about these “pirates” -

they are ISLAMIC TERRORISTS.

They just happen to be operating on the sea.

[ari-freedom]

[Red_Devil 232]

Only one question, why is that dhow still on the surface?
Ok two, why are there bad guys still standing?

[pfflier]

I think they are trying to make up for the last encounter with 4 Iranians in a row boat. That time they all surrendered and sold out their country on TV at the first opportunity.

[Jeff Head]

It was the first time the Royal Navy had been engaged in a fatal shoot-out on the high seas in living memory.

What an idiotic statement.

There are many people still alive today who remember the sinking of the Bismark and every bit of World War II.

Where do they get these journalists?