The action of 18 March 2006 occurred when two United States naval vessels were attacked by pirates. The U.S. ships were part of

Combined Task Force 150 Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) is a multinational coalition naval task force working under the 34-nation coalition of Combined Maritime Forces and is based in Bahrain established to monitor, board, inspect, and stop suspect shipping to p ...

Background

By 2006 the lack of any government-controlled naval authority along the Somali coast was taking its toll.

Pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

gangs controlled by local warlords started to capture passing merchant ships in an attempt to gain funding by ransoming the ships and their crews. As the raids became successful, the pirates became bolder. They began seizing UN aid ships, and even attacked a cruise liner attempting to capture it for ransom. The U.S. and Coalition vessels from Combined Task Force 150 began actively pursuing pirate vessels in an attempt to deter the attacks.

Battle

On 18 March the destroyer intercepted a suspicious ship, a large diesel-powered

skiff A skiff is any of a variety of essentially unrelated styles of small boats. Traditionally, these are coastal craft or river craft used for leisure, as a utility craft, and for fishing, and have a one-person or small crew. Sailing skiffs have deve ...

towing two small gasoline-powered "attack" skiffs off the Somali coast. USS ''Gonzalez'' first noticed the common pirate profile of a diesel boat towing smaller skiffs and, with closing from away, trailed the suspects until dawn. Shortly before sunrise, the two American ships each sent a pair of

rigid-hulled inflatable boat A rigid inflatable boat (RIB), also rigid-hull inflatable boat or rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), is a lightweight but high-performance and high-capacity boat constructed with a rigid hull bottom joined to side-forming air tubes that are i ...

s with specially trained boarding teams to investigate. The boats' boarding attempt was aborted when the pirates opened fire on them from extremely short range, and they returned fire and withdrew. The pirates chased the boarding team, then opened fire upon the Navy ships with rocket-propelled grenades and other small arms. Too close for major weapon systems, the two American ships returned fire with small caliber guns. The larger pirate skiff was soon set on fire by a .50 caliber tracer round fired from USS ''Gonzalez'' hitting and setting ablaze a fuel drum, and burned to the waterline. The two small skiffs were engaged and surrendered to USS ''Cape St. George'' upon seeing the larger skiff with all their fuel in flames. By the time the action was over at least one pirate was killed (only one body was recovered from one of the remaining small skiffs), and 12 (including 5 wounded) pirates were captured. A spokesman for the Somali pirate militia in Hardhere claimed there were 27 pirates that had gone to sea to act as "coastguardsmen" for the largely lawless state. ''Cape St. George'' received minor superficial damage but no US forces were injured.

Aftermath

After the action was over, a Dutch fast-combat support ship, HNLMS ''Amsterdam'', provided medical assistance to the wounded, and the two U.S. ships continued on their mission. The U.S. government chose not to prosecute the captured men for piracy and repatriated them over a period of several months, some requiring advanced medical care aboard U.S. and Coalition warships due to the injuries they received during the action.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Action of 20060318 Maritime incidents in 2006 Conflicts in 2006 2006 in Somalia Naval battles of Operation Enduring Freedom Naval battles post-1945 Somalia–United States military relations Anti-piracy battles involving the United States Naval battles involving pirates Piracy in Somalia March 2006 events in Africa