''Maritime Jewel'' was a double-hulled

oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk cargo, bulk transport of petroleum, oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quant ...

launched in 1999 and completed in 2000. Entering service that year, the ship was known as MV ''Limburg'' until 2003. The ship carried

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring u ...

between ports in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. On 6 October 2002, ''Limburg'' was attacked by

suicide bomb A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, #Terminology , see below) is a deliberate Strike (attack) , attack in which the perpetrators suicide , knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are ...

ers, causing roughly to leak into the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden (; ) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channel, the Socotra Archipelago, Puntland in Somalia and Somaliland to the south. ...

. One crew member was killed and twelve more wounded in the attack. Four days after the attack, the tanker was towed to

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

where she was repaired and renamed ''Maritime Jewel''. ''Maritime Jewel'' was

broken up Ship breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship scrapping, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships either as a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sol ...

for scrap at

Chittagong Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

on 15 May 2018.

Description

Ordered as ''Limburg'' the vessel was

long overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also u ...

and

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the ster ...

with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of . The ship's

gross tonnage Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weig ...

(GT) was 157,833 tons, with a

deadweight tonnage Deadweight tonnage (also known as deadweight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water Fresh water or ...

(DWT) of 299,364 tons and a

net tonnage Net tonnage (NT, N.T. or nt) is a dimensionless index calculated from the total moulded volume of the ship's cargo spaces by using a mathematical formula. Defined in ''The International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships'' that was adopte ...

(NT) of 108,708 tons. The ship was powered by a

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

driving one

shaft Shaft may refer to: Rotating machine elements * Shaft (mechanical engineering), a rotating machine element used to transmit power * Line shaft, a power transmission system * Drive shaft, a shaft for transferring torque * Axle, a shaft around whi ...

giving the vessel a maximum speed of .

History

''Limburg''s

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...

was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

on 24 May 1999 and the ship was launched on 28 August 1999. ''Limburg'' was completed on 5 January 2000 and entered service that year.

Bombing

On 6 October 2002, ''Limburg'' was carrying of crude oil from Saudi Arabia to Malaysia, and was in the Gulf of Aden off

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

to pick up another load of oil. She was

registered Registered may refer to: * Registered mail, letters, packets or other postal documents considered valuable and in need of a chain of custody * Registered trademark symbol, symbol ® that provides notice that the preceding is a trademark or service ...

under a French flag and had been chartered by the Malaysian petrol firm

Petronas Petroliam Nasional Berhad, commonly known as PETRONAS (stylised in all caps), is a Malaysian Multinational corporation, multinational petroleum, oil and natural gas, gas company headquartered in Kuala Lumpur. Established in 1974, it is a lega ...

. While she was 3 km off the port of

Al-Shihr Al-Shihr (), also known as ash-Shir or simply Shihr, is a coastal town in Hadhramaut Governorate, Hadhramaut, eastern Yemen. Al-Shihr is a walled town located on a sandy beach. There is an anchorage but no docks; boats are used. The main export is ...

, suicide bombers rammed an explosives-laden

dinghy A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or Towing, towed by a Watercraft, larger vessel for use as a Ship's tender, tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they diffe ...

into the

starboard Port and starboard are Glossary of nautical terms (M-Z), nautical terms for watercraft and spacecraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the Bow (watercraft), bow (front). Vessels with bil ...

side of the tanker. Upon detonation the vessel caught fire and approximately of oil leaked into the Gulf of Aden. Although Yemeni officials initially claimed that the explosion was caused by an accident, later investigations found traces of

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

on the damaged ship. One crew member was killed, and twelve other crew members were injured. The fire was extinguished, and four days later ''Limburg'' was towed to Dubai,

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. The ship was renamed ''Maritime Jewel'', bought by Tanker Pacific, and repaired at

Dubai Drydocks Dubai Drydocks is a dry docks facility adjacent to Port Rashid in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The idea for Dubai Drydocks began in 1971. After feasibility studies and construction, the facility opened in 1983. It is the only large dry docks fac ...

from March to August 2003. The attack caused the short-term collapse of international shipping in the Gulf of Aden and as a result, cost Yemen $3.8 million a month in port revenues.

Responsibility

Al Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

claimed responsibility for the attack on the Jehad.net website, which has since been shut down.

Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri Abdul Rahim Hussein Muhammed Abdu al-Nashiri (; ; born January 5, 1965) is a Saudi Arabian citizen alleged to be the mastermind of the bombing of USS ''Cole'' and other maritime attacks. He is alleged to have headed al-Qaeda operations in the ...

, who allegedly also masterminded the USS ''Cole'' bombing, was charged by US military prosecutors for planning the attack.

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...

issued a statement, which read: On 3 February 2006, Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeiee, who had been

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

for the ''Limburg'' attack, and 22 other suspected or convicted Al-Qaeda members escaped from jail in Yemen. Among them was

Jamal al-Badawi Jamal Ahmad Mohammad Ali Al Badawi () (1960 or 1963 – 1 January 2019) was a Yemeni who was indicted as an accomplice for his role in the 2000 USS ''Cole'' bombing off the coast of Aden, Yemen, which killed 17 American sailors on 12 October ...

, who masterminded the USS ''Cole'' bombing of 12 October 2000. Of the 23 escapees, 13 had been convicted of the ''Cole'' and ''Limburg'' bombings. On 1 October 2006, al-Rabeiee and Mohammed Daylami were shot and killed by Yemeni security forces during raids on two buildings in the capital

Sana'a Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation ...

. One of al-Rabeiee's

accomplice Aiding and abetting is a legal doctrine related to the guilt of someone who aids or abets (encourages, incites) another person in the commission of a crime (or in another's suicide). It exists in a number of different countries and generally al ...

s was also arrested during the raids. In February 2014

Ahmed al-Darbi Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al-Darbi () is a citizen of Saudi Arabia who was held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba from August 2002 to May 2018; in May 2018, he was transferred to Saudi Arabia's custody. He was the only ...

pleaded guilty before the

Guantanamo military commission The Guantanamo military commissions were established by President George W. Bush through a military order on November 13, 2001, to try certain non-citizen terrorism suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison. To date, there have been a total of eight ...

to helping plan several maritime

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

attacks including the ''Limburg'' attack. By the time of the attack, al-Darbi was already detained at Guantanamo.

Fate

''Maritime Jewel'' was

for scrap at Chittagong, Bangladesh on 1 May 2018.

References

External links

Yemen ship attack 'was terrorism'
(BBC)

(Channelnewsasia)
Repairs post 2002 terrorist attack off Yemen
(Google + photo album) 1999 ships 2002 in Yemen 2002 murders in Asia Al-Qaeda attacks Islamic terrorist incidents in 2002 Islamic terrorism in Yemen Maritime incidents in 2002 Murder in Yemen October 2002 crimes in Asia October 2002 in Asia Oil spills in Asia Oil tankers Ship bombings Suicide bombings in 2002 Suicide bombings in Yemen Terrorist incidents against shipping Terrorist incidents in Asia in 2002 Terrorist incidents in Yemen in the 2000s {{Campaignbox al-Qaeda attacks