Looks like the Navy and Marines are holding steady in their standoff with pirates off the coast of Somalia.Two United States Navy warships and a third warship from Germany have surrounded a group of pirates holding a ship hostage off of Somalia’s northeastern coast, government sources said.
The pirates hijacked the Golden Nori, a Panama-registered chemical tanker that was transporting a shipment from Singapore to Israel, according to a Reuters report.
The government of Somalia’s semiautonomous region of Puntland has ordered the pirates to surrender or be boarded by force.
The most recent dispatch implies things are getting ugly, and force could be used soon.
The group of Somali pirates is estimated to number 60 heavily-armed men, according to military sources in the Somali region of Puntland.
The pirates hijacked the Golden Nori chemical tanker in late October, but after weeks of hunting, authorities have managed to surround the ship near Puntland's port of Bossaso.
A spokesman for the pirates told Radio Garowe that the Golden Nori destroyed a fishing boat and killed two Somali civilians related to the pirate leaders.
Note the local government permission and involvement. I smell a "Fox", there is a major story here that will come out once the standoff ends, and I might be wrong, but I am betting we will find the Pentagon, not the State Dept, is leading the diplomacy with the local population. I know some of you GenX State Dept guys read here. When its your turn, lead not follow like your Boomer bosses.
This is speculation, but if I had to guess the three warships are FGS Augsburg (F 213), USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41), and USS Porter (DDG 78). If you are looking for more, keep an eye on Eagle1, who has background here.
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