Norfolk cruiser nabs seven accused of piracy

The Norfolk-based guided-missile cruiser Vella Gulf apprehended seven men suspected of staging a pirate attack on a merchant ship on Wednesday in the Gulf of Aden, marking the Navy’s first successful interdiction since the establishment of a new anti-piracy force last month.

The Vella Gulf received a distress call about 3 p.m. local time from the motor vessel Polaris, a merchant ship flagged in the Marshall Islands, according to a Navy account.

The Polaris, which has a Russian skipper and a Filipino crew, reported that seven pirates in a small skiff attached a ladder to its ship and tried to come aboard. The crew removed the ladder before the men could reach the deck .

The Vella Gulf immediately headed to the distressed ship and intercepted the skiff, according to the Navy. A team of sailors in a small boat boarded the foreign craft without incident and discovered several weapons.

The suspects were brought aboard the Vella Gulf, where sailors from the Polaris identified them as their attackers, said Lt. Stephanie Murdoch, a spokeswoman for the Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.

The Navy expects to transfer the men from the Vella Gulf to a temporary holding area aboard the supply ship Lewis and Clark.

The Navy believes the men are Somali nationals, Murdoch said. Pirate activity is centered in Somalia, a poor country on the Horn of Africa that lacks a functioning government.

Under a new agreement with the U.S. military, the suspects will be turned over to the Ken­yan government for prosecution, Murdoch said.

With help from other nations, the Navy has established a full process for counter piracy operations in the region, including prevention, apprehension and eventual prosecution, she said.

The Navy established the counter piracy task force in January to respond to growing number of attacks in the busy shipping channels in the Gulf of Aden. The task force includes the two Norfolk ships – the Vella Gulf and the Lewis and Clark – and works closely with ships from about a dozen other navies. The task force also covers the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean and Red Sea.

Attacks in the region doubled between 2007 and 2008, according to the International Maritime Bureau. Merchant vessels reported 111 incidents on the coast of Somalia and Gulf of Aden last year.

Pirates have hijacked five merchant vessels in the region since December, Murdoch said. Two weeks ago, they seized a German gas tanker about 60 miles off the Yemen coast.

The task force also has conducted humanitarian missions. The Vella Gulf on Sunday provided fuel, fresh water and repairs to a fishing vessel .

 Louis Hansen, (757) 446-2322, louis.hansen@pilotonline.com