Destroyer Laboon foils pirates’ plans - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Destroyer Laboon foils pirates’ plans

A skiff skirted the edge of the shipping lane in the Gulf of Aden before dawn Monday, possibly watching for merchant ships to hijack. But they, too, were being watched. The destroyer Laboon, on an anti-piracy patrol, shadowed the suspect vessel for three hours in the darkness. At daybreak, they chased it down and dispatched a boarding team.

As Laboon’s small boat approached, some of the five Somali men in the skiff began jettisoning weapons, most likely AK47 assault rifles, Laboon’s public affairs officer, Ensign Thuy-Van Nguyen, wrote in an e-mail. By the time the eight-man team, led by Lt. j.g. Dave Mitchell, boarded the 6-meter, fiberglass skiff, the small arms had vanished, but other telltale tools of piracy remained.

Sailors confiscated grappling hooks, radios, excess fuel tanks, sledgehammers and other tools used to pry open doors and hatches, a news release said.

The suspected pirates were not taken into custody, Laboon’s commander said in an e-mail message.

“Today’s disruption demonstrates again the pirates remain well-equipped and willing to take risks,” Cmdr. Donald Donegan said. “However, when they encounter professional maritime forces from [North Atlantic Treaty Organization], European Union, or Coalition Task Forces, they quickly surrender. These aspiring pirates were clearly dejected when we sent them off with just enough food, water, and fuel to make it home.”

It was the fifth pirate interdiction by the Norfolk, Va.-based destroyer after five months on deployment, Nguyen wrote. Laboon is one of four ships patrolling the Gulf of Aden for Operation Ocean Shield, a NATO-led anti-piracy mission.