English: Royal Navy and Royal Marines Commandos board a Somali whaler suspected of being operated by pirates in the Indian Ocean off the Horn of Africa.

The Royal Navy has struck at the heart of Somali piracy operating in the Somali basin. RFA Fort Victoria was patrolling in an area approximately 420 nautical miles from the Seychelles and 350 nautical miles from the Somali coast as part of NATO’s combined task force 508.

Early that morning, she received information that a Spanish fishing vessel operating to the north of their position had come under attack from a group of pirate vessels to the North of their position. The ship’s Lynx helicopter was quickly despatched to investigate.

Once at the scene, the helicopter identified two suspect vessels, a whaler and a skiff, in the vicinity of the fishing vessel. The faster of the two, a skiff, sped away at over 25 knots as the helicopter gave chase. When the skiff ignored orders to stop, a specially trained sniper onboard the Lynx helicopter fired warning shots ahead of the fleeing vessel which stopped and the suspected pirates onboard were then transferred to Fort Victoria via boat.

Fort Victoria’s Royal Marines boarding team then boarded the whaler and another skiff in the vicinity. As a result of the day’s action, a total of seven suspected pirates were detained onboard Fort Victoria along with their whaler as evidence, with no injuries being sustained by either side.

• Organization: ROYAL NAVY
• Object Name: FH110244007
• Category: MOD
• Supplemental Categories: People, Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Operations, Counter Piracy, Equipment, Ships, RFA Vessels
• Keywords: Boarding Team, Skiff, Whaler, Pirates, Counter Piracy Operations, Royal Fleet Auxiliary, RFA, Indian Ocean, Fort Victoria, Royal Navy, Personnel, Non-Identifiable, Royal Marines, Operations, Anti, Piracy, Counter, Equipment, Ship, Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment, AOR, RFA Fort Victoria, Boarding
• Country: Indian Ocean