EVENT [MN]: Dangerous Tides

[Tim]

Somalia has been in Civil War since 1991. This ongoing conflict has led to a lot of weapons entering the country for both sides, and a lot of these weapons found their way onto the black market. This weapons market, in combination with a easy access to the Gulf of Aden made it very easy for people to attempt ot target ships travelling through the Suez Canal as they made their way through the Gulf of Aden, close to Somalia.

Seven young Somali men, their leader armed with an AK-47 and a TT-30 pistol, three other men armed with AK-47, two men armed with AKM and one man armed with an RPG-7 left the Somali beach of Cape Mascan in a rubber boat with a 110 hp engine. They headed North going about 30 knots as the boat reached peak speed. They stayed within 50 kilometers of the coast and searched for a ship to get into their view. As they were sailing the leader was using binoculars to look in the distance.

At some point they saw the MV Australian Majestic in the distance, seeing the Australian flag waving in the wind. They sailed towards it, the high agility of the motor on their rubber boat allowing them to get close quickly. They approached the ship's pilot ladder as one of the men fired his AKM up towards the ship, alarming the crew. Once arrived at the pilot ladder the fastest of them, armed with an AK-47, climbed up the ladder as one of them tied their boat to the pilot ladder. Meanwhile the rest of them also climbed the ladder until they all were on board of the ship. Once there some of them fired their guns towards the bridge, again alarming any crew on board. Once the leader got up the ladder he ordered the guys to stop shooting and to move to the bridge.

JamieA​

 

[JamieA]

---

With gunshots being heard, the current crew on the bridge would push the panic alarm fitted in the bridge. The panic alarm would silently go off, alerting the Australian National Lines Operations room that something was wrong with the vessel but did not know what. Within a few seconds, the crew that was located within bridge would begin sealing the doors there was a short pause before the captain picked up the radio "MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY. This is the MV Australian Majestic we have been boarded and being hijacked! We are at 50Nmi of the coast of Cape Mascan heading towards the Suez Canal. Does anyone read over?" the captain paused before repeating the same sentence two times.

Once the captain stopped speaking, he turned the radio into a two way allowing whatever speech was said in the bridge to be heard over the radio. Any crew that were in the way of the Somali Pirates would surrender however would not answer any questions that were given to them. As there was no internal security for the vessel, the Somali Pirates were able to secure most of the ship minus the Bridge within minutes.

---

HMAS Adelaide (FFG 01) currently deployed on Operation Gateway was located in the Indian Ocean (MJ), not far from the last known location of the MV Australian Majestic (LK) was answer the mayday call from the hijacked vessel. The captain aboard HMAS Adelaide would begin speaking back into the radio "MV Australian Majestic this is Her Majesty's Australian Ship Adelaide. I read your mayday call loud and clear. We are inbound. I repeat this is Her Majesty's Australian Ship Adelaide. I read your mayday call loud and clear." once done speaking, the Captain would issue the call for battle station's and to prepare the helicopter onboard the vessel as this would reach the area faster than the vessel itself.

The captain would issue the order for the vessel to head towards the last known location at full speed, which would take roughly 5hours in calm waters. The other Australian, British and Swedish vessels would be notified of the mayday call as they would have heard this as well. Once the helicopter was fully fuelled, a small ten (10) man boarding party would load into the helicopter with full gear, weapons and ammo. five members would be carrying EF88 Austeyr, Browning Hi-Power pistol and quick cuffs while four others would be carrying a M4A1 Carbine, Browning Hi-Power pistol and quick cuffs while the last team member would be carrying a F89A1 Minimi, EF88 Austeyr and a Browning Hi-Power pistol.

Quickly the pilot, co-pilot and crew chief begun pre-flight checks, all completed safely and securely. The helicopter would be fully fuelled and given the clearance for an emergency take off, the helicopter with its full crew and the ten man boarding team would also head towards the last location of the Australian Vessel. The helicopter was predicted to arrive on scene in roughly 1.5hrs to 2hrs from take off

---

Jamie Connor Tim

 

[Axis12]

MV ATürk South of the Port of Jeddah, Red Sea

MV ATürk would be making its way from the Port of Istanbul to the Port of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in order to carry Crude Oil back to the Republic of Turkey.

Hearing the Distress call but being well out of range to assist, the Turkish Vessel would contact the Turkish Military which in turn would contact the Saudi Arabian Government. The Vessel would try to contact MV Australian Majestic to ascertain the status of the vessel so that the Information could be relayed to the Saudi government which could have vessels ready to respond and assist as well as Aircraft in range. The Turkish Government would tell the Saudis that a possible hostage situation may occur if the vessel is completely hijacked. The Vessel would contact other neaby ships including the South Korean Vessel, Soyang which was reported to be near to the Hijacking on its way to the Port of Hamburg, Germany.
JamieA VBCFan Jay

 

[Tim]

Three of the pirates headed to the main deck to capture any employees as hostages, they noticed they were all very cooperative however didn't say anything. As they found people they brought them to the bridge building and tied their wrists with wrap ties. The other four, including the leader, headed inside the bridge building, kicking in every door with their guns aimed inside. In case they found someone they wrap tied them and put them in the hallway so they could easily find them again. As they entered the living quarters they, after arresting someone, quickly went through the personal belongings for any jewelry or other items of value.

As they cleared the lower floors they arrived at the top floor which housed the actual bridge and they aimed their weapons at the door and one of them tried to open it. Noticing it was sealed the leader took out his TT-30 pistol and shot twice at the door handle, before knocking and shouting "OPEN THE DOOR OR WE BLOW IT UP!" it was clear for anyone who spoke English that this man only knew a few words and sentences in the language. The leader sent one of the guys down to get all the captured hostages so far and bring them upstairs to the bridge, including the ones that had been captured on or below deck.

JamieA

 

[JamieA]

---

The loud banging on the bridge doors could be heard loudly within the bridge, the two crew left in the bridge would be scared however refused to open the door hoping their mayday call would be answered soon. In the air, the helicopter would be approaching the vessel. The loud noise of the rotors could be heard for miles, this would obviously alert the pirates onboard the vessel, the helicopter headed towards the rear of the vessel. The crew chief, slide the side doors open, with two men taking each door watching the boat as it flew past.

HMAS Adelaide would be nearing the vessel too however still quite far away, the captain on board would pick up the radio and begin talking into it "MV Australian Majestic, this is Her Majesty Australian Ship Adelaide. We are inbound to your mayday call. ", the captain had hoped that the helicopter had reached the vessel in time, the crew chief would kick a rope from either side of the helicopter which allowed the small boarding team to fast rappel down to the deck of the vessel. The Machine gunner stayed in the helicopter to provide overwatch, with the team successfully landing on the vessel they would slowly move up towards the bridge of the boat, they would still be unknown on how many pirates would be on board however they were prepared to take down any targets

---

Tim

 

[Tim]

As they heard the helicopter approaching one of them looked outside but was unable to see the helicopter from this window. The men that were downstairs also heard it and quickly took all the hostages they had up the stairs towards the bridge, poking their rifles in their backs if they weren't going up the stairs fast enough. Quickly all seven of them were now upstairs, in the entrance room behind the actual bridge. One of the men wanted to do something about the helicopter and saw an emergency exit ladder that lead to the roof of the bridge building. He pulled the stairs down and opened the emergency hatch and pulled the RPG-7 out of someone elses hands, dropping his rifle that he had around his back, before climbing onto the roof.

On the roof he saw that the helicopter had already landed on the vessel, but he could only see one man inside of it behind the machine gun. "THEY'RE HERE" he shouted in Somali. In a panic he tried to aim his RPG-7 at the helicopter, but with no proper training the aim was not very close. He launched the rocket propelled grenade towards where he was aiming. Instead of hitting the helicopter as intended it flew against the metal hatches -metres away from the helicopter- that were on top of the large holdings for the goods, causing a loud explosions.

JamieA

 

[JamieA]

---

With the RPG being fired, the Machine gunner still on board the helicopter would notice it "RPG! ROTATE!" was shouted by Crew Chief which then led the pilot to rotate the helicopter, within seconds the RPG would narrowly miss the tail rotor and the Machine Gunner would open fire in 3 short bursts on the pirate on top of the bridge, with the gunner being more skilled than the pirates themselves, the bullets would hit into the pirate killing him instantly making him drop to the ground.

The ground team would continue pushing forward, scanning the deck moving to the door to head inside, the helicopter would rise into the air once again and beginning circling the vessel with the gunner keeping an eye out. Once the ground team hit the door, they stacked up slowly opening the door and the team would move in slowly checking the corners and rooms as they moved down the hallway towards the stairs.

HMAS Adelaide would now be in a short distance to the vessel, the captain would once again get onto the radio to hijacked vessel "This is Her Majesty's Australian Ship Adelaide, I repeat this is Her Majesty's Australian Ship Adelaide. We have teams on board and heading your way" as the Captain onboard the hijacked vessel heard this, he begun pushing tables and anything he could in front of the door to stop the pirates from entering

---

Tim

 

[VBCFan]

The Saudi Government would receive the distress signal from both the vessel and the Turkish Government. Unfortunately the current Saudi Vessels are not deployed and are unready to depart from their home ports. Instead the Saudi Navy would send a single BAE Sea Harrier GR9A Khamis Mushayt Air Force Base to the location in order to determine if the Australian navy needed immediate support.
JamieA

 

[Tim]

Hearing the rocket explosion quickly followed by gunshots heard from afar the group was shocked. "YASIR?" one of them shouted up towards the roof. With no answer they assumed their partner to be dead. One of them climbed upto the stairs and without peeking out pulled the hatch close. Meanwhile the leader wanted to get into the breach, no matter the costs. He took his pistol and readied it, aiming it at the lock of the door they were trying to breach as he shot two bullets into it in quick succesion. "OPEN THE DOOR" he shouted. Meanwhile ttwo other men positioned the hostages between themselves and the door so that they could use them as human shields if necessary.

JamieA

 

[JamieA]

---

With the suspect being shot down successfully from the gunner from the chopper and the rocket near missing the helicopter, the helicopter would gain a few more feet in the air to put a bit of clearance between the boat & the chopper. With the ground team clearing the room, they decided to split into two groups (5 man team & 4 man team). The five (5) man team would move off and start heading towards the bridge, clearing each room as they went past while the four (4) man team went for the hostages.

The four (4) man team reached a shut door, unknown to them if the hostages and the pirates were behind it however every room they searched so far came up empty. The point man on the team opened the door slowly and pushed it open from the side of the wall where the rest of the team was stacked up waiting to enter, the 2nd man would grab a flashbang pulling out the pin and lobbing it into the corner of the room.

With the flashbang exploding on impact, anyone and everybody within that room would be dazed by the flashbang, the hostages would drop to the floor trying to cover their faces and the flashbang would ensure the pirates dropped their weapons due to the sheer side effects given from the exploding device, with the flashbang gone off the team entered the rooming aiming their weapons at the pirates and begun shouting "ON YOUR FUCKING KNEES NOW!" this would be repeated a few times as well as in the local Somalian dialect.

The five man team would be at the bottom of the stairs that led to the bridge, not knowing weather the bridge has been breached or not, the hugged the wall and slowly and quietly walked up the steps, after a few steps the pointman signalled for the team to stop noticing a few feet at the top and shouted "ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY! DROP YOUR WEAPONS NOW!", the pointman waited for a reply with the rest of the team taking as much cover as they could.

---

Tim