I came across this post over at the English Russia blog providing a great glimpse inside the nuclear icebreaker LENIN.  I love finding detailed photos of unique ships like this on the web, and figured I’d share this one here.

For a little history on the Lenin, it was the first nuclear powered surface ship and the first nuclear powered civilian vessel, officially completed in 1959.  After the conclusion of the Cold War, details emerged about several nuclear accidents that occurred on the ship, with one serious enough to require replacement of the ship’s reactors.   The ship is no longer active and sits decommissioned in Murmansk, apparently now open as a museum ship.

See the rest of the photos HERE.

In a relatively lightly published and un-noticed event, the U.S. flagged cargo ship M/V SAGAMORE was attacked and robbed on Aug. 8th by two men with AK-47s near the al-Basrah Oil Terminal, which lies about 19 miles from the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr. The SAGAMORE is operated by Sealift Inc., a privately held company based out of Oyster Bay, NY.  The SAGAMORE is a 3838 GRT General Cargo Ship.

From the AP -

BAGHDAD — Gunmen robbed four commercial ships anchored near the southern oil hub of Basra in a rare attack off the Iraqi coast, the U.S. Navy said Sunday.

Two men armed with AK-47 rifles boarded the American ship Sagamore in the vicinity of an Iraqi oil terminal in the northern Persian Gulf at 4 a.m. on Aug. 8, taking computers, cell phones and money from crew members before fleeing the vessel after about 40 minutes on board, according to Lt. John Fage, a spokesman for the Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.

He said three other ships — the Antigua-flagged Armenia, the North Korean Crystal Wave and the Syrian Sana Star — were also robbed under similar circumstances during a two-hour period starting about 2 a.m. the same day.

Fage said he had no other information about the attackers or their nationalities.

Salah Aboud, head of the country’s ports agency, said two Iraqis were arrested after Iraqi naval forces found a boat holding some of the stolen materials during a search of a nearby area.

The seaborne robbery occurred about 20 miles (32 kilometers) off the port of Umm Qasr in an area patrolled jointly by the U.S. Navy and Iraqi sailors. American vessels in the area for routine security operations, including a guided missile destroyer, responded to the attacks, Fage said.

The attack reflects concerns about an increase in crime in Iraq even as political violence ebbs, but Fage played down concerns it signaled a new threat to commercial traffic in the Gulf.

On July 28, a Japanese oil tanker elsewhere in the Gulf was damaged and one crew member was injured in what the United Arab Emirates said was a suicide bombing.

Read more

M/V Sagamore (Photo/Sealift Inc.)

Other reports on the web indicate that nobody was seriously injured, and most of the stolen items were returned following the apprehension of the suspects.  Reportedly, the attacks did not qualify as piracy under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea because they took place in Iraqi regional waters and not on the high seas.

The Maritime Bulletin reported the following additional details -

After receiving a distress call from the Sagamore at 4:35 a.m., the U.S. Navys Fifth Fleet deployed a guided missile destroyer and a U.S. Coast Guard cutter to ensure the ships security. “Even if you have ships in the area, they cant be next to every single ship in the area,” said Fage. “Its a large body of water, and they cant be everywhere all at once.” The U.S. Navy then notified the Iraqi Coast Guard, which sent four boats in search of the pirates, according to Col. Mehdi Ahmed, the deputy commander of those forces. Those boats apparently pursued the pirates to a shoreline area dense with reeds. At that point, official accounts differ. According to Ahmed, the Coast Guard stopped the suspect boat, but the pirates themselves escaped into the marsh. According to the media director of Iraqi ports, Anmar al-Safi, “the Coast Guard managed to apprehend those looters and confiscated stolen stuff.” Iraqi officials all downplayed the incident as an isolated act of petty criminals. “Describing those thieves as „pirates is not a common thing for us,” said Capt. Maan al-Basri of the Iraqi Coast Guard. “Theyre only a bunch of looters in the waters of the Gulf and Shat al-Arab.” Al-Safi, media director of the Iraqi ports, agreed: “What happened was just an ordinary robbery. Were not in Somalia!”

The appearance of the small foreign freighter loaded with over 490 Tamil refugees off the shores of the U.S. and Canadian border in the Pacific Northwest posed a fairly significant challenge to the Canadian Maritime Forces this week.  It became a particular challenge for Canada vice the U.S. because the vessel was requesting asylum in Canada where over 300,000 Tamils have made their new home.  Nonetheless, I hope U.S. counterparts were watching very closely.

There are a couple of unique points about this event worth noting:

• The ship was detected by Canadian Forces  at an offshore distance, prior to making landfall indicating intelligence and maritime domain awareness seemed to have done its job.
• The vessel was broadcasting an AIS signal for some period of time before it appeared to have been turned off as it was brought into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
• This reveals a new challenge to a maritime locale that has not previously dealt with mass arrivals of refugees, similar to that found in Caribbean waters.  This is reportedly the second ship to arrive in the Vancouver area with Tamil refugees.  A ship carrying 76 Tamil refugees was intercepted last October.
• The event actually received very little press coverage in the U.S. media.

Publicly available plot of the vessel "Sun Sea" previously named "HARIN PANICH 19" as it entered Canadian waters on Thursday.

News video discussing Canada’s tracking of the M/V Sun Sea:

News video about the arrival of the M/V Sun Sea at Esquimalt, BC.

Without getting too much into the argument concerning the ultimate resolution of the refugees, it appears Canada handled this event well.  The key factor to success in this event was time.  Since the ship was detected early, the Canadian government had time to organize a response before the ship reached the shore with its passengers.  Both the Canadians and the U.S. are lucky in this outcome.  The shorelines of both countries coasts in this region are for the most part rugged and remote.  An undetected ship arriving in a more remote locale could have ended in disaster, both for the persons on board the ship, the environment, and the national security of each respective country.  There is room for a collective sigh of relief now.

M/V Sun Sea escorted into Esquimalt, BC on Vancouver Island. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

The M/V Sun Sea as it docked in Esquimalt, BC on Vancouver Island.

More on the event from Reuters:

VANCOUVER, Aug 13 (Reuters) – Canadian authorities unloaded a cramped cargo ship on Friday of nearly 500 Tamil asylum seekers from Sri Lanka whose arrival has sparked a national debate over the country’s immigration and refugee laws.

The sun was just rising on Pacific Coast when MV Sun Sea sailed under escort into a Canadian Navy base near Victoria, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island, and docked next to a makeshift camp set up to process the men, women and children on board.

Officials said the ship was in good condition, but they would not describe the accommodations of the estimated 490 people who may have spent more than two months housed in the cargo hold of the 59-metre-long (194-foot-long) vessel.

Several people were taken to a Victoria hospital to be checked out, but officials were not aware of any major medical problems. The crew was “compliant” when navy personnel boarded the ship on Thursday, the military said.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews warned that Canada will be taking a tough line with the Thai-owned ship, which he said was believed to be carrying terrorists and may be part of a larger, international human smuggling operation.

“Canada has very generous refugee laws, and my concern is that individuals not take advantage of the existing laws in order to further criminal or terrorist activities,” Toews told a news conference.

The people on the Sun Sea are believed to be Tamils fleeing Sri Lanka, but Canada fears some are members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which fought a bloody independence war that was crushed last year.

The military wing of the Tamil independence movement is considered a terrorist organization by Ottawa, which would make it illegal for members or supporters of the Tamil Tigers to immigrate to Canada.

RENEWED DEBATE

The Sun Sea is the second ship carrying Tamil migrants to arrive in Canada in less than a year, and officials fear more are on the way. A cargo ship carrying 76 Tamil refugee claimants docked on the West Coast last October, but arrivals of boat people are a relatively rare occurrence.

At least four boats arrived on Canada’s Pacific Coast in the late 1990s carrying Chinese migrants, who experts familiar with the incident believe were actually being smuggled though Canada to the United States.

Canada received 34,000 refugee applications last year, with most made by people after arriving by air or by driving in from the United States.

An estimated 250,000 people of Tamil decent live in Canada, primarily in the Toronto area. It is said to be the largest Tamil population outside Sri Lanka and India.

The arguments in Canada over immigration have never reached the fevered pitch heard in the United States, but the Sun Sea incident has set off a front-page debate in the media over whether its rules are too lax.

Opposition parties and some refugee experts warned the government not to jump to conclusions about who the migrants are, and said each person’s case should be judged individually.

“Obviously, in the aftermath of the war in Sri Lanka, a great deal hardship was experienced and there are a lot of people who want to get out of Sri Lanka,” Bob Rae, the Liberal Party’s foreign affairs critic told CBC.

The government is looking at toughening immigration laws so that boat people are treated differently from other refugee-seekers, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported.

“We can improve the laws to reduce the likelihood of something occurring, and that is essentially what we are doing,” Toews said.

Canadian law now prevents its warships from boarding vessels on the high seas that are thought to be smuggling people to Canada, although they do conduct boardings as part of anti-piracy efforts off Somalia.

Things have turned into a mess following a collision involving the container ship, MSC Chitra, and the bulk carrier, M/V Khalijia III.  The collision has left the MSC Chitra partially aground with a severe list, leaking fuel oil, and losing containers into the seaway.  Further complicating the environmental problem is the potential hazard posed to a nearby nuclear research site which uses seawater to cool several reactors.  Indian authorities have asked the facility to stop using the polluted water for cooling purposes until the spill can be cleaned up.  How that will eventually effect their operations remains to be seen.

The Wall Street Journal reports the following:

The M.S.C. Chitra and M.V. Khalijia III collided around five nautical miles off the Mumbai coast Saturday morning. The impact caused the fully loaded Chitra, which was carrying 1,219 containers, to run aground and start tilting at a 75 degree angle.

Authorities have started trying to round up the floating containers and have told fishermen to stop fishing in the area. Oil and other toxic chemicals from within the ships and their cargo could threaten the wildlife on the coast.

The Indian Coast Guard in a statement said that the oil spill from M.S.C. Chitra has stopped, but its ships continue to monitor the situation.

Mumbai Port Trust officials say that the collision of the vessels may have happened as they were using two different radio frequencies to notify others of their position in the waters off India’s commercial capital.

“The inquiry into the reason for the collision is on, but it seems like there was a communication problem,” said Rahul Asthana, chairman of the Mumbai Port Trust.

The listing Chitra, and its containers, have made navigation around Mumbai’s two ports dangerous. The Mumbai Port Trust and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, which each handle more than 100,000 tons of cargo per day, were both affected.

Find more on the incident at the Maritime Bulletin.

Reuters Video Clip:

Although fault has not yet been determined, is should be noted that the MSC Chitra reportedly does not have a clean safety record.  The following video report indicates the vessel has a string of critical safety issues, including Safety Management deficiencies and has been detained in several ports in recent years.

Ship details:

Boxship MSC Chitra – IMO 7814838, dwt 38352, built 1980, flag Panama, manager MSC.
Bulk carrier Khalijia 3 – IMO 8128690, dwt 45798, built 1985, flag S-Kitts, manager Quadrant Maritime Pvt. Ltd.

Over 157 years ago, the crew of the HMS Investigator were forced to abandon their ship after being trapped in the ice of the ironically named “Mercy Bay”  for nearly three years.  Now, archeologist have located the nearly perfectly intact and preserved ship within the cold and clear waters of Canada’s Northwest Territories.  The discovery is the first for the Canadian team which is searching for all of the lost vessels associated with the John Franklin’s Lost Expedition of the Northwest Passage in which the HMS Erebus and Terror became entrapped and lost in their search for the Northwest Passage.  The HMS Investigator was one of the vessel’s dispatched to search for the lost expedition, but ironically became victims of the ice themselves.

Parks Canada base camp on Mercy Bay from the air (Parks Canada)

Search for Franklin Vessels: The Story of HMS Investigator

By 1847, fears that Sir John Franklin and his 1845 expedition to the North-West Passage had met with tragedy prompted a flurry of rescue efforts from Britain and the United States. One of these was a Royal Navy effort deployed in January 1850 that teamed Royal Navy Captain Robert John LeMesurier McClure, of the 66-man strong HMSInvestigator, with Captain Richard Collinson of the HMS Enterprise. The two ships separated in the Pacific and went their own way.

McClure’s first discovery was ‘Baring’s Land,’ but as he sailed its south and east coast through Prince of WalesStrait,McClure soon suspected that these shores were in fact part of the ‘Banks Land’ noted during the Parry expedition of 1819-1820. When McClure eventually saw the outline of Melville Island on the northern horizon, he realized he was witnessing the final link of the North-West Passage. Yet before he could be the first to momentously sail the Passage, the Investigator encountered impenetrable pack ice and was forced to winter among the drifting floes (conglomerated sea ice blocs) in Prince of Wales Strait. Once freed, McClure all but gave up the search for Franklin and attempted the Passage again. The Investigator again faced heavy ice, so hoping to find a safe anchorage as winter approached, McClure navigated his ship into a large bay on the north coast of Banks Island. Optimistically, McClure called the Investigator’s surroundings the Bay of Mercy.

Survival in Mercy Bay was relatively comfortable, but when pack ice failed to clear from the Bay during the summer of 1852 and until the Spring of 1853, the crew’s situation became critical. Scurvy affected several crew members and killed the three crewmen whose grave site was found on the island, food rations became critically scarce. Before finally abandoning ship, McClure had his men land some of the ship’s provisions to a cache site, and then began evacuating his crew across the ice to HMS Resolute. Sometime after McClure and his men returned to England, the Investigator and its provisions were discovered by Copper Inuit groups travelling to Banks Island to hunt and fish. In the years that followed, Inuit from Victoria Island made annual visits to Mercy Bay to salvage metal and wood from the cache, and may have even been able to use material from the Investigator itself.

Despite the Investigator’s importance to both European polar exploration and Inuit cultural history, little is known about the expedition’s land sites, or the vessel’s final position. Archaeologists have visited the land sites since the 1980s, but Mercy Bay’s remoteness has prevented thorough investigations or mapping of the sites’ features. In the 1990s, Parks Canada established a monitoring program for what remains of the cache, but this too was based on a cursory visit and only addressed the most visible features. As for the wreck itself, there has not been a confirmed sighting since Krabbé’s account in May 1854.

Read More

Parks Canada 2010 Arctic Surveys – Official website

National Post Article - Scientists wrap up Arctic HMS Investigator exploration

Here is some graphic proof that LORAN is no longer.  The Coast Guard has demolished the 1350 ft tower at LORAN Station Port Clarence, AK.

From the USCG Press Release -

JUNEAU, Alaska — The Coast Guard has establish a safety-zone beginning Sunday during preparation for the demolition of the 1,350-foot Long Range Aids to Navigation tower in Port Clarence currently the tallest structure in Alaska.

The safety-zone will include all waters within a two-mile radius of the tower and is being created as part of a project managed by the Coast Guard’s Civil Engineering Unit in Juneau which is responsible for taking down the LORAN Station Port Clarence’s radio transmitting tower in a controlled demolition.

The LORAN tower in Port Clarence is the tallest of its kind in the country but the condition of the tower is deteriorating and with no funding for repairs the tower is at ever-increasing risk of an uncontrolled collapse.  Alaska’s tallest man-made structure will be the tallest structure ever intentionally brought down with explosives in a controlled demolition.

The Coast Guard began decommissioning its LORAN infrastructure in response to direction from Congress provided in the 2010 budget.  LORAN Station Port Clarence ceased transmitting the LORAN signal February 8, 2010.

Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Walter Shinn.

Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Walter Shinn.

Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Walter Shinn.

Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Walter Shinn.

The following is a post by Jeff Raizner from the Maritime Law Firm Doyle Raizner LLP, one of our sponsors here at the Maritime.  Original article can be found here.

If you have experienced a maritime injury you may be out of work for a while. You may not know when you can go back to work and start making money again. Everyday your mail box gives you a small stack of bills that you take into your home and add to a larger stack that is beginning to accumulate quickly. You didn’t ask to be injured but now you are left with a painful injury that may or may not get better. Without your income the entire family will start to feel the strain. But you cannot go back to work with an injury.

When a maritime injury occurs you may worry about financial insecurity and wrongful termination. When you are injured you can no longer work to pay bills, pay your mortgage or rent, buy groceries, and more. Financial insecurity is common in any job without an injury but when you are injured you have no idea when you can make it back to work.

Because of the Jones Act you can receive payment for or reimbursed for your travel expenses, hospitalization, surgeries, tests, x-rays, and travel reimbursement to and from treatment. You can also receive payment for lost wages even if you are a seasonal employee. You may not be able to work full time but if you were injured you should be reimbursed regardless of your status.

After a maritime injury you may also worry about a wrongful termination. You never know when the employer will decide to open your position up and hire someone else.  It is illegal to terminate a Jones Act employee in retaliation for filing a claim or lawsuit. If you are feeling pressured into quitting your job you will need to speak to your lawyer about that. You should never feel pressured to sign any papers or terminate your position at work yourself.

You may not be able to avoid an accident but you can secure your finances by contacting a lawyer who specializes in Jones Act cases. They are familiar with maritime injuries and can help you get the compensation that you deserve. It’s not only enough to have your medical bills taken care of but you need your lost wages as well. A lawyer will help you get the compensation that you deserve.

It’s hard to tell if a employer will terminate your employment in order to hire someone else to take your place but if that happens you can report this to your lawyer and he or she will know that it is a wrongful termination and can help you with your case.

Remember to speak to your lawyer before making any decisions based on your injury. If you had not received an injury you would have continued to work without fail. The injury has changed your entire life and you want to get compensated fairly. Bills don’t stop coming in just because you are injured. You still need to pay them and you still need groceries and living expenses. Your lawyer will understand that.

The information provided on theMaritimeBlog.com is not intended to be legal advice, but merely conveys general information related to legal issues commonly encountered.

We came across these amazing photos of the PAN AMERICAN VICTORY as she transited the Panama Canal not too long ago.  She was on her final voyage from San Francisco, CA to Brownsville, TX for scrapping.  The Pan American Victory was the first of the last 4 remaining Victory Ships still owned by the U.S. Government to depart the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet.  She was shortly followed by the Earlham Victory, Rider Victory, and the Winthrop Victory.

The Pan American Victory in the Panama Canal 12/24/09 (hendrik/shipspotting.com)

The Pan American Victory in the Panama Canal 12/24/09 (hendrik/shipspotting.com)

The Pan American Victory in the Panama Canal 12/24/09 (hendrik/shipspotting.com)

Associated Articles

The Maritime Executive

Salvage crews have reportedly raised the stern portion of the sunken naval corvette Cheonan in the Yellow Sea.

The New York Times brings us news on the raising of the sunken warship -

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea lifted its sunken warship Thursday in waters near the tense border with North Korea, about three weeks after it went down following a mysterious explosion with dozens of sailors believed trapped inside.

Bad weather and heavy seas have impeded efforts to locate the 44 missing crew and salvage the wreckage of the 1,200-ton Cheonan.

On Thursday, a huge naval crane hoisted the stern — where most of the missing sailors are believed trapped — a day after divers succeeded in tying the wreckage with chains.

Footage by TV broadcaster SBS showed the stern being hoisted about 10-13 feet (3-4 meters) above the sea surface. Salvage workers planned to board the stern later Thursday to search for the missing crew.

The stern was to be loaded onto a barge and moved to a naval base to investigate the cause of the explosion while the rest of the ship is to be salvaged as early as next week, military officials said.

Fifty-eight crew members were rescued shortly after the Cheonan split into two after exploding March 26 during a routine patrol. Divers have recovered two bodies.

No cause has been determined. There has been some suspicion but no confirmation of North Korean involvement in the sinking, which occurred near the two Koreas’ disputed western sea border — a scene of three bloody inter-Korean naval battles.

Read more

A giant offshore crane lifting up portion of the sunken South Korean naval ship Cheonan, off Baengnyeong Island, South Korea, on Thursday. (Im Hun-jung/Yonhap, via Associated Press)

A floating crane prepares to hoist the sunken Navy corvette Cheonan yesterday by lowering metal chains to loop under the bow portion of the wreck. The operation took place near the western inter-Korean border in the Yellow Sea. The Navy ship ripped in two and sank after an unexplained explosion on March 26. (Joint Press Corps)

The U.S. Navy has been actively involved in the both the search and rescue compenent of the recovery and the salvage efforts, primarily through the Military Sealift Command (MSC) vessel USNS SALVOR which is operated and crewed by civilian merchant mariners.

Once again, civilian U.S. Merchant Mariners are at the centerpoint of a global maritime response, with the most recent centerpoint being the work done in support of the Haiti relief effort.

Below are a few photos released on the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet Flickr photostream.

Video

You can view a video of the ship being raised at the BBC News site here.

You have to wonder what the pirates were thinking when they decided to fire on a gray warship.  Well, as you can imagine, the warship fired back, hitting the small skiff at setting it ablaze.  We need to see results like this more often.  In the past 10 days, the U.S. Navy has captured 21 pirates.  Will 2010 mark the end of the piracy crisis in the Gulf of Aden?

Here’s the story from the U.S. Navy -

From U.S. FIFTH Fleet Public Affairs

USS ASHLAND, Gulf of Aden (NNS) — At approximately 5:00 a.m. local time, the USS Ashland (LSD 48), was fired upon by a skiff manned by suspected pirates in the Gulf of Aden, approximately 330 nautical miles off the coast of Djibouti.

During the attack, the Ashland received small arms fire on the port side from the six man crew of suspected pirates aboard the skiff. The Ashland, in accordance with her rules of engagement, returned fire.

USS Ashland fired two rounds at the skiff from her MK-38 Mod 2, 25mm gun. The skiff caught fire and the suspected pirates abandoned the skiff. The Ashland deployed her rigid-hull inflatable boats (RHIBs) to assist the pirates who were in the water near their skiff.

Once it was verified that the suspected pirates no longer had weapons on their person, all six were brought on board the Ashland where they received medical care. There is no apparent damage to the USS Ashland and there were no injuries to any members of her crew.

Captain John Bruening, commanding officer, Nassau Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), expressed the commitment of the ships in the Nassau ARG to ensuring the success of creating a stable and secure maritime environment.

“This is why we are here,” said Bruening. “It is so much more than just putting a stop to the illegal activities of only one pirate skiff. It is about fostering an environment that will give every nation the freedom to navigate the seas without fear of attack.”

Three events over the past ten days have allowed the U.S. Navy to capture a total of 21 suspected pirates. Two of these events were precipitated by attacks on the U.S. vessels, while the third was in response to a fellow mariner’s call for help. USS Nicholas (FFG 47) was attacked late in the evening by pirates on March 31, resulting in the capture of five, while today’s attack on USS Ashland netted an additional six. The third event, USS McFaul (DDG 74) responded to the distress call from M/V Rising Sun on April 5, helping thwart the attack and capture an additional ten suspected pirates. The U.S. Navy is now reviewing multiple options regarding these suspected pirates’ legal dispositions.

Ashland was conducting routine Maritime Security Operations in the Gulf of Aden, when the ship was attacked. Currently, Ashland is supporting 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit sustainment operations in Djibouti.

The Nassau ARG is comprised of ships from Amphibious Squadron Eight (PHIBRON including the Tarawa-class multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Nassau (LHA 4), the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19) and the Whidbey Island-class amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48). Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (24 MEU) complete the group.

For more news from Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, U.S. 5th Fleet, visit www.navy.mil/local/cusnc/.

GULF OF ADEN (April 10, 2010) A suspected pirate skiff burns after being destroyed by the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48). Ashland while operating approximately 330 nautical miles off the coast of Djibouti, was fired upon from a skiff manned by suspected pirates. Ashland returned fire and disabled the skiff. USS Ashland is part of the Nassau Amphibious Ready Group and 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, currently supporting Maritime Security Operations (MSO) and Theater Security Cooperation (TSC) Operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jason R. Zalasky/Released)

GULF OF ADEN (April 10, 2010) The burned out hull of a suspected pirate skiff drifts near the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48). Ashland while operating approximately 330 nautical miles off the coast of Djibouti, was fired upon and returned fire disabling a skiff manned by suspected pirates. Ashland deployed a visit, board, search and seizure team to rescue the suspects from the sea. USS Ashland is part of the Nassau Amphibious Ready Group and 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, currently supporting Maritime Security Operations (MSO) and Theater Security Cooperation (TSC) Operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jason R. Zalasky/Released)

GULF OF ADEN (April 10, 2010) A visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) team pulls suspected pirates from the sea for transport back to the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48). Ashland while operating approximately 330 nautical miles off the coast of Djibouti, was fired upon from a skiff manned by suspected pirates. Ashland returned fire and disabled the skiff. USS Ashland is part of the Nassau Amphibious Ready Group and 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, currently supporting Maritime Security Operations (MSO) and Theater Security Cooperation (TSC) Operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jason R. Zalasky/Released)