The capture took place as dawn broke on Friday 13 January 2012 and involved RFA Fort Victoria joining USS Carney to ascertain the business of the dhow, which had been identified as a vessel being operated by pirates in the shipping lanes of the Indian Ocean.
A Military Operations news article
In a combined show of force, both RFA Fort Victoria and USS Carney manoeuvred towards the dhow with the intention of encouraging her to comply with the counter-piracy forces. This should have been intimidating, given the size of the two military vessels, but the pirates were determined to carry on with their activities. RFA Fort Victoria was tasked to take positive action to disrupt the progress of the vessel.
RFA Fort Victoria deployed her Royal Navy Lynx Mk8 helicopter with Royal Marines maritime snipers on board who issued various clear warnings to the suspects to stop.
Despite these measures, the dhow failed to comply with repeated instructions to stop and verify her intentions. Immediately afterwards, Royal Marines in speedboats approached the vessel and successfully boarded it. The pirates surrendered as the Marines took control of the dhow.
13 Somali pirates were found to be on board together with a selection of weapons.
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