INS MYSORE PICTURES Captures Somali Pirateas

The INS Mysore is a Delhi-class destroyer of the Indian Navy built in India.
The ship was commissioned in 1999, and is on active service as of 2008. INS Mysore is named after the city of Mysore in the State of Karnataka. The double-headed eagle from the sigil of the royal House of Wodeyar of Mysore is used in the crest of INS Mysore. The keel of the INS Mysore was laid down in February 1991 and launched on 4June 1993. Sea trials began in the Arabian sea in March 1999, and it was commissioned on 2 June 1999 by Shri. Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The commissioning CO of INS Mysore was Captain Rajiv Dhamdhere.
This ship is the successor to another ship of the same name (formerly the HMS Nigeria). HMS Nigeria was a British Fiji class cruiser that served the Indian Navy from 1957 to 1985.

Source: Wikipidia.

Striking yet another blow at the very heart of piracy in the Gulf of Aden, Indian warship INS Mysore and its marine commandos thwarted
a hijack attempt on an Ethiopian merchant vessel on Saturday and captured 23 pirates and a large arms cache in the operation.

The arrest of the 23 pirates (12 Somali and 11 Yemeni) and the arms haul is the largest such seizure in the ongoing anti-piracy operations off Somalia. The confiscated arms and equipment included seven AK-47s, three other assault rifles, 13 loaded magazines, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher with two rockets, several grenades, a GPS set and a mobile phone.

Early November, the British Royal Navy had captured eight pirates, who were subsequently handed over to Kenya to face trial in the port town of Mombasa. "The external affairs ministry is now working to find out to which country the 23 pirates in INS Mysore's custody can be handed over,'' said a senior officer.

"INS Mysore, which replaced stealth frigate INS Tabar early December, may head for Djibouti on the horn of Africa. Our plan to base a maritime reconnaissance aircraft like a Dornier at Djibouti (which has a French military base) is also underway,'' he added.

Pirates operating with sheer impunity from ports like Eyl and Hobyo in Somalia, torn apart by an 18-year-old civil war, have already attacked as many as 100 merchant vessels transiting through the crucial shipping lane this year. At least 17 of the hijacked ships and their crew are still being held captive by the pirates for ransom.

The dramatic action on the high seas on Saturday began at 11am IST when the 6,900-tonne Delhi-class missile destroyer INS Mysore received a "distress call'' over the MMB Channel 16 from Ethiopian merchant vessel Gibe that it was being attacked by a pirate "mother dhow'' and a speedboat around 150 nautical miles east of Aden.

An armed Chetak helicopter, with four marine commandos, was immediately "launched'' from INS Mysore towards Gibe, which was 13 nautical miles from the Indian warship at that point in time.

"The sailors on Gibe were exchanging small arms fire with the pirates. On spotting the armed Chetak hovering overhead, the pirate boats broke off their attack,'' said an officer.

Soon after, steaming at full speed, the deadly INS Mysore also reached the spot. By then, all 23 pirates had clambered onto the 10-metre-long dhow -- later identified as `Salahaddin' -- in a bid to escape.

INS Mysore then opened fire across the dhow's bows with its heavy-calibre machine guns, forcing the sea bandits to come to a complete halt. A detachment of heavily-armed marine commandos promptly sped across to the pirate dhow in their fibre-glass inflatable boats.

"Seeing the Marcos, the pirates surrendered quite easily, even though for some time they pretended to be plain fishermen. A search of the dhow led to the discovery of the large arms cache and three outboard motors,'' he said.

"The grenades, being unstable, were thrown off overboard. The 23 pirates and the other arms were taken on board INS Mysore, which will resume its patrolling duties after handing over them over to appropriate ashore authorities,'' he added.