USS Nicholas

Five Somali pirates who attacked the USS Nicholas, an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate,  in a wildly misguided attempt to hijack the ship in a late night attack last April, were convicted of piracy in a court in Virginia.  The prosecution said that this is the first piracy conviction in an American courtroom since 1819.  The pirates face mandatory life terms.

Also this week, the French Command ship, La Somme, was attacked again by Somali pirates.  The French captured “six alleged hijackers, fuel and equipment that is clearly anything but not for fishing.”  La Somme was last attacked by pirates in October of 2009.

In Germany, ten Somali pirates are going on trial in Hamburg this week, in what will be the first German piracy trial in centuries.  The Somalis are charged with attempting to hijack the German cargo ship Taipan, which was 500 nautical miles off the Horn of Africa, last April.   The pirates were arrested by Dutch commandos.  A video of the commando action was recorded on a helmet cam, below.

Beelden boardingteam Hr. Ms. Tromp van bevrijdingsactie koopvaardijschip Taipan