UKMTO Weekly Piracy Report

Command Overview

1. Open source news outlets report on 9 Oct 16 of missiles being fired from the Red Sea coast of Yemen at a US destroyer. The missiles did not strike and there was no damage (a).

This incident occurred 8 days after a UAE flagged vessel had been attacked in a similar area. On 12 Oct 16 there was a second failed attack on the same US destroyer north of the Bab el Mandeb straits. In a statement by a Pentagon Press Secretary ‘the ship detected at least one missile that we assess originated from Houthi-controlled territory near Al Hudaydah, Yemen.

The ship employed defensive countermeasures, and the missile did not reach USS Mason’ (c). The US carried out retaliatory ‘cruise missile strikes on Thursday to knock out three coastal radar sites’ (e).

Image: A destroyed vehicle with a radar antenna is pictured on Yemen's south-west coast on October 13, 2016. It is unclear if it was the target of US bombing of coastal radar sites in Houthi-held territory. AFP

2. UKMTO released 2 Advisories this week related to the above (page 3) and US NCAGS issued a NTM.

Both advise that: masters can expect to see an increased coalition warship presence in the Bab el Mandeb straits and as a precaution, should consider the following: maintain the farthest possible distance from the Yemen coast, transit the Bab el Mandeb straits during daylight hours, use the Western TSS¹, increase speed, maintain vigilance and report any unusual activity to UKMTO.

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