ROFL: "And in a textbook example of mistaken identity..."

[MrFancypants]

That's funny. I guess it could happen to the best of us since those ships look quite a bit like freighters, but the color or the 40mm gun might have given the nature of this ship away to a careful observer.

Originally Posted by Afterburner

I'm somewhat surprised a large refueling ship was capable of chasing down what appears to be a motorboat. Good on the French though, and stupid on the Somalis. If only all of the pirates made such mistakes.

It isn't overly fast, but 20 knots seem to be enough to caputre those little boats.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8294858.stm
Durance class tanker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Anlushac11]

It would also matter what the seas were like.

5 to 10 ft waves would be alot for a Skiff to handle at 20 kots but would mean nothing to a 10,000 ton tanker.

Also these guys may have been operating at max range and did not have enough fuel to run very far. IMHO the pirates are getting precise intel on ship locations so they may not have prudently planned on having to run home.

[Professor Dr. Scientist]

Yeah, I heard there were mother ships that the smaller attack boats took off from. A while back pirates hijacked a freighter that was full of military equipment that some country had just purchased. They must have been surprised to open up the ship and see it full of weapons.