Soldiers' Assault: Veteran Special Agents and New Recruits

Chapter 387 Pirates Hijack a 10,000-Ton Cargo Ship

The Suez Canal is one of the world's major shipping routes, and the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia is a necessary sea route for cargo ships from various countries to enter and exit the Suez Canal.

Due to the ongoing civil war in Somalia, the education and social systems have collapsed for many years.

The local people simply cannot survive here!

Thus, driven by the pressure to survive, a group of criminals emerged in Somalia who specialized in robbing ships from other countries at sea in order to survive.

Somali pirates!

With the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991, life became even more difficult for Somalis, leading many civilians to join pirates in order to survive.

Somali piracy in the Gulf of Aden has begun to experience explosive growth.

Because piracy was virtually free, and success usually brought huge profits, Somali pirates began to grow unchecked.

From the initial group of three to five people working independently, it evolved into the emergence of four major pirate gangs—

They are the Puntland Guard, the National Coast Guard Volunteers, the Merka and Somali sailors.

Pirates extorted money from passing merchant ships from various countries every year, with the amount increasing from a few thousand at the beginning to hundreds of thousands or even millions over time.

They even have professional staff and positions, and are subject to strict corporate management.

They fight even more fiercely, and their success rate is higher.

This resulted in heavy losses for ships from various countries and had a negative impact internationally.

The United Nations, as the only organization capable of intervention, knew that sending coast guards and warships to capture Somali pirates would be pointless; driven by the survival instinct of starving, the pirates would only continue to emerge.

Therefore, in 1992, the United Nations decided to send peacekeeping troops to Somalia.

Its main functions are to monitor ceasefires among various tribes and to provide limited humanitarian aid to the Somali population, ensuring their basic needs are met.

This would not only demonstrate the role of the United Nations, but also cut off the source of Somali piracy and restore peace to the Gulf of Aden.

If they could safely get a full meal, no one would be willing to risk their life to become a pirate.

After all, most pirates are cannon fodder; those who die during a kidnapping may not even receive compensation, and only a minority can live a life of ease and wealth.

pity.

Backfired.

The Black Hawk Down incident in 1993 shocked the world with heavy casualties among U.S. troops, causing the world's strongest nation, the United States, to lose face and slink out of Somalia.

The United Nations, which is supported by the US military, has also completely given up on peacekeeping in Somalia.

From then on, all peacekeeping forces were withdrawn, all humanitarian aid to Somalia was stopped, and no further involvement in the Somali crisis was permitted.

Somalia, which had given the United States a hard time, began to enter a phase of self-destruction.

Pirates began to grow wildly from that time onward, increasing more than tenfold in less than ten years from just a few dozen or a hundred pirates at the beginning.

The number of Somali pirates has grown rapidly, and their weapons and equipment have also been greatly upgraded.

From the very beginning, they were typical civilian thugs, rowing small boats with oars, carrying a large machete at their waist, and a grappling hook to rob ships.

Since they couldn't climb onto the 10,000-ton or 100,000-ton ships, they specialized in building small cargo ships with a capacity of only 1,000 tons.

It has been upgraded to high-speed speedboat pursuit, standard equipment includes fully automatic rifles for individual soldiers, large steel wire mesh that can jam the oars, and multiple boat coordination with walkie-talkies, etc.

The target has also risen from thousands of tons to tens of thousands of tons, or even giant cargo ships of hundreds of thousands of tons.

The ransom has skyrocketed to millions of dollars.

The promise of financial freedom and a life of ease attracted more people to join, making the Somali pirates increasingly reckless.

No one can do anything about Somali pirates; the only thing the International Maritime Bureau can do is list it as one of the most dangerous seas in the world.

Passing ships were terrified of pirates and tried to arm and defend themselves.

Carrying guns on board is already a basic requirement!

Those ships that were too "cowardly" to use guns would try to find professionals to escort them, thus giving rise to a new industry—

Escort bodyguards!

Boarding the ship from the Suez Canal to the Red Sea area and disembarking after leaving the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia, the entire journey is protected by armed bodyguards.

It can cost tens of thousands of US dollars in one or two days, and even more than one hundred thousand US dollars for a 100,000-ton ship.

This amount of money is indeed a lot, but compared to ransoms that are often in the millions, and the potential danger to one's life if captured by pirates.

Most cargo ships would rather pay to avoid trouble than risk saving money in this regard.

Against this grim backdrop, international organizations, both overtly and covertly, have begun to realize that forming an escort fleet is imperative.

my country also has corresponding plans to escort and protect its merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden.

That's why Jackie Chan and his entourage set sail aboard the Yangzhou frigate.

The speed of the Yangzhou is far inferior to that of an airplane, even the fastest and most advanced Type 053H3—NATO designation: Jiangwei II-class guided-missile frigate.

The maximum speed is 26 knots, and the normal cruising speed is about 15 knots.

A day's journey only covers about 300 nautical miles.

The Yangzhou sailed into the South China Sea, passed through the Strait of Malacca, crossed the Indian Ocean, and reached the Gulf of Aden and the Somali waters, a journey of 4400 nautical miles.

Even if they work non-stop, it will still take half a month to arrive.

There are no entertainment facilities on the warship. You can't even go for a run, let alone stop to fish or swim.

Life is really boring!

Fortunately, there is a library on the warship, which is filled with all kinds of books. You can read to pass the time, or use the available materials to do some indoor exercise.

This has given Jackie Chan, who has been busy for several years, time to calm down and read some books.

Xu Sanduo, Wu Zhe, and the others were also bored, so they could only follow Jackie Chan into the library and begin to improve themselves in a semi-forced manner.

The library became Jackie Chan's private space, with the small room packed with burly men every day.

Shi Dafan, who has a rather outgoing personality, thought the word "expedition team" sounded really awful while reading the book, and that it had absolutely no classiness.

In high spirits, they decided to give it a code name.

It's unclear whether it was to curry favor with Jackie Chan, or whether he genuinely admired Jackie Chan, or as Shi Dafan himself said.

As descendants of Yan and Huang, and as children of the dragon, it is very fitting for us to be nicknamed the Flame Dragon Team.

Jackie Chan doesn't have much attachment to nicknames; he feels that as long as they work, that's fine. For example, Yuan Lang gave him the nickname "August 1st Tank," which he doesn't think is very prestigious, but he hasn't changed it over the years.

Everyone else was satisfied with the code name and readily accepted Shi Dafan's suggestion.

Only Wu Liuyi expressed his disagreement, believing that the Sea Eagle Commando Team was more suitable, but unfortunately, they were ultimately no match for the Descendants of the Dragon.

Yanlong thus became the new code name!

In the blink of an eye.

More than ten days have passed.

The Yangzhou traveled more than 4000 kilometers and finally entered the waters off Somalia.

Although it is still nearly 100 nautical miles from the entrance to the Gulf of Aden, this area is already within the range of pirate activity, and incidents could occur at any time.

of course.

Pirates certainly wouldn't be that stupid as to run aboard a warship and cause trouble.

It refers to the fact that once you enter this sea area, you may encounter cargo ships that are being attacked by pirates at any time, and these ships send out distress signals to the surrounding area.

Practical combat operations are a must-have item on the mission list for the Yangzhou ship's voyage.

If a distress signal is received, the project can be completed ahead of schedule, allowing for more flexible scheduling in the following period.

Perhaps it was fate, or perhaps it was simply luck.

Less than half a day after the Yangzhou entered the waters off Somalia and was en route to the Gulf of Aden, it received an emergency distress signal.

The cargo ship An Tai Shan, owned by China Shipping Company, was attacked by armed pirates in the Gulf of Aden and requested immediate emergency rescue.

The distress signal was very short, indicating that it was urgent, and there was no further news.

The actual situation is...

The country where a cargo ship is registered determines the laws of that country. my country strictly prohibits private individuals from carrying guns, and the An Tai Shan was not carrying any weapons.

Back then, barbed wire and electric fences hadn't yet become common, and the biggest threat to Somali pirates was high-pressure water cannons.

But against the pirates' bullets, the water gun was far too inadequate.

They faced an attack from armed pirates and successfully boarded the cargo ship.

Left with no other choice, the captain had to abandon the defense of the cargo ship and take all the crew members into the safe room to ensure his own and his crew's safety.

Before taking cover, they sent out a distress signal and then cut off all power to the ship.

The cargo ship was rendered immobile, and the hold was plunged into darkness. The pirates were unable to steer the ship away, and finding the people was not an easy task.

These details were unknown to the outside world; all the information about the Yangzhou ship could be summed up in one sentence—

There are reports of Chinese ships being attacked, along with their corresponding coordinates.

Although piracy is rampant in Somalia, with hundreds of ships being kidnapped every year.

On average, one ship is delivered every two to three days.

However, encountering this on their very first day was truly exciting for everyone on the ship, and they immediately switched to combat mode.

Even though they were still 300 nautical miles away, the Yangzhou immediately reported the situation.

Without any hesitation, the superiors quickly issued an order to the Yangzhou to immediately proceed to the scene of the incident to carry out rescue operations.

Upon receiving the order to proceed, Lieutenant Colonel Zhang Xuebin, the captain of the Yangzhou, was also an excellent captain and immediately issued two orders.

He ordered the Yangzhou to accelerate at full speed and get to the scene of the incident as quickly as possible.

While summoning the "Dragon Team" to the conference room, they gathered all the intelligence and researched the best research plan during the journey.

When Jackie Chan arrived at the conference room of the Yangzhou with Zhuang Yan and eight others.

First-hand intelligence has been obtained.

The Yangzhou ship contacted the company of the An Taishan ship and learned from the China Shipping Company that not long ago, pirates had used the ship's communication equipment to contact the company and demand a ransom of US$100 million.

However, when the company asked to speak with the crew members first to confirm their safety...

The pirates suddenly fell silent and turned off the satellite phone.

There has been no further news.

According to this only available information, Captain Zhang Xuebing, the political commissar, and other top-ranking officers of the warship, along with the special forces team represented by Jackie Chan, held a discussion.

"When it comes to the safety of the crew, the pirates hang up. Could it be that the crew members have all been killed?" Political Commissar Xie Xuewu frowned and speculated.

This speculation instantly made the atmosphere at the scene heavy.

I don't think so.

Wu Zhe had a different opinion, analyzing: "Based on my understanding of large cargo ships, their internal structure is very complex, with many compartments and they are very sturdy."

It takes pirates some time to climb onto the ship, giving the crew enough time to react.

I think it's also possible that all the people on board have already taken refuge in the lower decks, or even in a relatively safe cabin.

The pirates made a phone call shortly after boarding the ship, so they probably couldn't find any crew members at all.

Therefore, when asked to speak with the crew, the pirates, unable to produce hostages, had no choice but to temporarily cut off the ransom call and resume their demands once they found the crew.

"Comrade Wu Zhe's analysis makes a lot of sense; this possibility is very high," Zhang Xuebing nodded and said.

"I'd like to add something."

Jackie Chan continued, "The fact that the pirates haven't called China Shipping Company again so far proves one possibility."

That means the pirates haven't found their crew yet, or to put it another way, they haven't taken control of them.

Therefore, it can be basically concluded that the crew members are currently safe. As long as the pirates have not notified the crew, the research will not be too difficult.

In other words, the chances of a safe rescue are still very high.

Jackie Chan's analysis supplemented Wu Zhe's, and was more optimistic, which made the originally depressing atmosphere much more relaxed.

I said…

Shi Dafan suddenly appeared and said abruptly, "Is it possible that the pirates didn't capture the crew members immediately, fearing someone would come to arrest them, and like criminals, they've already escaped?"

Shi Dafan truly lives up to his reputation as a monkey-like fellow; his perspective on thinking is also quite unique.

"That's impossible. This isn't a busy city. This is a pirate's den. Pirates wouldn't be so cowardly in their own territory."

Zhuang Yan expressed a different opinion, stating firmly, "In my opinion, the pirates are definitely still looking for crew members. The sooner we get there, the greater our hope will be. Therefore, we must race against time to get there."

The old gunman, who was usually quite taciturn, stood up and said, "I have studied ship demolition. Large ships of 10,000 tons have very sturdy hulls, and there are some places that even directional explosives may not be able to break through."

Pirates are ultimately just a group of robbers; they certainly don't know anything about professional demolition, and they didn't even carry explosives—at most, they had an automatic rifle.

It would be virtually impossible to open the heavy hatch with an automatic rifle.

"At the Yangzhou's maximum speed, we should be able to reach the scene in about 10 hours, making a safe rescue highly likely."

The veteran's analysis from a demolition expert's perspective made the whole situation much clearer.

The team atmosphere is also more relaxed!

However, just when the situation seemed to be going very well and the probability of Jackie Chan rescuing him was extremely high, someone suddenly jumped out and poured cold water on the idea.

"Optimism is a good thing, but we also need to prepare for the downside in order to avoid being caught off guard."

Cheng Cai said solemnly with a serious expression, "Even a cornered dog will jump over a wall, let alone a group of wicked and vicious criminals."

Regardless of the current situation, one thing is certain.

That means that within ten hours, no matter how large the hold of a 10,000-ton cargo ship is, the pirates can find the crew's hiding place by searching room by room.

There's no way to break through the metal hatch with a gun, but even the hardest turtle shell has its weaknesses.

Therefore, I believe we can successfully carry out the rescue, but necessary preparations, such as medical preparedness, must also be in place.

(End of this chapter)