U.S. Navy Personnel Remain Aboard as Seized Tanker Returns to Libya

Claudette Roulo at the American Forces Press Service offers the below piece:

WASHINGTON, Mar. 19, 2014 - Twenty-five Navy personnel remain aboard the oil tanker Morning Glory after a team of Navy SEALs boarded and took control of the ship March 17, Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said today.

U.S. forces took control of the tanker in international waters at the request of the governments of Libya and Cyprus following its seizure earlier this month by three armed Libyans.

"The Morning Glory is carrying a cargo of oil owned by the Libyan government National Oil Company. The ship and its cargo were illicitly obtained from the Libyan port of As-Sidra," Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement released yesterday.

The U.S. sailors aboard the tanker are supervising the transit and performing security, navigation and communications tasks, Warren said today, and the SEALs have left the ship.

"The USS Stout is escorting the Morning Glory towards Libya. The three Libyans who had taken control of the Morning Glory remain now under U.S. control aboard the Morning Glory," the colonel said.

The 21-person civilian crew, consisting of six Pakistanis, six Indians, three Sri Lankans, two Syrians, two Sudanese and two Eritreans, also remain aboard the ship, he said.

The ship is underway to an as-yet undetermined spot in international waters near Libya to await a final port decision, Warren said, noting that discussions have begun on turning the three Libyans over to the Libyan government.

Note: In the above U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher B. Stolz, the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Stout is escorting the Libyan oil tanker Morning Glory. 

Navy SEALs Board Rogue Libya Oil Tanker Morning Glory

 

The American Forces Press Service offers the below piece:

 

WASHINGTON, Mar. 17, 2014 - American forces yesterday boarded and took control of a commercial tanker ship that was seized earlier this month by three armed Libyans, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said in a Defense Department news release issued today.

 

"No one was hurt tonight when U.S. forces, at the request of both the Libyan and Cypriot governments, boarded and took control of the commercial tanker 'Morning Glory,' a stateless vessel seized earlier this month by three armed Libyans," Kirby said in the release.

 

The boarding operation, approved by President Barack Obama and conducted just after 10 p.m. EDT on March 16 in international waters southeast of Cyprus, was executed by a team of U.S. Navy SEALs attached to Special Operations Command Europe, Kirby added.

 

"The SEAL team embarked and operated from the guided missile destroyer USS Roosevelt," Kirby said in the release. The USS Roosevelt provided helicopter support and served as a command and control and support platform for the other members of the force assigned to conduct the mission, he said.

 

"The 'Morning Glory' is carrying a cargo of oil owned by the Libyan government National Oil Company," Kirby said in the release. "The ship and its cargo were illicitly obtained from the Libyan port of As-Sidra."

The "Morning Glory" will be underway soon to a port in Libya with a team of sailors from the USS Stout embarked, Kirby said. The sailors will be supervising the transit, he added.

The USS Roosevelt is homeported in Mayport, Fla. and is deployed as part of the George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group, Kirby said, adding that the USS Stout is homeported in Norfolk, Va.

Note: The above photo of the USS Roosevelt was released by the U.S. Navy.