Action of 9 April 2009
| April 2009 raid off Somalia | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Piracy in Somalia, Operation Atalanta | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 France Germany
|
Somali pirates | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Guillaume Goutay | Unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
France: 3 frigates 70 commandos 1 C-130 Hercules Germany: 1 frigate |
1 yacht 5 pirates |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| None | 1 yacht captured 2 killed 3 captured |
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| Civilian casualties: 1 killed | |||||||
| History | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Name: | Tanit |
| Captured: | 4 April 2009 |
| Fate: | rescued, Action of 9 April 2009 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Colin Archer cutter |
| Length: | 12.5 m (41 ft) |
The April 2009 raid off Somalia was a military operation conducted by France and Germany to retake the French yacht Tanit on 9 April 2009, a yacht which had been captured by Somali pirates on April 4, 2009. It occurred during Operation Atalanta, a European Union mission in Somali waters. The pirates had attempted to extract a ransom by holding the yacht's occupants hostage, but were ultimately defeated when the French Navy assaulted them.
Tanit, a privately owned French yacht named after the Phoenician lunar goddess, with its five crew and passengers was sailing to Zanzibar when it was boarded by pirates on 4 April. Among the hostages were a family of three including a three-year-old boy, and two friends of the family who joined them in Aden. The ship's owners, the Lemaçons, started from Vannes in July 2008 and sailed south to the coast of Spain. This was a family trip “to escape consumer society”. They planned to visit Kenya and Zanzibar. Even after meeting with a couple whose yacht, Carré d'As IV, had been captured by pirates, and later rescued by French commandos, they continued on their journey.
The pirates headed the vessel for the coast but were overrun two days later by a French frigate. French forces attempted to negotiate with the pirates offering them money and offering to exchange the mother and child for a French soldier. The pirates declined this. Instead, they were overheard discussing using explosives to blow up the yacht.
Fifty commandos were sent from France to a French base at Djibouti on 9 April, in readiness for the assault. Joined locally by 20 more commandos, they parachuted from a C-130 Hercules plane into the sea, to be picked up by three French warships that had been tracking the pirates, together with a German frigate equipped with hospital facilities.
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Wikipedia