Sea tigers

Sea Tigers
Active	1984 - May 19, 2009
Country	Sri Lanka
Type	Navy
Size	2,000 - 3,000
Commanders
Admiral	Soosai

The Sea Tigers (Tamil: கடற்புலிகள் Kaţaṛpulikaḷ) was the naval wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam during the Sri Lankan Civil War. It was founded in 1984. The Sea Tigers had a number of small but effective suicide bomber vessels. During its existence it had gained a reputation as a capable adversary for the Sri Lankan Navy. Over the years the Sea Tigers had sunk at least 29 Sri Lankan small inshore patrol boats and one freighter.

The Sea Tigers were led by Soosai, with their main base at Mullaitivu, on the north-eastern coast of Sri Lanka and their last base was taken when the Sri Lanka Army captured Chalai in Mullaitivu in February 2009.

As the Tamil insurgency gained strength, the LTTE required that much of its supplies to be smuggled in by sea. It was soon realized that a naval component was needed to complement the land-based guerrilla forces. The leader of the LTTE, Velupillai Prabhakaran, understood the necessity of a naval force.

The Sea Tigers were officially founded in 1984. In the first years its primary task was smuggling personnel and equipment between the LTTE's bases in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, in particular Jaffna. As the Sea Tiger cadres gained experience, it took on offensive operations against the Sri Lankan Navy.

The leader, 'Admiral', of the Sea Tigers was said to be Soosai. The strategic implementation and execution of Sea Tiger military tactics were guided by leading senior cadre tacticians such as Lieutenant Commander Sri Ram.

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