April Fool’s Pirates Mistake USS Nicholas for a Merchant Ship – No Joke

USS_NicholasAn April Fool’s post that is no joke. At 12:27 a.m. on April 1, 2010, in the Indian Ocean west of the Seychelles, three Somali pirates in a small skiff attacked what they thought was a merchant vessel.  It wasn’t. They had attacked the USS Nicholas, an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, on anti-piracy patrol.  The USS Nicholas returned fire, captured the three pirates and sank their skiff.   Subsequently, two suspected pirates were captured on a mother ship, which was also confiscated.  The five pirates were tried and convicted in US court,  the first piracy conviction in an American courtroom since 1819. The five April Fool’s pirates were each convicted to life plus 80 years. No joke. 

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