Operator unknown Completed 1993 | Port of registry unknown Length 180 m | |
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Name MV Morning Glory (formerly MV Gulf Glory, MV Bandar Ayu, MV Pergiwati) Owner National Oil Corporation, Libya or other unknown Identification Call Sign HMVE7, IMO 9044504 | ||
MV Morning Glory, formerly Gulf Glory, Bandar Ayu, and Pergiwati, is an 1993-built Aframax crude oil tanker. Considered a stateless vessel with stolen cargo the tanker was seized by United States Special Forces southeast of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean on March 16, 2014. The intervention occurred upon the request of the Libyan and Cypriot governments.
As Gulf Glory the vessel had previously sailed under Liberian registry. In 2011 the Morning Glory was repaired at the CIC Changxing Shipyard, China.
March 2014 event
Apparently the tanker had been ordered to Libyan waters off the port of Sidra where it was seized by rebel gunmen. Flying the flag of North Korea the vessel then entered the port of Sidra, Libya in early March 2014. North Korea, however, disavowed the ship once it learned that the ship was under rebel control. Sidra is under control of an eastern Libyan militia group that under the leadership of Ibrahim Jathran defies the central government and aims for greater autonomy. At Sidra the tanker was loaded with 234,000 barrel of state-owned crude oil that had been seized by the rebels.
The Libyan government intended to prevent the ship from leaving the port on March 11, but failed to establish an effective blockade. As a result, the Ali Zeidan government collapsed. Fearing for his safety Zeidan then fled the country. The rebels had planned to sell the oil bypassing the Libyan government, however the intervention on sea blocked this attempt. The oil tanker was seized by a U.S. Navy SEAL team from the USS Roosevelt on March 16, 2014 without bloodshed. The vessel was brought to the port of Zawiya, Libya and handed over to Libyan authorities on March 22, 2014 after being escorted by USS Elrod (FFG-55).