The Sea Tigers is the naval component of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, founded in 1984.[1] The Sea Tigers have a number of small, but effective suicide-bomber vessels [2]. During its existence it has gained a reputation as a capable adversary for the small Sri Lankan Navy[3]. The Sea Tigers are led by Colonel Soosai, with their main base at Mullaitivu, on the north-eastern coast of Sri Lanka[4]. Over the years the Sea Tigers have sunk 32 Sri Lankan naval gunboats, and 1 civilian freighter[5].Sea Tigers background
As the Tamil insurgency gained weight the LTTE required that much of its supplies to be smuggled in by sea. It was soon realised that a naval component was needed to complement the land-based guerrilla forces. The leader of the LTTE, Velupillai Prabhakaran, having grown up in the coastal village of Valvettithurai, with its smuggling traditions, 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.
Operational capacities
Light fibreglass boats are used for suicide-bomber attacks. These boats can be up to 15 meters long, and are usually equipped with four 250 Hp outboard engines and a mixture of weaponry; light and heavy machine guns, 15-18 mm guns and grenade launchers. The Sea Tiger attack vessels are only at sea during operations and training; when idle they are loaded on large trailers and hidden in the dense jungle southwest of Mullaitivu or even transported to the west coast if needed.
sea tigers Attack
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