A confrontation on the eastern sea-board appears to have caused significant losses to both the SLN and the sea-Tigers yesterday.
The Navy claims to have intercepted a convoy of LTTE vessels and having sunk at least 4 of them, all reportedly suicide craft which attempted to get close to the naval craft. according to the Navy, only one SLN craft sustained damages, while the pro-LTTE media claims to have sunk one Dvora FAC and a hovercraft. SLN denies the hovercraft being deployed in combat operations.
The hovercraft has had no known value in SLN's operations so far, and was listed for sale a few years ago. Navy sources reported that the sale was abandoned since the bidding was severely under-priced and thus a decision being made to retain the vessel. The hovercraft is a fast vessel, capable of carrying arms and troops over shallow waters and is ideal for littoral combat support. However, it lacks fire power or armour and would be unsuitable for interception duties. It is essentially a logistics vessel. Hence the pro-LTTE claims seem unlikely to be true.
The Navy claims to have intercepted a convoy of LTTE vessels and having sunk at least 4 of them, all reportedly suicide craft which attempted to get close to the naval craft. according to the Navy, only one SLN craft sustained damages, while the pro-LTTE media claims to have sunk one Dvora FAC and a hovercraft. SLN denies the hovercraft being deployed in combat operations.
The hovercraft has had no known value in SLN's operations so far, and was listed for sale a few years ago. Navy sources reported that the sale was abandoned since the bidding was severely under-priced and thus a decision being made to retain the vessel. The hovercraft is a fast vessel, capable of carrying arms and troops over shallow waters and is ideal for littoral combat support. However, it lacks fire power or armour and would be unsuitable for interception duties. It is essentially a logistics vessel. Hence the pro-LTTE claims seem unlikely to be true.
How a hovercraft operates;
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