United States Navy SEALs from a Virginia-based DEVGRU SEAL team launched a Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) operation from the USS Roosevelt (DDG-80) at midnight Cyprus Time, Monday, using helicopters and fast boats to regain control of a North Korea-flagged oil tanker approximately 18 miles off the coast of Cyprus. They inserted with MCADS (Maritime Craft Aerial Delivery System) and took control of the ship.

This action was originally reported as a DEVGRU mission. SOFREP has confirmed that DEVGRU did not conduct this mission and were spun up for a different mission.

The Morning Glory is a 21,000 ton oil tanker that escaped the Libyan Navy last week. More than 234,000 barrels of oil was loaded on the tanker, worth about $20 million dollars.

“The Morning Glory is carrying a cargo of oil owned by the Libyan government’s National Oil Company,” said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. “The ship and its cargo were illicitly obtained from the Libyan port of Es Sider.”