Stupidity and poor intel knows no limits. The Sydney Morning Herald reports …

Somali pirates attempted to storm the French navy’s 18,000-tonne flagship in the Indian Ocean after mistaking it for a cargo vessel, the French military says.

The crew of La Somme, a 160-metre command vessel and fuel tanker, easily saw off the brazen night-time assault by lightly armed fighters on two lightweight skiffs and captured five pirates, a spokesman said.

“The pirates, who because of the darkness took the French ship for a commercial vessel, were on board two vessels and opened fire with Kalashnikovs,” Admiral Christophe Prazuck said in Paris.

A friendly word of advice from The Firearm Blog.