Terrorists will simply use a mine.
Those guys were pirates.
Posted on 04/06/2005 8:37:59 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter
In World War II they had a gun mounted on merchant ships and I think a military gunner aboard.
Probably wouldn't be a bad idea today.
How about a market based solution? Someone could start selling security escorts through the strait. Pick up the heavy hitters off the coast of Singapore then drop them off on the other side of the strait.
I think many cargo ships of various kinds do routinely carry weapons. I don't know about the big company supertankers and such, but it wouldn't surprise me at all.
The best weapon they have though, is the ship itself, and maneuvering. A three or four hundred foot tanker moving at full ahead is not something anybody will wanna come very close to, especially if they are trying to not be boarded.
Boarding a ship that big moving at speed is not a trivial problem. It's complex enough when the crew is trying to help you board, but if they are in a "repel boarders" mode... its gonna be tough to pull off. Somebody pulls close aboard and tosses a grapple up... they're pretty much going to die if they think they can climb that rope.
Terrorists will simply use a mine.
Those guys were pirates.
According to the article they have not killed anyone despite all the piracy they have done. I'd think they would be more ruthless if they were terrorists, they could just be locals with little or no options to provide for their village. Is this an area where the infrastructure was wiped out by the tsunami?
I'm not sure this straight is even small enough water to have one sunk ship seriously impair navigation. I haven't been through there, but from the diagram it looks like a pretty big crick.
No. The Strait of Malacca was unaffected by the Tsunami.
Oh, they're pirates alright. That whole corner of the world, from Indonesia around to Yemen... is just lousy with them.
It does sound a little odd that they'd go after an oil tanker... just 'cause if they're after stealing the cargo and pocketing the money, not many ports can handle that sort of clandestine offload.
It's wider than the English Channel.
http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/world/A0831307.html
But if worse case, if it's floating it could be pulled away from the scene. If it's not the USAF could bomb it into tiny bits within a few hours (Diego Garcia is pretty close). And the SEALs could destroy any protruding metal that interferes with ships.
Any info on the Methane Tanker that was hijacked last month?
Yes, merchant ships wer armed.
Nice shot of somebody sitting on a Liberty Ship's deck gun.
http://ontour.blogs.com/photos/san_francisco/david_on_liberty_ship_at_san_fran2.html
And
http://ontour.blogs.com/photos/san_francisco/jonathan_trying_to_remember_boy_scout_tr.html
http://www.usmm.org/libertyships.html
Libertys carried a crew of about 44 and 12 to 25 Naval Armed Guard. Some were armed with:
One 4 inch stern gun
Two 37 mm bow guns
Six 20 mm machine guns
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/116liberty_victory_ships/116facts2.htm
Victory ships typically carried a crew of 62 civilian merchant sailors and 28 naval personnel to operate defensive guns and communications equipment. The crew quarters were located amidships. The Victory ships were different from the Liberty ships primarily in propulsion, the steam engine of the Liberty giving way to the more modern, faster steam turbine.
That last link was really interesting....thanks.
Sure, the speed boats can catch the tanker... but boarding is not a simple thing. There's a pretty massive bow wave combined with whatever seas are there at the time... and if the captain is doing some snaky curves, rocking the ship and twisting left and right... trying to board would be something more than a small adventure.
right about the armed ships of ww2---they called the gun crews US Navy 'armed guard'--the merchant marine crews got the high risk pay and the 'swabbies' had to settle for 21-30 bucks a month even tho' the risks were equal but no one wants to talk about that--ww2 naval service vet
Sorry, I was going by the posted article, which stated - ``Pirates in seven small fishing boats surrounded the tanker and attempted to board it late Tuesday,''
Amen--lots of fun climbing a rope ladder up the side of a ship, especially in rain or snow and ice---even if the ship is moving 'dead slow' you have to contend with the bow wave riding back along the side and the sea height of waves as well---brings back memories of the months I spent on "Security Boarding Detail" for New York harbor with the US Coast Guard after war was declared in Dec '41--eating and sleeping (when off duty) was an experience on some of the filthy foriegn freighters that came into port (Americans never know how good we really have it)---most of them did not want us on board anyway and did nothing to make life pleasant at the time---however, it was a wee bit better than Atlantic Sea Frontier patrols on an 83 ft wood hulled cutter and D-Day at Normandy with CG Resflo 1 (and to think that it took years before I learned the Coast Guard never was a Normandy, according to my local veterans service officer)--God Bless and keep our troops
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