Pirates attack luxury cruise ship [New details]

Scotland on Sunday ^ | November 6, 2005 | by WILLIAM LYONS

[Senator Goldwater]

Sounds like an opportunity for a new kind of adventure tourism.

I like it.

And they do take American Express.

[JasonC]

Mount 4 50 cals and there is no problem. 2 on each side, one fore and one aft. They are cheap, very simple to operate, and no dinky boat is going to get close to anything that has them.

[jimbo123]

This was a failed Al Qaeda hostage taking operation.

[nevergore]

Somehow I think the nude girl paintball hunt that someone was peddling in Vegas a few years ago may be a better seller...

[Angry_White_Man_Syndrome]

Actually the bigger the boarding craft, the harder it is to hold steady enough to allow the boarding party to gain access to the ship.

[Siouxz]

One of the rockets certainly hit the ship - it went through the side of the liner into a passenger's suite. The couple were in there at the time so it was a bit of an unpleasant experience.

LOL--what a wonderful display of the art of understatement.

[cricket]

I don't know why they would not; particularly in 'troubled waters'; made so, by the glut of pirate activitiy. . .

That said; love the classic 'understatement' reportage here. . .i.e. the 'low-key/stiff-upper lip' Euro-think. . .

One of the rockets certainly hit the ship - it went through the side of the liner into a passenger's suite. The couple were in there at the time so it was a bit of an unpleasant experience.

'Just a bit'. . .for sure ;^)

[Semper Paratus]

These "pirates" were Al Qaeada

If they were they would have already scoped out the ships defenses and wouldn't have been deterred by a loud noise.

[EagleUSA]

I would think a few stand-by .50 cal mounts on the superstructure of those cruise liners would do wonders to discourage these scum from attacking such a vessel!!

[jimbo123]

How many luxury liners were attacked by "pirates" in recent history? Apart from the Achille Lauro?

[1rudeboy]

Possibly. Good point.

[Senator Goldwater]

This doesn't look like an inflatable boat to me.

You're right.

Heavy up the ammo so the bottom dwellers can feed off their bloated carcasses.

[precedence]

Here's a photo of the Seabourn Spirit.

[LibFreeOrDie]

All it took was 4 heavily armed Pali terrorists to take over the Achille Lauro in 1985. They didn't want money or jewelry. They wanted the release of terrorists from prison:

http://www.specialoperations.com/Images_Folder/library2/achille.html

I thought it was a stated goal of the terrorists to hijack cruise ships. It could happen again...

[PeteB570]

Time for the modern equivalent of the Q-ships.

A few of them steaming in the area would put a damper on pirate activity real quick.

[Angry_White_Man_Syndrome]

These boats were most likely fiberglass hulled with and inflatable sponson. It is what are special forces use to do this type of operation.

[MizSterious]

Or, have a lot of hostages for ransom or videotaped slaughter.

[Travis McGee]

See the pic at 39. Looks like a grapnel hook forward. I'm guessing their aim was a SEAL-style underway ship boarding, but they were spotted and the ship took evasive maneuvers early, not giving them a steady hull to hook onto.

Typically ships have low catwalks and entrances on their sterns, no more than 20 feet off of the water. The goal is to put a grapnel with a rope/wire ladder onto one of these, and send a fast boarding team up to protect this area while the rest board. Then they dash for the bridge, shooting anybody in their way, to commandeer the ship.

After that, it's anybody's guess if this was motivated by greed or Allah, or both.

But pirates who will rob and murder folks on 40 foot sailboats for their watches, cash, binos, electronics etc. would have hit a humongous payday on this ship. Their watches alone would be worth a million dollars. This would have been like knocking over Fort Knox or Las Vegas, by their scale of reckoning.

[JasonC]

No. Hijacking ships is their sole means of survival. They take over freighters regularly, enough to increase the insurance rates. Hold the entire ship as ransom. Somalia broke down completely a long time ago. Our boy Bill pulling our men out did not result in peace and prosperity, it just resulted in no movie cameras. The same bastards with "technicals" have been murdering the people and each other ever since. There being nothing of value left to loot on the mainland and the people having no other idea of work than looting, they now go abroad seeking anything that isn't tied down. Ships passing the coast are the most valuable items that ever pass within 100 miles of Somalia, the entire interior included.

[Travis McGee]

Boats up to 60 feet long are attacked here routinely. That's a fact.