A few crew members armed with shotguns could make matters uncomfortable for a boarding party.
Why would anyone want to cruise near Somolia?
I thought all merchant ships had a small armory....
Armed men on board two 25ft inflatable boats fired live bullets and rocket-propelled grenades as they tried to climb aboard the liner.
Owl_Eagle
"You know, I'm going to start thanking
the woman who cleans the restroom in
the building I work in. I'm going to start
thinking of her as a human being"-Hillary Clinton
(Yes, she really said that
Peggy Noonan
The Case Against Hillary Clinton, pg 55)
Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum!
Leni
A better ending to the story would have been for the pirates to be blown out of the water with some 54-calibre Mark 42 single gun mounts - should be standard equipment for all trans-Atlantic cruise ships.
I think all they had for defense were water hoses. No kidding.
If the pirates had managed to board, they would have been able to steal a king's fortune in cash and jewelry from the very rich passengers.
The ship was very lucky.
This really plays up the class envy angle, to a factually dishonest degree. The reality is that the cost for this all inclusive vacation option is about $300-400 per person per day, if you are in a standard room with a balcony. I highly doubt that Trump or Gates has ever been a passenger onboard, unless they chartered the whole ship. And the Conde Nast rating of "the most luxurious in the world" sounds dubious. Yes, Seabourne rates at or near the top of small ship cruise lines in their reader's choice poll, but that's it.
Photo's show aach open boat - only slightly larger than a Boston Whaler - ONLY held 5-6 people.
When everybody is disarmed (Because they were searched and x-rayed prior to getting on the cruise ship!), only the criminals will have arms.
ONly a few weapons, held by 4-5 crew members - could have held off the whole raiding party.
Next pirate ship only need be bigger - as they are off the Indonesian straits.
Most ports of call and most countries that flag cruise liners, tankers and freighters don't allow them to have any defensive fire arms aboard.
These rules are just nuts as the terrorists and pirates are out there and very bold. Maybe the ship owners ban arms as they hire multi national crews can't expect the low wages to ensure loyalty to the ship or captain.
I'm pretty sure they have a modest arsenal under lock and key. But for inflatable boats, all you'd need is a CO2 airgun.
The passengers all contribute to the right muslim causes, too.
Where's the gratitude?
...200-man crew and no security??? Those boats should have been not just repelled, but sunk!
Armed men on board two 25ft inflatable boats fired live bullets…
I have watched several accounts of this on the TV news – and with one exception all the newsreaders seemed shocked that there are still pirates roaming the sea lanes. The one exception went on to include the number of attacks last year and the most dangerous areas.
If crews are to be armed, a shotgun is the last damn thing I would want. Give them something with stopping power and range.
Are also deflatable with a little grapeshot.
Most do. What they really need is a response team that is trained to not only escape an attack, but kill the attackers.
I was in the Navy working in Special Ops for 10 years. I have conducted ship attacks like this in training. It is a very dangerous undertaking. Just imagine holding a 30ft fiberglass boat next to a ship for 2 min, while the ship is actively tring to evade you. We only used our oldest boats for this because the amount of damage they substained when the ship got the better of us. However, it is possible to get a SEAL team aboard a ship in less than 90 seconds.
The ship was lucky that it did not happen at night. The outcome may have been very different. Sounds like the cruise line could make a wise investment by hiring some ex-spec op guys to provide security. I know a few that would work cheap if geetin the same VIP treatment was part of the deal.
This ship was pretty far off shore from what I understand... how on Earth did these "pirates" find it? Were they just out joyriding and stumbled across it?