No More Pirate Problem
Posted on 11/11/2005 8:45:41 AM PST by 1066AD
'Mother ship' behind pirate raids Pirate attacks off Somalia's coast are being organised from command vessels, or "mother ships", the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has said. It says speedboats are being launched from ships that prowl the routes of the Indian Ocean, searching for targets.
Last week, a luxury cruise liner off Somalia's coast was attacked by pirates with rocket-propelled grenades.
The IMB says pirates are still holding seven ships and their crews, seized in the world's most dangerous waters.
In the past few days, at least four other vessels are reported to have been attacked.
'Out of control'
Captain Pottengal Mukundan, director of the IMB, says pirate attacks are being launched from at least two "mother ships".
Capt Mukundan says speedboats carry out the attempted hijacks before returning to the larger vessels floating at sea.
This means even ships sailing far off the coast are vulnerable to attack. He says the situation off the coast of Somalia appears to be completely out of control.
The IMB has recorded more than 30 hijack attempts in the region since March.
These latest attacks follow a thwarted attempt by pirates in small boats to commandeer the luxury liner, the Seabourn Spirit, which was steaming some 100 miles (160km) off the Somali coast last week.
But the liner's crew took evasive action, repelling the attackers without returning fire.
To scare off the pirates, they deployed a military-grade sonic weapon, capable of causing permanent damage to hearing from a distance of more than 300 metres (984ft).
Somalia has been without any effective government for 14 years.
Despite attempts to establish a new administration earlier this year, the country remains divided between rival warlords.
Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/4428808.stm
-Eric
Saw the Title and thought this was about Calypso Louie.
One man's mother ship is another man's target practice - Hope they forget that little tidbit...
One would need a Q-ship (an armed ship camouflaged to look like a juicy pirate target).
No More Pirate Problem
I know you were interested in this story.
Mother ship, meet Harpoon missile.
Sometimes this Jihad just sucks!
An FA-18 with a couple of Harpoon missiles can make short work of them.
Perhaps this boat, named in honour of his home State, should carry on the proud tradition.
Time to call out the Chief Joints of Staff.
Here she is:
When I was in AF intelligence I heard a story. I don’t know if it is true or not, but given the circumstances and the people involved, it could have happened.
In the late 60’s and early 70’s, the Soviets had a bunch of tramp ships that went all over the world with miscellaneous cargo. (Did they have a spy function? I don’t know, I leave that thaught up to you, gentle reader.)
Anyway, they had some problems around the Philippines, where pirates would come out, wave guns around, climb on the ships and steal anything of value they could get into their small boats.
Seems that one time a band of these thieves tried it. They were allowed to climb on board and met with a group of Soviet Naval Special Forces. The pirate boats were sunk with heavy machine-gun fire. The few people on the boats went down with the ships.
The Soviets then lined the pirates up against the railing and proceeded to shoot every two men and threw their bodies overboard. The remaining were told that this would happen again any time a Soviet ship was attacked. They were then tossed overboard and told to swim home and tell their buddies what had happened.
Oh, did I mention that this took place 20 miles or so off the coast? In waters that had sharks?
As I said, this could be an urban legend, but I understand the Soviets never had a pirate problem in that general area again.
‘Nuff said.
There are SEALs and other specops located in Djibouti. Problem is, the motherships are probably full of Western hostages, so simply blowing them up is probably not going to be an option.
(Imagine how terrible it must be to be an "infidel" girl or woman on a muslim pirate ship. Yikes!)
Wow. That is very very interesting.
I'm just a dumb civilian who hates pirates, muslims and all other criminals.
Dumb question. What's to prevent a collective announcement by all non-pirate countries that any ships identified as "mother ships" for pirates (there are many ways to determine this) should be sunk on sight with no warning whatsoever?
I would think that, certainly, after the first three of four such sinkings (with no subsequent attempt to rescue 'survivors') would make the practice disappear almost instantly!
Am I the only one who feels that I've been transported to an alternate reality, where arbitrary and random criminal acts are met with simple handwringing?
Travis, I am surprised that you, of all people, are presenting the tired "we can't do anything abut it" whiney response to a real problem.
First of all the statement was "mother ships", not "mother boats". This defines a very large ship, not a yacht.
It is impossible for me to believe that a ship can be "taken over" with or without Western hostages, and have the owners be unaware of it. If trucks can be tracked via GPS, I'm certain ships can too, and the location of such a ship can be pinpointed visually in hours.
Now then, does it not follow that once identified as a problem, these ships seized by the pirates would at least be tracked and followed by warships until each instance is resolved?
That such ships with "western hostages" can exist more than a few hours, and be used as "mother ships" for pirates, unmolested, is absurd!
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