[AnAmericanMother]

ANY cruise line that would allow a ship anywhere within speedboat range of the Somali coast is out of its collective cotton-pickin’ mind!

[LSUfan]

Truly.

[1rudeboy]

What the pirates do is have a “mothership” bring the speedboats out to sea, so it’s not a function of being in proximity to the coast. That may have happened here.

[Argus]

ANY cruise line that would allow a ship anywhere within speedboat range of the Somali coast is out of its collective cotton-pickin’ mind!

What, and miss out on the bargain shopping and cafe-hopping in downtown Mogadishu?

[farmer18th]

ANY cruise line that would allow a ship anywhere within speedboat range of the Somali coast is out of its collective cotton-pickin’ mind!

On the contrary, I think those cruises should allow all guests to bring along whatever firearms they own and you could have a rag-head skeet shoot outfitter's vacation.

[El Gato]

ANY cruise line that would allow a ship anywhere within speedboat range of the Somali coast is out of its collective cotton-pickin’ mind!

They often don't use speedboats, just a small boat launched from a dhou, which can in turn get awfully far out into the Indian Ocean. Photos below are of the dhou and small boat taken down by the USS Winston S. Churchill in 2006.

Here's the Churchill and the dhou. The pirates probably needed clean undies after the encounter.

Gonna avoid the whole northwestern quarter of the IO? Better to take the Jeffersonian route and blast the pirates. The ship below has done it before, circa 1805. Those were Musselman(Muzzie) pirates too.

Give her a few .50s and maybe an old 20mm and she'd be good to go against the pirates. She is still a commissioned US Warship, the USS Constitution.

OORAH!

[mad_as_he$$]

EXACTLY. My first thought. It is criminal - unless it is a trap.

[Doohickey]

If you’re wanting to transit the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, aside from taking the long way around your options are relatively limited.