Posted on 04/05/2008 7:39:50 AM PDT by HAL9000
The Le Ponant pleasure yacht was seized Friday in international waters opposite Somalia without passengers on route from the Seychelles to Aden Port and the Mediterranean after its first pleasure trip of the summer season in the Indian Ocean. The 32-man crew was taken hostage.Our shipping correspondent reports that the French Le Commandant Rouen warship was diverted from NATO’s Afghanistan operation to join the Yemeni coast guard in the hunt for and rescue of the captured craft. The Le Ponant caters to 64 high-profile luxury tourists, one of three owned by Le Compagnie Des Iles du Ponant, a subsidiary of the huge Lebanese-French CMA CGM.
DEBKAfile’s sources note that the Gulf of Aden and Somali shores are rife with pirates. Last year, 24 civilian craft were commandeered by pirates. In one case, the American Navy’s USS Porter opened fire on a pirate ship threatening a Japanese tanker; in another, pirates released a Danish merchant vessel with hostages against a large ransom after holding them for two months.
These guys have no particular political goal, simply the making of money.
Pirates were never romantic, really.
The appropriate term is pirates. If you start proclaiming EVERYTHING “terrorism” the word will lose its meaning.
Sacre Bleu!
This is completely false. The British fleet under Graves attempted to break the French blockade of Yorktown in the Battle of the Chesapeake and failed; Cornwallis surrendered the next month.
There's a reason we named a destroyer after DeGrasse.
> There’s NO ROMANCE here folks! Call it what it is — TERRORISM !!!
No, “terrorism” carries with it connotations of a radical political agenda. “Pirates” have no agenda greater than self-interest. “Pirates” would be the right word here.
I don’t quite get that, either. My understanding is that Degrasse’s fleet kicked British ass. How did that become a French defeat is anyone’s question.
Volunteers were making night jumps into Dien Bien Phu almost to the end.
A jump into the depths of hell would have been a better choice.
Some not even jump qualified!
Yes the most senior leadership was poor at best, that will not diminish the honor of the men.
A superb read.
http://www.dienbienphu.org/english/
from wiki:
The prisoners, French survivors of the battle at Dien Bien Phu, were starved, beaten, and heaped with abuse, and many died.[66] Of 10,863 survivors held as prisoners, only 3,290 were repatriated four months later.[63] The fate of 3,013 prisoners of Indochinese origin is unknown.[67]
I have operated with the French Navy and met personally with French Naval officers. They are a VERY professional group and quite capable in their ship handling even under delicate conditions.
It is not wise to underestimate them.
I will be first in line to bash much of their political leadership over the last 50 years but not the French Navy. I can not speak for the other services but would expect a similar level of professionalism.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Though I agree with your general sentiment (I love an anti-French joke as much as the next guy, but it’s a bit sad that people that probably have never heard of Verdun assume all French are cowards) but the “French Foreign Legion” is, by law, composed of non-Frenchmen enlisted - the “Foreign” refers to where the troops come from. It’s mostly English, Russians, and Germans. The officers are French, though, and Frenchmen sneak in to the ranks by declaring a false citizenship.
Semantics
Well it wasn’t a very decisive battle; the British fought poorly and retreated to New York. But it was enough. They couldn’t break DeGrasse’s blockade.
The key decision was when DeGrasse decided to bring his ENTIRE fleet from the Caribbean to the Chesapeake, which the British were not expecting.
So who is the freaking navigator on that “luxury” tour ship. Somalia- most dangerously pirate ridden seacoast on the planet + a shipload of really rich doofuses = nice ransome injection into a the local economy.
U.S. Marines train with French Marines in Horn of Africa desert
http://www.hoa.centcom.mil/Stories/Aug06/20060803-002.html
Semantics
PapaBear3625 wrote:
A machinegun-armed Predator flying up and down the Somali coastline, strafing anything that looks like a pirate vessel, would put a stop to this real fast”
Why”anything that looks like a pirate vessel”, shoot them all, one minute a fishing boat the next minute a pirate vessel.They are opportunist, and animals.Seriously what is wrong with the civilized world that a lawless collective of savages can muck about and attack foreign vessels in neutral waters? What is the point of having a navy anyway? Fly down the Somali coast and machingun every damn scow, dhow and speed boat on the beach. They will self-regulate when they can’t go fishing. Period.
I think bad sourcing and a total lack of fact-checking is more likely than it being made up from whole cloth, but yeah, I concur...total crap until proven otherwise.
> Frenchmen sneak in to the ranks by declaring a false citizenship.
Not so. From the French Foreign Legion FAQ:
> Can a Frenchman join the Foreign Legion ?
>
> Yes. Under “declared identity” a Frenchman’s nationality is changed to that of another French speaking country, so he becomes a foreigner. He can ask for his real identity and nationality after one year’s service .
You will find it here: http://www.legion-recrute.com/en/faq.php
There’s no “sneaking” about it: Frenchmen may join as a matter of policy. You are right about it being “foreign” by law, but it is not the intention to exclude French volunteers.
The Legion has always been a French force, built along French military doctrine and led by French officers. French citizenship is one of the rewards offered to volunteers who serve for a fixed period of time.
The fact that their grunts originate from foreign lands initially is neither here nor there: the same can be said about the United States armed forces, or indeed the armed forces of many nations, including New Zealand.
It is not a requirement to be a United States Citizen to serve in your armed forces. Same deal with the Foreign Legion — except that they cater specifically to those who are not French.
No it wouldn't. In order to hit anything, the Predator would be in range of the guns of the pirates.
Good point. See Piers Mackesy, The War for America, 1775-1783. A fascinating book on the American Revolution from the British point of view, as part of a world war against France.
See post 18. something with a 100mm gun, a CIWS, a bunch of machine guns and a couple of 20mm guns (all of which can be used surface to surface) is going to be more than a match for a few Islamothugs who are used to fighting unarmed tourists.
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