I'm figgering a half second burst should do the trick.
Posted on 11/18/2008 6:07:38 PM PST by Kaslin
Energy: Piracy has always been a shipping hazard, but Somalia's buccaneers have taken it up a notch. Their hijacking of a supertanker Monday shows how vulnerable oil supplies are and how critical it is to stop them.
The Somali pirates who launched the attack on a Saudi-flagged carrier hijacked the largest vessel ever, taking it 480 miles from Mogadishu, the farthest it had ever been from a coast. Obviously it was no crime of opportunity, but the act of an organized criminal syndicate now strong enough to threaten global energy security.
Loss of the MT Sirius Star, with its cargo of 2 million barrels of oil, took more than a quarter of Saudi Arabia's daily oil production off the market. It was part of the 4% of global oil exports that transport through the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea. Not only is the open sea unsafe for transport, but two ocean routes — through the Suez, and around the Cape of Good Hope, are now both dangerous.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...
Well, the Saudis could pay us to protect their ships. Or they can deal with the pirates themselves - they have a navy you know. That of course, would mean actually risking their precious Arab asses, which is why they don’t do a damn thing.
I have found these piracy events intriguing. Would there be a downside to arming a tanker with just enough firepower to blow a yacht sized vessel out of the water if threatened? Seems like there is almost a 2nd amendment fable in here somewhere. How else could 20 armed pirates actually seize a vessel twice the size of a carrier?
The Star is a VLCC Supertanker, somebody will be angry about this.
I like your idea of them paying us protection money, I would say something on the order of 2% of the value of each cargo. Plus all the oil our navy can burn...
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS.
“How else could 20 armed pirates actually seize a vessel twice the size of a carrier?”
because these ships have very few people on board. So the pirates are usually very close or on board before the crew knows it.
Today it’s more like...
“Billions for aid to Africa, but not a penny for our self interest.”
After one or two experiences of this nature piracy will 'drop-off'.
Assumptions.
They caught the ship away from the known AO of pirates.
The ship assumed wrong.
It may be time to use SEAL teams against these bastards.
A SEAL team could go through a group of these thugs like a hot knife through butter. It would make for great exercises.
No wonder I was gasoline go up 2 cents on our area today.
After the Limberg, you would think supertankers would have some kind of defenses by now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limburg_tanker_bombing
Excellent!
A while back on the Discovery channel they were showing some joint USA/Canadian traget practice on a decomissioned ship off the west coast of Canada. That was one of the things they used to shoot up the target.
Everybody got their licks but the submarine. It was going to torpedo it but sea and air took it out before they got there.
I have my doubts that an Obama Administration will be open to anything that would reveal them to be anti-terrorist in a violent confrontation.
I think this is the first wave of the future.
Ask any magician ;-)
Black Ops, Special forces, Navy seals.....
show it on TV...
repeat as necessary. set up traps, and sting operations...track the perps back to the sources..
no place to hide, no refuge.
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