Posted on 11/21/2008 9:31:12 AM PST by nickcarraway
Why doesn’t every ship sailing those waters have a couple of .50 cal’s mounter fore and aft?
The piracy case in Somalia is a perfect example of victim disarmament at sea. Most merchant ships are forbidden by their countries’ laws from having weapons on board (a ban which is enforced by rigorous inspections), which leaves a 20.000tn ship worth hundreds of million of dollars vulnerable to a pirate dinghy with a crew of five armed with AKs and RPGs worth a few hundred bucks. So do we allow owners to spend a few thousand dollars on weapons and private security on board? God forbid! No, much better to send a carrier group, or just nuke the high seas.
At present the war navies of India, Russia, Britain, the US, Malasya and a NATO taskforce are in the Gulf of Aden playing cat-and-mouse with a few Somali pirates. An EU fleet is on its way.
Better yet.....why doesn’t our Navy sink these guys? As it stands now, they have to call back to the states and get permission from a JAG officer. Navy commanders are afraid of loosing their commissions. When I was in the Navy, I know my commander would have blown them out of the water. But then again, he was man, not afraid of his own shadow.
Many ports worldwide won’t allow entry to armed ships.
Regulation ought to require adequate ship arms and training to repel boarders,but the modern corporate wusses are afraid of crewmen gone amok.Just as nearly all businesses are mandated by OSHA to prohibit weapons for a "safe" workplace,that is really safe only for the attackers.
I'm certain they will advise you.
Prolly something about being too busy singing Kumbya, (also spelled Kum Ba Yah) and mumbling something like ... " can't we all get along?"
--I am under the impression that anytime any vessel (small or large) sails into any territorial waters, it commences to be under that entity's firearms regulations--I.E., possession generally forbidden--
A Cruise Ship will get highjacked before the New Year.
We need lots more people like this guy, along with Blackwater types running security and Mk 19 automatic grenade launchers on the bridge rails...
We had the same problem in the Straits of Malacca during Vietnam. Believe me, it wasn’t a problem for long and the sharks got a tasty dinner.
Of all the Presidents of the past 30 or so years, I would guess that Reagan would have taken the least shit off of “pirates” and would have given them the Qadaffi Treatment.
Many ports worldwide won’t allow entry to armed ships.
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Armed ships don’t kill people, Pirates kill people.
Wow, I've fired thousands of rounds through my Kalashnikov, never cleaned it except for an occasional patch down the barrel, and the thing has NEVER jammed.
FYI Ping !
I suspect that a lot of these "jobs" are having inside help, either on board the ships or back at their corp. offices. Still, pay some of our out of service special ops guys and give them good weapons and radar and other detection equipment. It has to be much less cost than paying these ransoms and terrorizing innocent crew members.
Drop snakes on ‘em. Pirates hate snakes.
That would work to some extent, but the real solution would simply be an on call air patrol squadron at the ready ( A10s would do)in on call teams of 2 out of Djibouti,and Blackwater teams of 6 men armed with shoulder fired anti-tank weapons, the 50's and light arms such as the H&K suite of weapons.
Loyds of London is in the hands of bleeding liberal A$$ hats and ARABS, or this would already be happening.
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