American crew regains control of pirated ship

CBS NEWS ^ | 04/08/09 | Me

[Robe]

Breaking. Per CBS radio news.. the crew has regained control of the ship throwing three pirates overboard and capturing one.. Will post more.. Breaking

[LadyBuzz]

stewing in the corner chewing Nicorette?

This is is quite the twist...

[messierhunter]

No, he thinks the job of POTUS IS to make campaign speeches, here and abroad. Campaign speech to release the captain in 5, 4, 3, 2...

[Rockitz]

....throwing three pirates overboard and capturing one.

The crew will undoubtedly be brought up on charges for this in the world court. They need to gut the other one and throw him in too so there are no witnesses.

[divine_moment_of_facts]

Exactly.. We are on our own.

[Eva]

I heard an announcement on the radio, a few minutes ago, from the President of the Maersk line, saying that the US crews had been instructed not to fight back and not to carry guns against the unarmed pirates because the pirates would then up their weapons.

I just heard an update. The captain is still being held hostage by the last highjacker.

[MrB]

Taking out pirates off Somalia doesn’t make Soros any money.

So, it won’t even come up on the radar.

[LadyBuzz]

Captain may be a hostage - someone started a new thread a few moments ago:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2224975/posts

[divine_moment_of_facts]

stewing in the corner chewing Nicorette?

What's so sad is.. that isn't hard to picture.

[CedarDave]

Fire extinguishers, tools, monkeyfist lines (its a knot at the end of a line to make a weight for throwing) pieces of chain, heck since I used to be a chief engineer I could literally make a weapon in minutes.

National Geographic or Discovery channel (forget which) had a show about the big container ships, how they load/unload/priority cargo etc. One area they mentioned was preventing piracy. The main defense is high pressure water stations (like you would see at a refinery or fuel terminal) that can be aimed at the boarders. They may be hardened to prevent the operator from small arms fire or maybe even remote controlled. Since most boardings come at night hardened shipwide illumination lights are also necessary. Though there may be no nearby warships, an armed military helicopter would do just as well.

[Ramius]

but what is the reasoning behind the crew of the ship being unarmed?

Commercial ships are always unarmed. In part it's just company policy, but there are also treaties that control such things and there are legal problems as they go from port to port under various different jurisdictions.

It's unfortunate. A couple of guys with rifles could make a big ship all but impossible to board.

[Jim Robinson]

Don’t worry. Obama will talk them to death.

[Girlene]

FOXnews, U.S. Crew Regain Control of Hijacked Ship, Negotiate Captain's Release

"American crew members aboard a U.S.-flagged ship hijacked by Somali pirates Wednesday were able to regain control of the vessel, but a crew member says the ship's captain is still being held hostage.

Speaking on the ship's satellite phone, one of the 20 crew members on the cargo ship, Maersk Alabama, said negotiations are under way for the captain's release.

He said the crew had been taken hostage but managed to seize one pirate and then successfully negotiate their own release.

The crew regained control of the ship and the pirates are now in a lifeboat. But the unidentified man also said that they are holding the ship's captain hostage in the vessel."..........

[topsail]

Not 200 years. I was in Subic in May 1975 when the SS Mayaguez, a container ship owned by Sealand, a U.S. company was captured by Cambodian pirates and taken to an island at Kampong Saom.

The U.S. sent Marines from Thailand and ships, including the USS Coral Sea aircraft carrier, from Subic to retrieve the ship and crew. A civilian volunteer recovery crew from a civilian ship in Subic boarded the Mayaguez from a Destroyer that went alongside.

The Mayaguez crew, which had been removed from the ship, were being returned to the ship by boat after the Cambodians realized they were being attacked by the U.S.Marines, Navy ships and aircraft. The Mayaguez and crew made it out intact but the Marines took heavy casualties when their heliocopters landed on the island, which was heavily defended.

Google the SS Mayaguez to read about the whole fluster cluck.

[artichokegrower]

An American crew will fight back when attacked as the Germans learned 67 years ago. On September 27, 1942, the Liberty Ship, Stephen Hopkins, encountered the German auxiliary cruiser Stier and her escort, the blockade runner Tannenfels in the South Atlantic. The Stier was an armed commerce raider. The Tannenfels delivered supplies and took off prisoners from surface raiders operating in the South Atlantic. The Stephen Hopkins carried a crew of forty and a fifteen-man naval armed guard. She was under the command of Captain Paul Buck. Her main firepower was one 4-inch gun and dual 37-mm machine guns mounted on the bow. Refusing to strike his colors, but with German shells on their way, Captain Buck made his decision. He would fight rather than surrender. The Stier had met and sunk 19 other merchant vessels of various Allied nationalities. None of these ships put up any resistance. The American tanker Stanvac Calcutta put up a fight but was sunk with the loss of fourteen of her crew, including the captain, and two members of her armed guard. A gun battle between the Stephen Hopkins and the Steir and Tannenfels ensued reminiscent of the ship-to-ship battles of the War of 1812. The Stier was to follow the Stephen Hopkins to the bottom in the 2,200 fathom deep above which they had duelled. The Tannenfels, although damaged, made Bordeaux. Fifteen survivors of the Stephen Hopkins sailed a lifeboat 1000 miles from the site of the battle to a landing at the small Brazilian fishing village of Barra do Itabopana. There were many heroes of this battle; however, with the Navy gun crew dead or dying about him and the magazine afire below, Cadet Midshipman Edwin J. O'Hara continued firing the Hopkins' 4-inch shells until he ran out of shells. He was later killed by flying shrapnel. The cover painting hangs in O'Hara Hall at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Cadet O'Hara was 18 years of age. He had escaped the blazing engine room, had learned basic gunnery at the Merchant Marine Academy, and from his friend, Ensign Kenneth M. Willett, U.S.N.R., commander of the naval armed guard who was also fatally wounded in the gun battle. O'Hara single handedly manned the 4-inch gun, loading and firing the remaining five rounds scoring hits on the Stier and Tannenfels. The nation bestowed a whole cluster of posthumous awards on the ship and her heroic company. The Stephen Hopkins herself was awarded a Gallant Ship citation, and two later Liberty Ships were christened the Stephen Hopkins and the Paul Buck. A destroyer escort (DE­354) was named for Ensign Willett. For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous courage, Willett was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. The Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medals were posthumously bestowed on Captain Buck and Cadet Midshipman O'Hara.

[yorkie]

He’ll bow down to them and beg. Because that ship is full of much needed supplies and food, headed to Kenya. Obama’s relatives are hungry!

[babygene]

“Don’t mess with the Merchant Marine!”

I took it that these were UNS sailors. Were they Merchant Marine?

[topsail]

Firearms in 18 wheelers are not regulated by the Feds.

Truck drivers must obey the firearm laws of the State through which they are traveling.

I was an owner/operator for three years and have seen this topic discussed many times on trucking forums.

[mvpel]

You'd not get me out in those waters, or a lot of others, without at least my privately owned weapons.

I wouldn't be shocked if the OFFICIAL position of Maersk is that the crews are unarmed, but the REALITY is a "don't ask, don't tell, hide well" policy.

[Girlene]

Additional from AP, US crewman: Somali pirates hold captain hostage

"The American crew of a hijacked U.S.-flagged ship retook control of the vessel from Somali pirates Wednesday but the captain was still being held hostage, according to Pentagon officials and a member of the crew.

The crew member told The Associated Press that the 20-member crew had managed to seize one pirate and then successfully negotiate their own release.

The man, who picked up the ship's satellite phone but did not identify himself, told the AP in a brief conversation that the crew had retaken control of the ship and the pirates were in a lifeboat. But the man also said that they were holding the ship's captain hostage."........

................"A U.S. official had said around noon Eastern time the crew had retaken control and had one pirate in custody.".................

............."Joseph Murphy, a professor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, said his sons, second in command Capt. Shane Murphy, was a 2001 Massachusetts Maritime Academy graduate who recently talked to a class about the dangers of piracy.

The younger Murphy wrote on his Facebook profile that he worked in waters between Oman and Kenya.

"These waters are infested with pirates that highjack (sic) ships daily," Murphy wrote on the page, which features a photograph of him. "I feel like it's only a matter of time before my number gets called."

Joseph Murphy said his son was trained in anti-piracy tactics at the academy and received training with firearms and small-arms tactics."...............

..............."The U.S. Navy said that the ship was hijacked early Wednesday about 280 miles (450 kilometers) southeast of Eyl, a town in the northern Puntland region of Somalia.

U.S. Navy spokesman Lt. Nathan Christensen said the closest U.S. ship at the time of the hijacking was 345 miles (555 kilometers)away."...........

[DollyCali]

bttt