Posted on 04/08/2009 6:28:05 PM PDT by tsmith130
The U.S. is closing in on pirates that hijacked a U.S.-flagged ship off the coast of Somalia. According to a spokesman for the owner of the Maersk Alabama, which had been hijacked by pirates before American crew members were able to regain control of the vessel Wednesday, a U.S. Navy warship arrived at the scene Wednesday night.
The ship's captain still is being held hostage on a smaller boat.
Family members said Capt. Richard Phillips surrendered himself to the pirates to secure the safety of the crew. "What I understand is that he offered himself as the hostage," said Gina Coggio, 29, half sister of Phillips' wife. "That is what he would do. It's just who he is and his response as a captain."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Wednesday for world action to "end the scourge of piracy" as U.S. warships raced to confront the pirates.
"We are deeply concerned and we are following it very closely," Clinton said. "Specifically, we are now focused on this particular act of piracy and the seizure of a ship that carries 21 American citizens.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I hope they aren’t getting fired.
Oh boy.....Hostage Negotiators are now on site trying to resolve this. This is so weak.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090409/ap_on_re_af/piracy
Second, an Arleigh Burke class DDG is kind of a mismatch, too. They were designed as state of the art Anti-missile, Anti-air and Anti-submarine carrier escorts. Same or even more so for the Tico-class cruisers. The Bainbridge's single 5in 62 mm gun is considerably more than needed under these circumstances.
BTW; the new RIM 162 ESSM, replacing the RIM 66 SM-2, has a bigger warhead, flies better, and best of all can be 4-packed into a single Mk. 41 Vertical Launch System. Arliegh Burkes have 90 cells, you do the math. (Saving room for SM-2's for ASuW, Tomahawks for this and that, and a few SM-3's to pick off the odd ballistic missile. And maybe a few RUM-139 ASROC's for the occasional submarine. All in all, one hell of a ship, for which we have to thank the finest president in the 20th century, Ronald Reagan.
Now, for the pirates at sea I think the LCS (Littoral Combat Ship) armed with as someone suggested, a navalized Bushmaster 25mm would be ideal. Martin Marietta's LCS-1 Freedom however, is armed with a Mk 110 57 mm gun. Not as much ammo room as 25mm, but still. On the other hand, the General Dynamics version, LCS-2 Independance, armed with the proven Bofors 57mm gun has room for mission modules, one of which could be a nice Bushmaster with associated ammo in one neat box the size of a standard container. Gotta have more room for ammo than a Bradley, or a Stryker, don't you think? In spite of the New York Times article poo-pooing the concept, Somali pirates seem tailor-made to show the use of these ships.
Last, despite my being a Navy guy, I think the proper way to handle these guys would be something like Hellfire armed Predators loitering around that area, following any interesting 'fishing boats' and popping them if they try to go alongside any American Flagged merchant ships. Then, backtracking by satellite to wherever these clowns came from and sending another Hellfire through the front door. Repeat as necessary until they figure out that this is a bad idea. Offer same function to other national flagged shipping, for a nominal price. Current deficit defining level considered 'nominal'. 5% of value of ship & cargo seems about right. For our friends. Cost-Plus for the French, Germans, Chinese, and such.
Just a thought....
“Does anyone else find it ironic that the US Navy vessel on scene is the USS Bainbridge?”
I believe that is why they named the ship the Bainbridge. I THINK it was commissioned to patrol those waters to begin with. I could be wrong about that. I’m sure some smarter Freeper will correct me if I am.
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Made the trade them kill’em.
Somali Pirate to his buddies: “Game over man, game over. Don’t know if you have been keeping up with current events, man, but we just got our a$$es kicked!”
What we, and the rest of the civilized world, are doing in this area IS NOT WORKING!
We need some demonstration projects, and they need to be ratcheted up as necessay until the lessons are learned.
Reference 1945 if need be.
Fractured syntax is the least of your problems. The fact that our military is actively deployed in two war zones should have been your first clue to keep your mouth shut.
The conditions these men are held in are deplorable.
We need them all released or freed.
sw
And have yet to win after the longest war in our nation’s history. A war that will bankrupt our country.
Sec of State Hillary just referred to the Pirates/Terrorist as a “group of individuals” WIMPY WOMAN
So you admit that we actually do have the will to defend ourselves, but now you're going to complain about the fact that we're actually sticking to it, and it's expensive.
Criminy.... can't you stop for even one second to think before hitting "Post?"
They’ve been basing in both Yemen and Somalia for some time now.
I contend that we have not won either war because we don’t have to will to fight in a way that will allow us to win.
yawn.....
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