Posted on 04/11/2009 4:44:03 PM PDT by BarnacleCenturion
Pirates Have Gas on Lifeboat, Fire Shots at U.S. Navy Sailors
The captain of a U.S.-flagged ship held hostage by armed pirates on a lifeboat in the Indian Ocean appears to be alive after a daring escape attempt -- but the pirates now seem to have fuel and to be moving closer to shore, sources told ABC News. The latest evidence that Capt. Richard Phillips, 53, is alive came as the pirates holding him in a 28-foot covered lifeboat fired shots at U.S. Navy sailors who approached their vessel at an undisclosed time after the escape bid.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Seems to me when the Capt. jumped out of the lifeboat, the Navy could have blown the lifeboat out of the water and they did nothing.Am I wrong?
No, you are exactly correct.
Some butt wipe was asleep at the switch.
Article 15s are in order here.
The lifeboat is just designed too well. If you're familiar with a fisherman's bobber, the lifeboat behalves the exact same way. You could swamp it with a wake, or a tidal wave for that matter and it would continue to float and would very quickly right itself. That's exactly what is was designed to do - maintain seaworthiness in the most extreme of circumstances and conditions.
Our Navy will probably save the day and Hushain will take credit for the calm perfect planning complete with distractions even though he’s on the hide.
My 2 cent.
They are US military. Of course they have a plan. It's the Commander In Chief that won't let them implement it!
He, the magic negro has no idea what to do!
Only his tell-a-prompter has any idea what is going on.
This is a total embarrassment for America. It's a joke that such a powerful country can't deal with 4 terrorists holding a man in a lifeboat, and they have the gall to shoot at our sailors. It's clear that most likely, our sailors can't fire back because they have orders by Obama not to do so.
The cowardice of this so-called 'leader' is despicable. He is negotiating with terrorists? I won't be surprised if from now on we start seeing these kinds of events more frequently, and that terrorists around the world will be emboldened to bomb us anywhere, at anytime. Once terrorists understand that that our government won't protect our citizens, it's open season on American interests around the world.
This is an outrage! Imagine the reaction if this would have happened under a Republican administration? After all these days of inaction by the government, the media would have been up in arms.
They could have used currents (there are some shown in the area.)
I think there is a sub under them aw’rite :
(snips)
The change in mission involved many changes to the submarine and requires years of work in the shipyard. The Tomahawk missiles that will replace the Trident are much shorter and require less room, allowing for not only more weapons to be carried but also for enough room to carry four platoons of up to 66 SEALs for extended periods of time or up to 100 SEALs for shorter periods. Two of the missile tubes will be replaced not with Tomahawk VLSs but with diver lock-in/out chambers and mounts for the SEAL DDS (Dry Dock Shelter) and newer ASDS vehicle.
The first two SSGN’s are scheduled to re-enter service in late 2007.
~~~
Should be interesting...
Scary stuff.How can we save him.
I don't know how much experience you have firing crew-served weapons off the deck of a naval vessel. I have plenty. I promise you, even under the calmest of conditions, the accuracy is very, very poor. And, the ships own armerment was designed to sink or engage much, much larger targets.
From a few hundred yards, (which I understand is how far the Navy is standing off) you would just as likely hit what you weren't aiming at (like the captain) than what you were aiming at.
Put bait ships out there, which look exactly like normally staffed merchant vessels but are armed to the teeth. Pirates check in, don’t check out. I suppose “humane traps” could be devised as well if the Obummer insisted.
“Scary stuff.How can we save him”.
Its not so much about “how we can” but “why we haven’t”.
Yes, I think you are right. It will be interesting to read the after-action report (if it's ever released) about this incident. I'm curious where it exactly took place and how far the lifeboat traveled after it was engaged by the US Navy.
Maybe we need automatically tracking guns that could be focused on a target like this (if a cruise missile would have too much blast).
Only if it is ethanol.
I think there are all kinds of way to get these terrorists. I’m sure our government have all kinds of methods and strategies to overpower 4 armed individuals. The problem is that Obama doesn’t have the nerve to do anything.
Much worse, I'm afraid. It isn't even so much that Zero isn't doing ANYTHING... he's actively PREVENTING those who are ready, willing, and able from doing anything.
All he has to do in this situation is to defer to the best professional military people on earth, who he is ostensibly in charge of.
But no. Like a typical wide-eyed liberal, he's wetting his pants over making an executive decision involving the correct and effective use of force in his country's interests.
This sort of cowardice, which has been displayed by so many Democrat Presidents, has always resulted in even greater loss of life and political mayhem in the end.
Do these pirates have any weakness. Like rum? Only half kidding.
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