To Combat Piracy, Revive The Armed Guard

American Sentinel ^ | April 14, 2009 | Jay Henderson

[jay1949]

During World War II, my father was a U. S. Navy Signalman assigned to an outfit named the Armed Guard, whose purpose was to protect and assist the merchant shipping which was vital to the war effort. The Armed Guard was effective in many cases in protecting merchant ships against the Nazi privateers. If the Somali pirates want a war, here's a way to combat them.

[AngelesCrestHighway]

...armed with rocket launchers, I would hope.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> ...armed with rocket launchers, I would hope.

Flamethrowers, “Most Secret”-style.

[stuartcr]

Those were on US flagged ships though. I can’t see our troops being deployed to Liberian or other nations flagged vessels, can you?

[AngelesCrestHighway]

I would imagine, thay are on there own. It should be up to each country or shipper to protect their own ships.

[SampleMan]

Those were on US flagged ships though. I can’t see our troops being deployed to Liberian or other nations flagged vessels, can you?

Not our problem. The Barbary Pirates did not cease being pirates when we attacked them, they just ceased attacking us. I suspect that we would see a rise in U.S. flagged vessels if that was our course of action.

[jay1949]

U.S. flagged ships for starters; but it would be in our best interests, I think, to protect certain other vessels carrying goods to U.S. ports. Or perhaps others will follow our example (novel idea, that).

[OneWingedShark]

Why not issue our own letters of mark & reprisal? Then we could stimulate our own economy by having American Privateers blast the bastids!

[jay1949]

I think Gatling guns would be particularly effective against the inflatable boats often used by the pirates.

[VR-21]

I agree that the only realy way to deal with force of arms is with force of arms, but armaments on commercial ships runs into trouble with international laws. I’m sure we can count on the UN to be it’s usual self-serving useless self in this matter.

[Skid Marx]

The Somali pirates rely on fast, small boats to catch and board merchant ships and count on a lack of resistance; the discouraging effects of, say, a modern Gatling gun would be considerable.

A little fancy for the job, but it's self-contained and automatic.

[jay1949]

From the San Remo Manual (see http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/57JMST ): The following activities may render merchant vessels military objectives: (a) engaging in belligerent acts on behalf of the enemy, e.g., laying mines, minesweeping, cutting undersea cables and pipelines, engaging in visit and search of neutral merchant vessels or attacking other merchant vessels; (b) acting as an auxiliary to an enemy's armed forces, e.g., carrying troops or replenishing warships; (c) being incorporated into or assisting the enemy's intelligence gathering system, e.g., engaging in reconnaissance, early warning, surveillance, or command, control and communications missions; (d) sailing under convoy of enemy warships or military aircraft; (e) refusing an order to stop or actively resisting visit, search or capture; (f) being armed to an extent that they could inflict damage to a warship; this excludes light individual weapons for the defence of personnel, e.g., against pirates, and purely deflective systems such as chaff; or (g) otherwise making an effective contribution to military action, e.g., carrying military materials.

[stuartcr]

That would be a very good thing.

[stuartcr]

Yes, and the French have already started. I do hope this is the beginning of a trend. If so, perhaps it will filter over to others.

[river rat]

The CORRECT technique for dealing with Somalian piracy - is to DESTROY the Somalians responsible for the piracy, by ANY and EVERY means possible.

[Scythian]

Now is a great opportunity to create a private force, that will act as an escort for these ship. Any takers? Here are the requirements for the new company I am starting.

1) Must be able to take a seagull down in flight at 1200 yards with weapon of your choice.

2) Must be able to go into full combat with Guns and Roses “Welcome to the Jungle” blairing on loud speakers.

3) We take no prisoners.

4) Must be able to stomach horrible USO shows that I will fly in once a month for morale building.

5) Must be up for high adventure and low pay.

[Jeff Chandler]

Those were on US flagged ships though. I can’t see our troops being deployed to Liberian or other nations flagged vessels, can you?

The shippers need to arm their crews. Problem solved.

[Billthedrill]

I dunno - throw in the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders and yer on. BTT.

[Cyber Liberty]

I miss the day when “Piracy” was some snot-nosed kid trying to get an illegal copy of Halo in his mother’s basement.

[Cyber Liberty]

Someone was suggesting chartering large cruise vessels full of armed people, where the deal is if you’re lucky, you’ll get to shoot up a pirate ship full of vermin. Sort of like those whale-watching cruises.