Navy says it can do little to stop future pirate attacks

Yahoo via McClatchy News ^ | Mon Apr 13, 8:17 pm ET | Nancy A. Youssef and Shashank Bengali, McClatchy Newspapers Nancy A. Youssef And Shashank Bengali,

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

MOMBASA, Kenya — A day after the U.S. military killed three pirates and rescued an American sea captain, Somali pirates threatened to retaliate by killing captured U.S. seamen and the Pentagon said there's little it can do to stop future attacks.

Crewmembers of the freighter Maersk Alabama, in their first formal remarks to reporters, gathered at the dockside in Mombasa Monday and called on President Barack Obama to take a lead role in fighting piracy. The president called for an international effort, but he offered no specifics on how to address the problem.

"We would like to implore President Obama to use all his resources to increase the commitment to ending this Somali pirate scourge," said Shane Murphy , 33, the ship's first mate. "It's time for us to step in and put an end to this crisis. This crew was lucky to be out of it with every one of us alive. We're not going to be that lucky again."

They had reason for concern. In Somalia , members of pirate groups appeared to agree on one thing the day after the U.S. military assault: They'd fight back.

[Little Ray]

Dunno.
Short of a nuke, I don’t think we have anything in the modern inventory that can hurt a battleship. Maybe a torpedo?
But since all their real combat power is on aircraft carriers and CVs are pretty thin skinned, well, I suppose the Nimitz could cripple the Japanese fleet in short order. Just load up the Intruders with Harpoons and have a party...

[DannyTN]

"I can’t see 0bama going to war against his own."

I can't either, but the mixed signals coming out of Obamaland is disconcerting:

• Pro: He threatened to bomb Pakistan during the campaign.
• Pro: He has continued to launch strikes inside of Pakistan.
• Con: His support of Israel has been almost non-existent.
• Con: He bows to the Saudi King.
• Con: He searches for Muslims to put into the administration.
• Pro: He's increasing troops in Afghanistan.

It's not clear at all what's in his head.

[AFreeBird]

You're thinking torps only, or perhaps guns, but 5" shells would just bounce off a battleship's hull. I suppose a Harpoon could take out the bridge superstructure.

But when you consider the Navy also does attack, and close air support, well, a precision guided bomb through the deck into a powder magazine would do the job.

[Little Ray]

The armor around the magazines is foot of steel and more. Really.
Most of the the current weapons of the Navy could tear up the superstructure, but wouldn’t hurt the citadel or the armor belt.

Now there are some “bunker busting” guided bombs that might do some interesting things to a battleship, provided they could hit a moving target (GPS isn’t designed for a moving target...).