Posted on 04/15/2009 9:16:52 AM PDT by Ben Mugged
How does a small gang of lightly armed Somali pirates hijack a modern cargo ship?
Speed and weaponry, mainly. Modern pirates, whether off the coast of Somalia or in the crowded shipping lanes of southeast Asia, typically use fast speedboats to zoom up to the sterns of slow-moving cargo ships. They then toss grappling hooks up to the rails and climb up ropes to clamber on deck.
Pirates are generally armed with assault rifles and, increasingly, rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Modern ships' crews are usually unarmed for a number of reasons, among them laws that prevent armed vessels from docking in the ports of many countries.
"The maritime unions, shipping companies and the International Maritime Organization all agree that ship's crews should not be armed," says Capt. George Quick, vice president of the International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots, based in Linthicum, Md. "It would only escalate the situation The [Somali] pirates are pretty well funded, and they'd just get bigger weapons."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
We should get Medieval on them.
Dump cauldrons of boiling bacon grease on boarders.
“Arm the damned ships.”
That’s what I’m talkin’ about.
Something as simple as an M2 cal .50. at both the bow and stern. then, if they approach from the port or starboard, you can get interlocking fields of fire!
Woo Hoo!
Fixed emplacements are easily defeated from a moving boat, but shoulder-fired rockets onboard would be a real deterrent to approaching smaller vessels.
They would get in range of some cargo ship and then BAM, unload on it.
Sank a lot of ships...I think it was called the Atlantis.
So skip the Horn of Africa, huh? In other words, don't use the Suez Canal and go all the way around Africa adding months onto each trip.
This is a mission tailor-made for outfits like Blackwater. Put 8-10 Blackwater guys on a merchant ship armed with crew-served automatic weapons and the piracy business gets a lot harder.
There is a 25mm upper for the M82A1 barrett (M107).
Give me 3 shooters with those and I will stop that pirate before he gets within the 930 meter “self destruct” max range of the series PG7 RPG’s........ These little SOB’s just have to lob a PG7 into the stacked sea containers to cause big trouble on such a vessel. set that bottom conex on fore and it’ll get ugly fast !
So if I were tasked to get through that indian country I would use the 25MM upper receiver for Ronnies M82A1 Barrett and a set of SOPHIE thermal binocs to stand watch for “pirates”.......:o)
Just my opinion .
http://www.smallarmsreview.com/pdf/payload.pdf
Stay safe Dave !!
How about both weapons?
Sure why not......my point is ya don’t want em in shotgun range “ever” !!!
Haven’t we had enough trouble fighting warlords in Somalia??
Shoot enough of his followers who are actually trying to hijack these vessels, let them wash up on shore full of holes as a warning, and the rest will be afraid to follow.
Works for me , plain & simple, this ain’t rocket science.
Speed and weaponry my a**. They are armed the ships crews are not. Simple and concise. Arm the ships, end the piracy!
We just need to park a carrier task force there. Complete contol of a 1,000 mi diameter battle space. A Mayaday ges out, sink the pirate ships and then the mother ship.
This is very doable.
It might work, but I suspect a lot of those kids are pressed into service with threats against their families if they don't produce.
Killing the actual pirates is certainly a deterrent but you still have to deal with the infrastructure or they will find other ways to extort money.
-PJ
Some of the rounds with this new “shotgun” have a range of 175 meters. The RPGs have a longer range.
i think they got the name wrong, more like captain queeg.
what a moron. almost as smart as those dimwits who think universal gun control will bring an end to gun violence.
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