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U.S. Navy Ship Outruns Pursuing Pirates
UPI ^ | May 7, 2009

Posted on 05/07/2009 10:35:54 AM PDT by nickcarraway

Suspected pirates failed in an effort to attack a U.S. Navy ship off the eastern coast of Somalia. the Navy said Thursday.

Two skiffs, assumed to be pirate vessels, chased the Lewis and Clark, a dry cargo and ammunition ship supporting the Navy's Fifth Fleet, for more than an hour Wednesday before giving up, CNN reported.

During the pursuit, the skiffs fired small arms at the Lewis and Clark and got within one nautical mile before the ship used evasive maneuvers and pulled out of range.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: maritime; navy; pirates; somalia; somalipirates
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To: Stunned
"Oh for crying out loud. What have we come to?"

Utter weakness.

The Lewis and Clark class are manned largely by merchant mariners, not Navy seamen. This was done to supposedly cut costs. It shouldn't be like this. If it was a Navy ship with fighting sailors onboard, we'd have turned around and sent them to the damn deep where they belong.
101 posted on 05/07/2009 11:41:55 AM PDT by DesScorp
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To: nickcarraway

If the Navy ship was carrying munitions, wouldn’t there be a chance a rocket propelled grenade or small arms fire from the pirates might blow up the whole ship?

If so, running away from a fight seems the right thing to do.


102 posted on 05/07/2009 11:45:29 AM PDT by Age of Reason
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To: NavyCanDo
USNS = CIVILAN CREW, but Navy owned vessel.

The USNS Sacagawea is civilian crewed as well. Still lightly armed, unlike her sister ship the USNS Lewis and Clark.

Yelling civilian doesn't change that, because I already understood that part.

103 posted on 05/07/2009 11:46:03 AM PDT by Domandred (Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.)
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To: ridesthemiles

“The might U S Navy is turning and running from pirates in skiffs?”

How many times do I need to say it? A USNS ship has a CIVILIAN CREW.


104 posted on 05/07/2009 11:46:56 AM PDT by NavyCanDo
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To: ETL

I lost a friend on the Cole, so I am not among those who have forgotten.

Hence the phrasing - most people in their right mind...

The dangers are much different in the open ocean than they are near land and/or in port. The security requirements, escorts etc. are different when approaching littoral waters.


105 posted on 05/07/2009 11:47:06 AM PDT by BlueNgold (... Feed the tree!)
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To: downtownconservative

Try USNS Lewis and Clark. USNS Lewis and Clark and USS Lewis and Clark are two separate vessels.


106 posted on 05/07/2009 11:52:32 AM PDT by quikdrw (Life is tough....it's even tougher if you are stupid.)
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To: nickcarraway
Maybe the pirates were Union Pirates and “0” doesn't want to risk a backlash.
107 posted on 05/07/2009 11:56:40 AM PDT by BallyBill (Serial Hit-N-Run poster)
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To: spodefly

Any ship could be a “gun” ship.....

All US Naval vessels operating in dangerous waters should have some mounted guns and crew that could operate them.....


108 posted on 05/07/2009 11:58:53 AM PDT by nevergore ("It could be that the purpose of my life is simply to serve as a warning to others.")
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To: Domandred
I'm yelling, because my Navy has been called cowards to many times on this thread already.

There is allot we don't know about this incident. What orders the Captain had. If any weapons were in its armory. How far away was the nearest combat vessel? And why aren't our combat vessels in a location where they can respond to incidents quickly? And what are the standing orders from the Commander and Chief?

I was in the Navy during the time Qaddafi decided to extend the coastal claims of Libya to the waters where American naval maneuvers were conducted. Jimmy Carter meekly rescheduled our maneuvers to stay outside disputed Gulf of Sidra, ordering us to not cross Qaddafi's line. True to form, Carter failed to confront Qaddafi over the issue even after a siege on the American embassy in Tripoli in 1979.

Within months after taking office, Ronald Reagan took a stand. He made it clear that American maneuvers in the Gulf of Sidra would proceed as they always had before Carter. Anticipating trouble, Reagan was asked by the Joint Chiefs what American pilots do if attacked? Would Reagan's orders allow for “hot pursuit”? Reagan's answer – “All the way into the hanger.” You know the rest of the story.

Thats the kind of leadership we need back in Washington, and its not there. That is where the cowards are.

109 posted on 05/07/2009 12:01:25 PM PDT by NavyCanDo
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To: nickcarraway

Class and type: Lewis and Clark-class cargo ship
Displacement: 41,000 tons (41,700 t)
Length: 689 ft (210 m)
Beam: 105.6 ft (32.2 m)
Draft: 29.9 ft (9.1 m)
Propulsion: Integrated propulsion and ship service electrical system, with generation at 6.6 kV by FM/MAN B&W diesel generators; one fixed pitch propeller; bow thruster
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h)


110 posted on 05/07/2009 12:06:06 PM PDT by thinking
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To: NavyCanDo

Cowards!


111 posted on 05/07/2009 12:07:35 PM PDT by DCBryan1 (Arm Pilots&Teachers. Build the Wall. Export Illegals. Profile Muslims. Execute child molesters RFN!)
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To: nickcarraway

Ballsy - attack a USNS ship? One would think such vessels would be an excellent trial platform for ship mounted non-lethals, if such things exist. Problem is probably range. Your non-lethals may not have the effective range to deal with RPG’s and 50’s.

Another thing you might try would be smaller versions of drones. They are developing some sweet new smaller-form factor missile types that ride better on smaller drones.

Another surprising sort of thing: We used to operate these ships that had large dirigibles on tethers. On the dirigibles were radar. Around the dirigibles were surface assets and guard ships. The guard ships protected the radar asset. The other surface assets were used to pursue vessels of interest.

A combination of one of these radar ships, a helicopter carrier, and some patrol boats and you have an end to piracy off of Somalia. There’s about 700 to 800 miles of Somalian coastline in the Gulf of Aden. Not impossible to bottle up. Air assets can make quick work of the distance, and they’ve got enough firepower to give bad guys a moment of pause, even if you don’t want to kill them with it.

Not going to happen.


112 posted on 05/07/2009 12:10:55 PM PDT by RinaseaofDs
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To: nickcarraway

With all that ammo on board? McGyver + Swiss Army Knife = Lots of dead pirates.


113 posted on 05/07/2009 12:11:18 PM PDT by Moltke
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To: nickcarraway

Back in the late 1960’s and early 70’s ammunition ships along with the oilers and supply ships were actually USS Navy ships and were armed. To bad we now contract those services out.


114 posted on 05/07/2009 12:21:03 PM PDT by longhorn too
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To: Carry_Okie

yeah, they ran away... That is how the media spins it. However, evasive maneuvering isn’t exactly running in cowardice. A supply ship is not supposed to be a combatant, so it doesn’t fight back because it really can’t. It isn’t equipped to return fire or anything else. That’s why you typically see these ships within a battle group.


115 posted on 05/07/2009 12:23:13 PM PDT by Peanut Gallery (The essence of freedom is the proper limitation of government.)
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To: Peanut Gallery
yeah, they ran away... That is how the media spins it.

No, that's what the enemy will take from it.

A supply ship is not supposed to be a combatant, so it doesn’t fight back because it really can’t.

Lame excuse. Are you telling me that supply ships didn't even have a .50 cal in WWII???

It isn’t equipped to return fire or anything else. That’s why you typically see these ships within a battle group.

No, it's because of an idiotic UN Treaty.

116 posted on 05/07/2009 12:26:58 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (It's time to waterboard that teleprompter and find out what it knows.)
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The OBAMA DOCTRINE: Our Navy SHOULD run away from Somali pirates. That way, no one gets hurt. We ESPECIALLY don’t want AFRICAN MUSLIMS to be killed, wounded or captured. A successful operation.


117 posted on 05/07/2009 12:27:14 PM PDT by Godwin1
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To: nickcarraway
“...pirate vessels, chased the Lewis and Clark...”

US Navy runs from two pirate skiffs??

Surely, that is simply not possible. The Lewis and Clark has to be French.

118 posted on 05/07/2009 12:31:19 PM PDT by elpadre (AfganistaMr Obama said the goal was to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda" and its allies.)
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To: downtownconservative
"From Wikipedia: The USS Lewsi and Clark was...”deactivated while still in commission on 1 October 1991” and was “decommissioned on 27 June 1992...”"

Yes, thus my comment that there haven't been any Franklin-class subs in service for years. Are we having some kind of trouble communicating here?

119 posted on 05/07/2009 12:35:47 PM PDT by Dan Middleton
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To: downtownconservative
I will try to clarify this once again: the USS Lewis and Clark was a nuclear submarine, now decommissioned. The USNS Lewis and Clark (note the difference in prefix) is the supply ship in question in this article.

Got it now?

120 posted on 05/07/2009 12:38:35 PM PDT by Dan Middleton
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