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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: nickcarraway

Why are WE running??


81 posted on 05/07/2009 11:22:44 AM PDT by MrLee (Sha'alu Shalom Yerushalyim!! God bless Eretz Israel.)
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To: nickcarraway
How about placing several of these sea going electronic Gatling guns on every Navy ship?
82 posted on 05/07/2009 11:23:02 AM PDT by jws3sticks (WH)
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To: Dan Middleton

From Wikipedia: The USS Lewsi and Clark was...”deactivated while still in commission on 1 October 1991” and was “decommissioned on 27 June 1992...”


83 posted on 05/07/2009 11:23:58 AM PDT by downtownconservative (As Obama lies, liberty dies!)
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To: Do Not Make Fun Of His Ears

If it’s in their cargo, I imagine they would. On a bunch of pallets, buried down in a cargo hold...and they may not have the actual tubes to *launch* the ammunition out of. It wouldn’t do them much good to be carrying, say, tons of 155mm howitzer shells if they didn’t have a 155mm howitzer (and a crew who knew how to use it) lying around.

I think they *should* be armed, or at the least be carrying a military contingent that’s got sufficient portable firepower, but because they ride a line between being civilian and military ships, they probably run across many of the same problems that a civilian cargo vessel would have with weapons. Bring a locker full of M16s into many countries’ ports, even if the weapons are locked down and not loaded, and if the local authorities find out, the ship gets impounded and the crew gets detained. It would be better if the ~50 military supposedly on each ship bring their own weapons on, and include some appropriate level of firepower and expertise to handle pirates. Or station Marines on them.

}:-)4


84 posted on 05/07/2009 11:25:15 AM PDT by Moose4 (Hey RNC. Don't move toward the middle. MOVE THE MIDDLE TOWARD YOU.)
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To: spodefly

Even if it’s not a gun ship they should have run the bastards over.


85 posted on 05/07/2009 11:26:40 AM PDT by raybbr (It's going to get a lot worse now that the anchor babies are voting!)
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To: Domandred
USNS = CIVILAN CREW, but Navy owned vessel.

Still that doesn't explain why one of our vessels can be pursued for an hour without some sort of response from a combat vessel or from the air.

86 posted on 05/07/2009 11:27:15 AM PDT by NavyCanDo
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To: nickcarraway

Are we practicing for maneuvers with the French?


87 posted on 05/07/2009 11:27:16 AM PDT by Waryone (If the democrats paid taxes like the rest of us, the United States wouldn't have a deficit.)
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To: nickcarraway

Lawd Almighty, why aren’t the puckers pish pood?


88 posted on 05/07/2009 11:27:22 AM PDT by swarthyguy ("We may be crazy in Pakistan, but not completely out of our minds," ISI Gen. Ahmed Shujaa Pasha)
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To: nickcarraway

We are a nation of wimps, I absolutely cannot take it. What a disgrace.


89 posted on 05/07/2009 11:31:22 AM PDT by Scythian
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To: rockinqsranch

If you are a non-combat vessel that can outrun a skiff armed just with pea shooters, why bother engaging? It isn’t like an AK-47 can pierce the hull or something. Just order all crew indoors and speed on by.


90 posted on 05/07/2009 11:32:50 AM PDT by Thane_Banquo (The GOP: The Big Tent with a Fifth Column.)
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To: spodefly
Hep me out here.

A US Navy vessel and it's not armed? No Phalanx? No quad 50s, no nuthin? No M-16s, no pistols? Is this one of those all-female ships?

WTF, over?

91 posted on 05/07/2009 11:34:05 AM PDT by Kenny Bunk (The Election of 2008: Given the choice between stupid and evil, the stupid chose evil.)
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To: ETL

Ahh, you need something to shoot the ammo with.


92 posted on 05/07/2009 11:34:34 AM PDT by Thane_Banquo (The GOP: The Big Tent with a Fifth Column.)
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To: ETL

Ahh, you need something to shoot the ammo with.


93 posted on 05/07/2009 11:34:35 AM PDT by Thane_Banquo (The GOP: The Big Tent with a Fifth Column.)
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To: ETL

Ahh, you need something to shoot the ammo with.


94 posted on 05/07/2009 11:34:37 AM PDT by Thane_Banquo (The GOP: The Big Tent with a Fifth Column.)
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To: Kenny Bunk

Fine, what about some active support from the numerous US assets in the area, a precedent like this should be troubling and disturbing, to say the least.


95 posted on 05/07/2009 11:35:43 AM PDT by swarthyguy ("We may be crazy in Pakistan, but not completely out of our minds," ISI Gen. Ahmed Shujaa Pasha)
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To: nickcarraway

We out ran em??? !!

Huh...


96 posted on 05/07/2009 11:35:54 AM PDT by Former MSM Viewer ("We will hunt the terrorists in every dark corner of the earth. We will be relentless." W 2001)
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To: nickcarraway

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


97 posted on 05/07/2009 11:35:59 AM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: ridesthemiles

Read a bit ... learn the facts ...
Have a nice day


98 posted on 05/07/2009 11:37:15 AM PDT by BlueNgold (... Feed the tree!)
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To: BlueNgold
Actual countries (not Somali pirates, clearly) respect the sovereignty of vessels at sea, visual contact with another vessel is rare at sea, they don't carry the really fun ammunition, and most people in their right mind really don't want to piss off the U.S. Navy.

Did someone forget about the USS Cole? 17 American sailors dead?

99 posted on 05/07/2009 11:39:18 AM PDT by ETL (ALL the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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To: Thane_Banquo
Ahh, you need something to shoot the ammo with.

I meant for guarding the ammo.

100 posted on 05/07/2009 11:41:16 AM PDT by ETL (ALL the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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