Posted on 04/11/2009 1:16:29 PM PDT by BarnacleCenturion
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Pirates off the eastern coast of Africa fired on U.S. sailors Saturday as they tried to reach the lifeboat where an American captain is being held, a U.S. official familiar with the situation told CNN.
The gunfire forced the sailors, who did not return fire, to turn back, the official said.
The incident took place some 12 hours ago as the guided missile destroyer USS Bainbridge sent a small team toward the lifeboat, said the official.
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
The longest range recorded for a sniper kill currently stands at 2,430 meters (2,657 yd, or 1.51 miles), accomplished by Master Corporal Rob Furlong, a sniper from Newfoundland, Canada, in March 2002 during the war in Afghanistan. Furlong made this record-breaking kill while he was participating in Operation Anaconda. He was a member of the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI). To make the kill, he used a .50 caliber BMG (12.7 mm) McMillan TAC-50 bolt-action rifle.[8] If one takes the time-in-flight of the bullet with air resistance to be conservatively about 1.5× the flight time without air resistance, that would be about 4.5 seconds (2,430 m ÷ 823m/s[9] = 2.95s). Over that time, neglecting any aerodynamic lift on the bullet in flight, it would drop almost 100 m on its way to the target. The previous record was held by U.S. Marine sniper Carlos Hathcock in February 1967 during the Vietnam War, at a distance of more than 2,347 yards (2,146 m) using a scope-mounted Browning M2 .50 machine gun.
The Canadian shot took two tries at a man walking from a fixed location and practically no wind.
Many doubt the Canadian shot.
I have killed a running deer at 500 yards once in my life. I learned to shoot as a kid and was polished at the John F. Kennedy School for Wayward Boys. Even in my best moment I would not even consider attempting the shot you are talking about with a friendly in the area. Reading the wind on the open sea would be VERY hard. My son was a Delta sniper for five years. He would not even try this shot either.
Yes many have been killed from ships but not anywhere near the range. The Navy tried to approach the lifeboat and the pirates fired on them. So no getting closer.
Since January 20, 2009.
IMHO, there would be no difference. Gutless is gutless. Besides anybody able to afford a cruise like that would fall under his 100% "tax 'em to DEATH plan" anyway so what's the dif if they die by pirate or the IRS forces them into suicide?
I couldn’t agree more wholeheartedly. There is no other team of professionals I would call on first. My point being that the DDGs typically don’t deploy with a team. Yes, they can and do go anywhere in the world in short notice. But, that may have played into the initial standoff.
Our USN ship’s have boarding parties, they do this all day long in that part of the world, but not quite up to the level of SEALs.
ROEs are under review right now, I would presume.
But, this is not new, we knew that the pirates would take one of our ships sooner or later, what about the contingencies? What happened to the plan? Did DOS apply pressure to DOD to stand down?
I do not like it. not one bit. And, as a retired MCPO, I can tell you that the crew is steaming right now. They were fired on (or so we have heard) and were not allowed to defend themselves? Bad juju.
Maybe the Navy asked the FBI for help with OBAMA and not the pirates???
Negative. That's probably not an option at this juncture, simply because I'm virtually certain there is a way to rescue the captain and crew alive while still taking out the pirates. We can war game it all we want from the FR peanut gallery, but believe me the pros have it all worked out and timed to the second. All that is required is a "green light." Travis McGee could verify this. But I'm afraid that the green light will never be lit with this POTUS. I doubt very much if this would have even been tried under Bush. Well, WIMP is an acronym, you know:
Whimpering
Incompetent
Malingering
Pussy ..... cat
I have no doubt we could mount an operation to save this brave man. The administration just doesn't have the will to do it.
correct and agree
the question is what exactly does this idiot think he will do with them,
if the FBI(why them) do a case then where do we charge them, here????????????????
If so then do they get ACLU lawyers and go into our jail with us paying for it.
or what else can we do with them???????? besides kill them and we know this idiot has more compassion for homo, cross dressers and our enemies
it’s the jimmy carter2 administration...
I hate to call you delusional, but you are. American competence isn't in question here, it is Bozo incompetence that is the problem. He is silent because he has nothing to say, because he really wants the pirates to win and get away.
He evidently has given orders to do nothing, meanwhile the latest word on the life boat is that it is NOT out of fuel after all and they are making their way to shore, now being about 20 miles from landing. That has been posted twice on FR now, so you might want to find those posts and read them.
While I would love to think we have a real CIC in charge we don't. The proof of that is the fact he sent in the FBI and is talking about trying these pirates in court, which will never happen because they will never be captured.
Once they get the Captain ashore any hopes of getting him back are shot.
As for playing the waiting game, tell that to the French who have rescued their people, even though suffering one loss, and they killed the Pirate scum. I would bet any French ships will be pretty safe from now on, not so with US vessels.
Not when you have a sissy as President of the United States and Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State!
How long has this administration been in office again?! They are just getting warmed up!
If we thought Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter were bad...get ready for the likes we have never seen! This country is in a freaking mess with someone who doesn't have a clue and doesn't seem to give a rat's butt!
I also came up with the same thoughts independently of reading freerepublic. Now that we have all these military guys sitting around give them what they need and the go ahead to get it done. Make it so captain. The guy jumped in the water, whats Obama doing sitting on his hands? Ohhh the sweet irony that the first US ship is the USS Bainbridge. THAT STANDS FOR COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bainbridge When the United States found that bribing the pirate Barbary states did not work, and decided to use force, he served against Algiers and Tunis. In 1800, Bainbridge was sent to carry the tribute which the United States still paid to the dey of Algiers to secure exemption from capture for its merchant ships in the Mediterranean. Why are we such wussyies having to repeat history? No arms on merchant ships, WOW. Hello? 911 yeah my captain has been shot in the head. Could you send some homicide investigators?
This is the answer me and my brother (a marine) came up with.
Sending Seals underneath the boat in the middle of the night would be a cinch operation.
Milquetoast Obama does.... The ROE have obviously changed... but amazingly there is no outcry from Republican politicians on this so the American people continue to be lulled to sleep by the insane policies of BHO.
I think your entire post is plausible, except I’m having a hard time believing the part about Zero keeping silent for strategic reasons. And while I think silence by the POTUS would in fact be an excellent and correct strategy (don’t give these terrorists ANY media play), I just don’t believe our current administration is that savvy.
But if they are keeping the Prez silent on the topic on purpose, then I guess I will give them kudos. Because I think the correct way to handle this is as silently as possible while it is ongoing, then a simple press statement afterwards... “And in other news this weekend, The Unit recovered an American crewmember who had become separated from his vessel while en route to deliver humanitarian aid to Kenya. The crewmember is in good health and will rejoin his vessel in Kenya.” ;-)
I heard that zilch is in the midst of “organizing a community” to deal with this issue.
I heard that zilch is in the midst of “organizing a community” to deal with this issue.
Make ‘em use up ammo... Pirates have a finite supply. We don’t. :-)
Yeah. See the problem with just sort of hanging around in the waters off the shore of Somalia has to do with the large toothy sea life that hunts there. Ever see the movie (or read the book) Blackhawk Down? When the noob is flying in to join the unit he remarks how inviting the beach looks and somebody in the chopper says the water's real warm but loaded with (gulp) SHARKS. Yeah, well.
I have been asking SEALs for 30 years what do they do if they parachute from 30K feet into offshore waters to scuba into the beach and suddenly Mr Great White shark shows up? Maybe with some of his buddies? I mean the great Hammerhead shark schools by the hundreds in the bay of Campeche off of Panama, C.A. and that's the spot where Jacques Cousteau lost his son to a shark attack! So it does happen.
I just wonder how many SEALs have fallen victim to such a sea predator given the amount of time they spend in the water? I guess they could pop a grenade and shove it in the critters mouth but then there's a whole new set of dangers with the concussion underwater....
Bogus, don’t we have the capability to have one or a few seals too pop up out of the water and take a shot from some semi submersible platform? If not we should. With the waves bobbing up and down and some camo(bluish?) they should be set at 200 yards. Nightscopes and shoot at night from 75 yards, no?
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