Posted on 04/16/2009 10:31:25 AM PDT by Winged Hussar
We read in this morning's paper that militant "Islamic" terrorists from Somalia are now threatening to "massacre" American sailors because Navy SEALs rescued an American from terrorist kidnappers. The countries to which merchantmen sail, in defiance of plain common sense, still refuse to allow armed vessels to dock in their ports. A possible answer would be for the merchant ships to mount detachable "combat modules" that could be lowered into international waters while the ship docked with its cargo. ...In the meantime, though, we would like to remind sailors of a very simple way to kill pirates without using anything that could be legally defined as a "weapon." Just drop something heavy onto their speedboat or skiff when they attempt to board.
The above practice dates back to the age of sail, when not only pirates but legitimate combatants would attempt to capture ships by rowing alongside in small boats and then climbing aboard. Sailors and marine guards therefore kept a few cannonballs (probably 18 to 32 pounds) handy to drop into the boarders' boat. A heavy iron ball would, when dropped from the ship's upper deck, go right through the rowboat and sink it. We are not sure what a similar technique would do to a skiff with a plastic bottom, and perhaps some tests should be conducted to determine the impact necessary to split one open or make a hole in it.
...We encourage merchant fleets to experiment with these techniques in advance to make sure they will work. (That is, an encounter with pirates is not the first time they should be tried. As an example, the crew should experiment on empty skiffs similar to those used by pirates to see what will work.)
(Excerpt) Read more at israpundit.com ...
Lard can be heated and sprayed in a liquid form. How bout that for a deterent?
Lard doesn’t sink boats.
Gasoline not only ruins the pirate’s day, it destroys the tools he uses in his trade. A flamed out pirate ship sinks, the weapons sink to the bottom of the sea, and fish love flash-cooked meat.
It's pretty hard to be accurate when they are shooting AK-47s at you.
They already use firehoses.
Mix in 10% acid of some kind. Fries the skin; blinds them.
Be cheap and easy, 10-15 barrels would be enough for the boat.
molotov cocktail.
You, sir, are absolutely correct.
“Large caliber machine guns. Then hide them when you get into port.”
Two special Cargo containers that never get unloaded at the Port, one fore and one aft, the sides and top fold down to expose a turret mounted machine gun.
“Use pork and pork fat.”
Old style cannons and cannon balls used Pork fat to help make the balls slide nicely in the cannon.
Maybe we need to dust off some museum piece cannons and run some more cannon balls through them.
How about just using the TNT kept aboard for ‘fishing’?
How to Kill Somali Pirates Without Using Firearms
Why do it the hard way?
Instead of a couple of big metal balls, how about a whole lot of little metal balls, forcefully projected downward at great velocity?
I have it on good authority (if movies are to be believed) that those little balls work amazingly well.
That might be considered torture, try cotton balls and toilet paper rolls.
/s
Hand grenades might do the trick. Or a rabbit. Wif big pointed teef!
Exactly. These are merchant sailors. They aren't necessarily trained in combat, and they didn't sign on for combat when they took the job. They're just trying to make a living. The pirates are armed to the teeth.
No one had to deal with the U.N. back during WW2.
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