Do they carry ammunition, as indicated by a previous poster?
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