“The problem is not an inability of the world’s navies to handle these pirates...It’s an unwillingness to do it. Don’t want to look bad on TV blowing up little brown brother’s boat.”
It’s both - you need the hardware to deploy, and then you need the will to use it. So you are right, having the navies from the 1980s would not help a bit right now with the problem - but at least the capability would be there if the right political leadership was elected (I know, fat chance).
Beg to differ.
The ships needed to fight pirates are not those needed to maintain command of the seas in the 80s.
To fight pirates successfully you don’t need a few large high-tech platforms. You need a whole bunch of smallish, low-tech ships. Essentially souped-up Coast Guard cutters, which due to their low size and cost could be built quickly and easily.
Sending capital ships to fight pirates is like swatting flies with a sledgehammer. Not only is it enormous overkill, it’s less effective.