interesting post from a retired US Naval Captain on piracy

[Angus]

They would be extremely vulnerable while boarding.Which is why I think that just "small arms" would do quite a bit. Gimme a letter of Marque and an Uzi plz 

[bongaroo]

This is making me think of the pirate attack scene from the life aquatic.

"they took the bond-stooge!"

"you forgot your damn dog!"

[WilldCrd]

I read somewhere that they are very well equiped. I think I remember something about grappling hooks launchers or something along this lines. But, I can't find anything to back that up.

Well, I've read  the recent news on how crews barricade themselves in the engine room. So heres my problem with the pirates boarding a ship. If it were me as El Capitan I'd wait I'd wait until they pull up along sides, fire their lil grappling hooks and depending on what side of the ship they are on I'd simply order the helmsman to put her "hard over" in that direction.
Simple really 1 lil skiff with a handful of pirates Vs. a cargo ship weighing ....umm ALOT = no more pirates   

I really dont understand WHY this isnt done already. I know it takes a while to turn those big arsed ships but still, you should be able to take them out. Especially if the ship is equipped with bow thrusters. I dont know if all of them are but IIRC I saw a documentary of Discovery awhile back on building the latest gen of cargo container ships and they are soo big they pretty much have to have bow thrusters so they can turn alot sharper and quicker.

Also whats the top speed of these cargo ships? They may not be able to outrun a skiff but its not like the pirates are using a high performance cigar boat, just a skiff with 1 outboard is all I've seen. So my thought is even if they cant outrun the skiffs a large cargo ship moving at flank speed would create one hell of a wake! I personally wouldn't want to try and board it while my lil skiff is flopping all around and banging into the side, add to that the idear of turning into the skiff again = squishy pirates 

[Rondar]

I read somewhere that they are very well equiped. I think I remember something about grappling hooks launchers or something along this lines. But, I can't find anything to back that up.

Heh, they should electrically isolate the rails around the ship and hook it up to the ships generator, with a "kill" switch of course.   

[Angus]

Many of them freighters have just one screw AFAIK. So no hard maneuvers.
But plonking the guys down as they board? Oh yeah, gimme just a .22. Seriously, they are not many and the ship offers one heck of a defence zone.
As someone pointed out before as well, they could even be flushed off.

[Stoney]

Many of them freighters have just one screw AFAIK. So no hard maneuvers.
But plonking the guys down as they board? Oh yeah, gimme just a .22. Seriously, they are not many and the ship offers one heck of a defence zone.
As someone pointed out before as well, they could even be flushed off.

Don't forget, these guys are armed with rifles, machine guns, and rocket propelled grenades.  None of those weapons pose a serious threat to the ship itself, but certainly do to crewman exposed along the rail.

[Dadsguns]

Am I the only one who says shoot first, ask questions later in Africa?

Nope, dont care about the asking questions part,, just shoot.  Nobody will know they are missing.

[Die Hard]

Somalia isn't a country it's a lawless wasteland; and the blame resides solely with the people who live there.

[bongaroo]

Somalia isn't a country it's a lawless wasteland; and the blame resides solely with the people who live there.

Well I know Etheopia backed a lot of movements that overthrew the government so no, blame isn't entirely on your average Somali.

How do you propose to dis-arm and unite all the different factions into a working government?  Remember we already failed at it in the 90s and I'm sure we didn't leave things any better than we found them.

[Die Hard]

How do you propose to dis-arm and unite all the different factions into a working government? 

Why should that even be a goal? They have to figure it out themselves or die out for all I care. In my opinion we only need to keep their barbarism from bothering civilized people.

[bongaroo]

Why should that even be a goal? They have to figure it out themselves or die out for all I care. In my opinion we only need to keep their barbarism from bothering civilized people.

And I'm sure glad you aren't in charge of anything.  Jeez.

So they are all barbarians?  Where'd you learn about this?

[Die Hard]

And I'm sure glad you aren't in charge of anything.  Jeez.

You and a lot of people I'm sure. 

So they are all barbarians?

Yeah, pretty much. After the British, and thus the last shred of civility, left Somalia in 1960 the country has been in a state of civil war; embroiled in clan feuds and tribal wars; complete anarchy for the last 20 years or so.

Downtown Mogadishu when the euros governed the place:






Looks right like paradise don't it.





Downtown Mogadishu today when the monkeys run the country:

[Angus]

It is sad but true that many African countries are no bit better off that 50-100 years ago. Sorry, it's just like that.
However the reasons are more open to debates....

[Shuffler]

The problems are obvious just reading this thread. Pirating will go on and so will terrorism as long as there are a few bleeding hearts around.

I feel we should just leave them to their own demise. I imagine most folks would rather help others in their own country before sending anything overseas.

[Die Hard]

It is sad but true that many African countries are no bit better off that 50-100 years ago.

No bit better? Most of them are far, far worse off now than 50-100 years ago. And it really isn't anyone's fault but their own. As long as they insist on living by their stone age tribal cultures Africa will continue to be the "dark continent", though in this context "dark" doesn't mean unexplored and mysterious, but grim, dismal and sinister.