USS Porter sinks 2 pirate skiffs off Somalia
 

Not a lot of details, story just came in recently...

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/af...malia.pirates/

Woo hoo! It's not like the old days where you could have a fast ship as a pirate, and simply sail away! Today, there is consequence and there is little a pirate can do about it!

-S

PS. And good luck trying to defeat a A. Burke class. Not much can stand up to one of those.

Except retreat to territorial waters, which has worked in the past as the article states. I am interested to know if this situation was an exception or if USN ships will now routinely be permitted in Somali waters.

If they were outside the 12 nm limit, it doesn't matter.

Did the ship escape ? :hmm:

I read this morning on CNN.com's website that they'll now be permitted in territorial waters to chase these clowns down. They need a good pounding and the Navy needs to shoot at something for target practice. :up:

Good. I mean, what is the point of having a gun if you don't get the chance to shoot it once in a while? Now they have moving targets, and a 76 mm deck gun that they need practice on. A real life shooting gallery! :D

-S

The USS Porter doesn't have a 76mm - it has a 5"/54 (127mm) mark 45 rapid fire mount forward :up:

The history channel had a show on modern piracy recently. It's amazing how wide spread it is, going virtually unchecked in parts of the world.

P.S. The show, Return of the Pirates will be on again in Nov. and Dec.

Yes indeed, it a 5 in gun not a 3in like on the Perrys.

My buddy serves on the USS Winston Churchill DDG 81 which is on its way there right now for a 7 month cruise and they got a lot of practace with that gun before leaving, even training to shoot down ASCMs with it. :rock:

BUMP!! :lol:

Report: Somali pirates want U.S. Navy to back off


http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa....ap/index.html

You know they fear the might of those guns when they start posturing back.

"Somalia has been without a functioning government since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, then turned on each other. The current government was formed in 2004, but has struggled to assert any real control."

Nice. Just go in there, send in the Marines, and who's going to complain?
There is no "functioning" government, so who's going to bitch other than the
pirates? Do they have a rep in the UN? No? I'd say go in and do the old
Dalek routine.....EXTERMINATE....EXTERMINATE....

We tried that in the early 90's, remember? Bodies of Delta Force operators dragged through the streets of Mogadishu? It did not work out to well, in case you forgot.

Ship at Sea =! Streets of Mogadishu

If the President was on board..... (oh, wait, that's going to generate another thread)

Well, you said "send in the marines" ... what exactly are they going to do on a ship at sea when you're popping pirate skiffs?

Quietly sneaking in from one room to another, taking out the bad guys.
I was actually speaking metaphoricly.

They want the Navy ship to back off. Should they?