Time for some .50 cals on the poop deck...

[AVGWarhawk]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,346449,00.html

[Trex]

Or maybe time to reinvent the Q ship? It worked once.

[Tchocky]

And it will work only once again.

Pirates will shoot rather than board, maybe.

[Happy Times]

The French special forces are probably fighting who gets the go to get them.
Im sure the pirates wont live to regret this.

[Blacklight]

Unfortunately a lot of shipping companies just fold and pay the ransoms.

[fatty]

Originally Posted by Blacklight

Unfortunately a lot of shipping companies just fold and pay the ransoms.

Even more write it off and totally ignore a lost ship, because of the huge insurance penalties that will follow if they report it.

[Trex]

Originally Posted by Tchocky

And it will work only once again. Pirates will shoot rather than board, maybe.

Well, the originals worked for some years. And there is nothing saying that just one Q ship could be used. In any case, pirates are generally after some sort of financial gain, be it the ship and/or its cargo for resale or just loot. There's little profit in a sunk vessel, so boarding has to remain in their TTPs.

[fatty]

Originally Posted by Trex

Well, the originals worked for some years. And there is nothing saying that just one Q ship could be used. In any case, pirates are generally after some sort of financial gain, be it the ship and/or its cargo for resale or just loot. There's little profit in a sunk vessel, so boarding has to remain in their TTPs.

It's harder than it sounds to sink a ship. Small arms and an occasional RPG is not going to do it; a small yacht like this maybe, but today's thick multi-hulled cargo ships and tankers, no way. Therefore it's preferable to just rake the decks with gunfire to kill or incapacitate any defenders rather than approaching normally and risk surprise or just give up piracy.

[Trex]

Not arguing that gunfire is likely, but it was originally posed as an either/or proposition, which it is not.

[Sailor Steve]

[quote=Trex]

Originally Posted by Tchocky

Well, the originals worked for some years.

Did they? The first Q-ships took some u-boats by surprise. The Kaiserliche Marine responded by instituting the first unrestricted submarine war. The u-boats started torpedoing merchants while submerged. Then the British cried "foul!"

I agree with the idea that if you start arming some ships the pirates will just kill everybody and take no chances. On the other hand, if you armed all ships you might give them something to think about.