US Flagged Vessel Captured! UPDATE: Navy SEALS take out pirates

[sonar732]

Ship carrying 20 Americans believed hijacked off Somalia



(CNN) -- Pirates near Somalia's coastline attacked a cargo ship Wednesday with a crew of at least 20 U.S. nationals, according to the company that owns the vessel.


I say capture at all cost.

[GoldenRivet]

Act of War.

I have long believed we should have small, swift Q-Ships operating so heavily in those waters than the pirates would think twice about approaching even a row boat.

[Skybird]

BBC called it a "sustained night attack". Some days ago a german freighter was captured, with half a dozen German nationals - in waters so far away that they had been considered to be relatively safe.

Now it takes it's toll that in past months and during last year it was decided to play kind with them, not to fight against them, not to harm them, not to shoot at them, not rying to eliminate them and interrupt their operations already during preparation and/or approach phase, and pay them their ransoms - which they invest in better equipment, better boats, better weapons, to scale up their attacks. Some weeks ago they even have mistakenly attacked an armed German war navy supply ship, although that went not well for them, they were taken prisoners. But what does that mean anyway?

Shipping insurances have risen. So rose the prices for shipped items and goods. We all pay for it with our private money.

[SteamWake]

They are testing the waters so to speak.

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

Act of War.

I have long believed we should have small, swift Q-Ships operating so heavily in those waters than the pirates would think twice about approaching even a row boat.

A nice disguised merchant ship. Empty containers on deck...except they are not empty, drop sides and fat cannon within

[GoldenRivet]

well as i have posted before.

it cant be a merchant ship... it would have to be a sleek, large motor yacht.

this way, if the situation goes too far south, it can turn tail and run at high speed.

second... it appears that most of these craft are being approached by small boats... so you dont want to be armed with a typical cannon... but several of these would work nicely at cutting down any threat.

such a weapon could be fairly easily concealed aboard a yacht.


for larger long range defense, the 5 inch gun i think... on some sort of hydraulic lift or concealed in some sort of container with fold down sides.

[AVGWarhawk]

Problem is the pirates will see this vessel. It needs to be a merchant. Just like the ones they like to take. Have a few of those vulcan cannons in containers on the deck. FUN

[Onkel Neal]

This just in from the news on the radio, US crew overpowers the hijackers...

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

Problem is the pirates will see this vessel. It needs to be a merchant. Just like the ones they like to take. Have a few of those vulcan cannons in containers on the deck. FUN

these same pirates have seized motor yachts in the past.

If you make a Q-Ship merchant it had better have speed... you dont want a boat like that falling into the wrong hands.

[Kapitan_Phillips]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

vulcan cannons

*puts on helmet*

[Ishmael]

I posted this on the Newsvine thread:

This is what happens when you have a UNION crew.My Grandfather was a merchant seaman and sailed on the last of the square-riggers. His Sailor's Union of the Pacific Union card was signed by Andrew Ferusuth, the union's founder. My Dad was a merchant seaman all through WW2, and saw action in the Aleutians, North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio and Iwo Jima. He also did a year in San Quentin for Armed robbery. So he was shot at by representatives of all 3 Axis powers(4 if you count the Vichy French) and only ever used a weapon to commit a crime. He was a member of the Sailor's Union of The Pacific, The Seafarer's International Union and the National Maritime Union. I salute the brave men of the Maersk Alabama and honor their valor that stands in proud traditions of the United States Merchant Marine. As a former tin-can sonarman who sailed those same waters 30 years ago, I know the difficulty the Navy has patrolling these waters and salute my merchant brethren as Iron Men in Iron Ships. Splice the Main Brace for me.

Here's the Yahoo link.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090409/ap_on_re_af/piracy

Huzzah and Hully Gee!

[SUBMAN1]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7996087.stm

-S

[Syxx_Killer]

Now that's what I call a happy ending! There are four less pirates to worry about (three that were killed and one taken into custody which I didn't see mentioned in that article).

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/piracy

[Ivan Putski]

Great news indeed, now they need to clean their strongholds out.

[SandyCaesar]

Well done, Navy! That's the way you do it!

(Additional salute: for the brave man who gave himself up for his crew, and for the crew of the MV Maersk Alabama who regained control of their ship. Go Merchant Marines!)

Now to ensure that it won't happen again...