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

[Etienne]

Originally Posted by Bewolf

So, the guy is free. Three of the pirates got killed. The US clearly send a signal there, one I can fully support. The pirates had enough time to give up, they gambled and lost.

Hope these pirates learned a lesson today.

I hope the lesson won't be 'Shoot the crew first, ask questions later.'

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by Etienne

I hope the lesson won't be 'Shoot the crew first, ask questions later.'

Shooting the crew doesn't get them anywhere. To make their money, they must ransom either the crew, the cargo or the ship itself. What, are four guys going to just going to operate a container ship by themselves?

[Max2147]

Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen

Shooting the crew doesn't get them anywhere. To make their money, they must ransom either the crew, the cargo or the ship itself. What, are four guys going to just going to operate a container ship by themselves?

True. One reason the pirates have been so successful at getting ransoms is that they've treated the crews well. If they start killing the crews they won't get anything except a ship they can't use and a bunch of cargo that they don't want.

It sounds like Obama gave the order to shoot if the captain's life was in danger, and the US sailors decided that the pirates were about to shoot. Fortunately, our guys didn't miss. Some reports have said that the captain started the whole thing when he tried to swim away, but that hasn't been confirmed. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7996213.stm

[Etienne]

Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen

Shooting the crew doesn't get them anywhere. To make their money, they must ransom either the crew, the cargo or the ship itself. What, are four guys going to just going to operate a container ship by themselves?

The crew itself's probably not worth that much money - Easily replaced, probably don't work directly for the shipowner, and most of them are from countries where tort laws aren't up to US standards anyway. (It's probably not the country where the ship's registered, probably not the country where the company owning the ship is based and definetly not the country where the guy owning the ship lives...)

The only difference it might make is that the navy would be a lot more open to shooting, althought that would piss off the owners handsomely.

As for operating the ship, yes, four guys could do it. Especially if one of them has some engineering knowledge, or if they keep one of the engineers around to get the engine going.

When I was in nautical school, there were a lot of second and third hand stories going around of pirates offing the entire crew, or at least the captain and the chief engineer as an example. Don't know how much of that was campfire stories and how much was truth, but the stories were floating around.

Anyway, we'll find out soon enough if the pirates have changed their MOs...

[gordonmull]

It seems that the pirates do not attack in force. Why not just TRY to get every nation which is running cargo ships in the area to start randomly putting marines on them? Eventually the pirates will run into a very big problem for themselves. They won't know which ships are crewed with highly trained, well armed military and this should act as a deterrant at least.

For this to work I have to take the more violent side of things and say take no prisoners. Shoot them on sight and pursue them until they are dead . Until they learn piracy = death then they will continue to do as they do. I'd have thought that in boarding a ship you would be at the tactical disadvantage so any casualties on the marines' side should be minimal.

Between the US and the UK we've got plenty of troops in backwater countries that we had no business getting into in the first place, so why not Somalia as well? At least our men would be doing something productive for a change and it would be good training for our collective marine infantries.

Really, and sadly, these pirates do deserve to get shot for what they put merchant sailors and their families through.

[fatty]

Originally Posted by Etienne

When I was in nautical school, there were a lot of second and third hand stories going around of pirates offing the entire crew, or at least the captain and the chief engineer as an example. Don't know how much of that was campfire stories and how much was truth, but the stories were floating around.

These kinds of events were not unusual about 20-30 years ago when piracy was a bit bigger around Latin America and the west coast of Africa. Rapes, murders, and assaults were a little more common, especially in attacks on ships anchored in port. For good and fairly graphic accounts of these kinds of violent attacks may I recommend Piracy Today: Robbery and Violence at Sea Since 1980 by the late Cpt. Roger Villar. Villar compiled several pretty thrilling reports of raids on yachts and other pleasure craft that end tragically.

Modern piracy is a pretty bloodless affair, though. Casualties to piracy in the last five years are in the single digits. As someone else said (maybe Takeda), they are not ideologically motivated. To inflict mass casualties is not an objective.

Anyway, we'll find out soon enough if the pirates have changed their MOs...

Yeah, the figures for the first quarter of 2009 should be out in the next few months.

Originally Posted by Etienne

I hope the lesson won't be 'Shoot the crew first, ask questions later.'

Me neither. But as I can see it, these pirates had a choice for the longest time. I am a humanist, but that's not an excuse for a lack of self responsebility, especially when knowing the facts.