Piracy!

[Tegyrius]

Japan?  Pfft.  Gimme hatchet-throwing Spetznaz ninjas:



- C.

[Crafty_Alex]

What's even cooler is when they do that drill with sharpened shovels.

[MilitiaJim]

The solution for the piracy issue is easy.

Ninjas.

All we need is Japan to get involved, and everything will be hunky-dorey.

Then you will need the Norwegians, Danes and Swedes to go in, because we all know that vikings eat ninjas and pirates.

[Krensky]

A little thread necromantic, but things in Somali waters have potentially gotten much worse.

Pirates have attacked and seized a US-flagged (albeit Danish owned) ship and are holding it's twenty US crewmen, most of whom are US Merchant Marines and US Navy veterans. The ship, the MV Maersk Alabama, is also part of the Military Sealift Command, although the USN said it was not under charter when it was seized.

Things are not going to end well for someone.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30103371/

[MilitiaJim]

It's time to figure out which village these jerks are from, burn it to the ground and plow the fields with salt.

[Gentry]

Oh come now, Jim. 

You know as well as the rest of us that that won't work. All of Somalia would have to be turned into a plain of radioactive glass in order for this piracy crap to stop. The place hasn't had a functioning government in 20 years. There are too many crews operating from too many places. And they take good enough care of the hostages that if any captives get killed in a rescue action it'll be a PR nightmare for whoever did it. If Russia or China does it, well, maybe they can shrug it off, since they like the badboy strut, but no way in hell is U.S. action in Somalia going to be perceived as successful, no matter the actual outcome.

Working from Krensky's prediction of not ending well for someone, I don't think this is going to end well for the Obama administration--largely because no solution is a good one. Unless Maersk just quietly ponies up (and I wouldn't be surprised if they do, and then get "bailout money" for their trouble) to save their people, the U.S. government *has* to act, or suddenly the U.S. can be painted as globally impotent. The U.S. could pay off the pirates for the sailors, but then the U.S. is negotiating with terrorists, and the political firestorm that would bring is one I don't care to contemplate.

Acting, though, raises the spectre of that old Hostage Crisis magic, and if something like that happens again, whoah nelly.  So much for Obama's spine of steel--he'll be Carter all over again.

[Golden Dragon]

Isn't this a classic mission for a SEAL team?

It seems that the US must act, or a US flag on a sea-going vessel won't be worth the baggage (pay and labor regulations, for example).

[Krensky]

Something that may have been missed.

The ship is part of the Military Sealift Command. That means it's a US Naval Axillary. It's crewed by US Merchant Marines, which makes the crew US Naval Auxiliaries, and most likely US Naval reservists.

[Golden Dragon]

Something that may have been missed.

The ship is part of the Military Sealift Command. That means it's a US Naval Axillary. It's crewed by US Merchant Marines, which makes the crew US Naval Auxiliaries, and most likely US Naval reservists.

I saw that. But I suspect if a reservist had been on some other vessel, it might not have been such a big deal.

Here's an interesting statement on tactics from Voice of America:

"The pirates are getting increasingly vicious," he says, no longer just firing warning shots into the air. "I understand now that from naval sources and also security risk management sources that the pirates are now approaching vessels…targeting the bridges…deliberately shooting out the windows in an attempt to intimidate the crew. And they've now taken to the habit of firing rocket propelled grenades…directly into the accommodation bloc (crew quarters). The idea there is to start a fire. If a fire is started on board a ship it's exceptionally dangerous for the crew. So they have to stop the defense of the ship, which means deploying fire hoses…and put the fire out. When they do that, the pirates come on board."

[Crafty_Alex]

Well, despite Gentry's dire predictions, the thing is over:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/04/08/ship.hijacked/index.html

Looks like raiding a ship full of US Navy vets and Merchant Marines wasn't the best idea these pirates ever had.

[Krensky]

Well, we have gone to war over it in the past.

Ask the Barbary Corsairs.

[Mister Andersen]

They should string the corpses of the pirates high as a gesture of intimidation to these fucks. Failing that, install heavy weapon emplacements.

[OverNinja]

They should string the corpses of the pirates high as a gesture of intimidation to these fucks. Failing that, install heavy weapon emplacements.

While not "civilized" that kind of displays usually work.
And heavy weapons always work; unless you get a jam.

[MilitiaJim]

I'm still working on getting any sort of answer regarding why EVERY merchant ship I have ever been on is completely without weapons bigger than the cook's knives.

[Morgenstern]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say because 20 guys alone together for months at a time are more likely to use them on each other than pirates .

Keeping them under lock and key in an arsenal is a mixed bag. The point of most pirate attacks I would think is surprise and speed, not overwhelming violence. So such an arsenal may or may not ever make it into play.

It may just not have been cost effective in the past.