Somali pirates

This has been going on for a year now, why aren't ships arming themselves? How do four thugs hijack a giant vessel? Since when do you give in to kidnappers by giving them millions of dollars in ransom? This whole thing baffles me.

Maybe we should just blow those *uckers out of the water right now and send a message that piracy will not be tolerated from those thieving bastards anymore. Yeah, I know the captain is on the life boat. We shoud have attacked when he jumped in the water trying to escape. Weird situation.

 

Out of 30,000 ships that passed through the Gulf of Adin last year 100 were attacked and only 30 successfully.

Insurance companies would far rather pay the ransoms then insure armed ships. In addition, very few ports throughout the world will allow ships with armed crews into their ports.

Would you allow ships with armed foreigners into our ports?

No ships have been damaged or crew members hurt. Are you sure you want to step up the level of violence considering small boats with RPGs can blow up oil tankers?

It takes 60 warships to cover the entire area, and 60 warship represents the total number of warship we have at sea.

 

I don't see anything wrong with ship mates carrying personal protection. Arming crews or allowing for ship to have some defense system other than a fire hose should be considered.

I doubt that it will take 60 warships to cover the entire area as you indicate. But you may know more, or I just don't simply know enough on the subject.

Step up the violence? Can we at leat match it?

 

May take less than 60 occasions of pirates getting wasted for them to consider a career change.

 

Imaging an area the size of Florida patrolled by 60 cars that can only go 30 MPH.

 

Ships should have many deck mounted .50 cal machine guns. But then that would be a violation of international law...

 

One aircraft carrier would suffice, would it not?

 

1 barret 50 cal semiauto sniper rifle should do it.

one 10 shot semi auto barrett 50 cal sniper rifle and they could blow em out of the water at 1 mile away. Their bodies or outboard motor would explode with one shot. The gun costs about $10,000. every ship should have one.

 

I'm sure that those ship owners could afford to hire armed, trained people to make up security squads on each ship. After all, what is the dollar value of a ship and cargo? Hiring 8 or 10 security personnel would not cost much compared to the total cost of that ship, and it's cargo. Even on the largest ships about 4 men on each side, armed with auto weapons, could "discourage" a few men from trying to board it. Hell, it would be like shooting fish in a barrel.

 

There are Laws, to protect the personel on the ships, that should be good enough.
Just like here in the US, we have laws and lawmen to protect the citizens, there is no need to be armed.

 

The arguments against arming the ships' crews.

 

Another prosperous opportunity for the boys at Blackwater.

 

Interesting! However, I don't follow the logic (I lean to the right, so I have a limited IQ).

The second half if ludicrous! You get shot trying to steal and you sue? I guess fribolous lawsuits are not just a US phenom.

I can see the first half making sense and would not have an issue if that was the stance but if this is so it makes not sense to allow the following to take place:

I guess that what they really need is a bullet proof, fail/safe room or area of the ship that the shipmates can get in and call for help at first sign of trouble.

 

It is a coastline the size of our east coast. They need to arm the ships, It is almost impossible to be everywhere with a warship in an area that big. U.S, Russia, NATO and the Indians have warships patrolling. It is crazy that the crews aren't armed. One of the ships that was hijacked was carrying tanks and small arms but the crew wasn't armed , seems kinda silly.

 

Leave it to the lawyers to provoke the thought that a victim (ship owner/operator) will be at the mercy of the international courts to settle wrongful death suits with families of dead pirates.
Sounds like it will be pot luck on guessing which ship will be armed...

 

The thing that really bugs me is these pirates are getting away with extortion, they go back to their homes millionaires, and are revered by their countrymen and looked upon as heroes. Thus, creating more people that want to engage in these activities.

It sends a bad message to people throughout the world, especially poor people that learn that the only way to rise up out of poverty is through thievery and violence. How about they address the problems in their country instead. They need to put an end to this before this kind of activity really escalates.

 

If you think about it not really that much different than the dope dealers here...and we really haven't done much with that.

 

Besides the legal issues, there are also major safety concerns. Those pirates have been carrying RPGs. From what I've heard, those are frowned upon around certain types of cargo (e.g. oil, methane and other flammable stuff). Some people think it's preferable to avoid provoking the pirates into firing those weapons.

 

That's true. This whole thing reminds me of a documentary I recently watched about a poor town in Mexico where the fishermen and farmers are hired by the cartel to smuggle drugs into the US. They are looked upon as heroes in their community. There is a sort of Mexican rap music called corrido that glorifies these people. You see scenes of these little kids singing along thinking about the day they are older and can become drug smugglers. They are raising an entire generation of criminals.

It's out of hand. All these poor countries need to step up against their corrupt governments and revolt instead of resorting to illegal activities.

 

Yeah, Way better to kiss their ass and give them a BJ and pay them.


Better yet:
Any ship that is suspected of being a pirate boat, should be Blown the Fuck outta the water....after about 8 or 10 they will stay far away from any passing ship and out of the area...not real hard to tell the difference in a fishing boat and a pirate boat (mothership)