Pirates!

iridium_ionizer

iridium_ionizer

Mildly Dipped
The Saudi-Arabia owned supertanker The Sirius Star was hijacked by Somali pirates several hundred miles off the eastern coast of Africa on Saturday (Nov. 15, 2008). The pirates plan on using the 25 crew members (of various nationalities) as hostages until the $10 million ransom demands are met. The tanker is fully loaded with 10 millions barrels of crude oil (worth $100 million U.S.)

Piracy in the region has been on the rise recently as governments routinely cave in to ransom demands and lawlessness in Somalia prevents them from being caught when on shore. Most of the attacks occur in the Gulf of Aden (stemming off the Red Sea and lying between Somalia and Yemen), but some are occurring as far south as off the shores of Tanzania. The U.S. Navy stated that the pirates are striking with such a broad range, in areas with such a high shipping traffic that policing the entire area is impossible.

Typically the pirates approach the vessel in speed boats and fire warning shots with machine guns and brandish RPG launchers. If the vessel does not follow their instructions (typically to stop) then they fire towards the vessel's bridge (where the controls are). Once aboard the vessel the pirates are safer since they have hostages and governments are unwilling to see their citizens killed in a rescue attempt. Then the pirates negotiate a ransom which can run into the millions of dollars (U.S.). Thus piracy continues to rise as it is seen as a high reward, low risk criminal enterprise. Meanwhile the coastal villages in Somalia where the pirates take port are becoming boom towns as the ransom money trickles down.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/18/somalia-oil

Got any thouhts on piracy? Ways to deter or destoy pirates?
 
This is how you deal with them

http://news.aol.com/article/indian-...p/232183?icid=100214839x1213584506x1200814708

"NEW DELHI (Nov. 19) - An Indian naval vessel sank a suspected pirate "mother ship" in the Gulf of Aden and chased two attack boats into the night, officials said Wednesday, yet more violence in the lawless seas where brigands are becoming bolder and more violent."

They are criminals plain and simple. Sink the attack ships or board them and shoot them in the head.

Also this is of interest

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/blackwater-sets-sights-somali-pirates

Blackwater sets sights on Somali pirates

"Blackbeard, meet Blackwater. Worldwide." :lol:

I love me some PMCs
 
Well, considering that Somalia is a fractured country in nearly total anarchia, faced with nonexistant economy and starvation, it's no surprise that it's a hotbed for piracy.

It's an problem around Indonesia and Malesia as well - plenty of islands to hide in and loads and loads of shipping through narrow straits.

Defend the ships, hunt pirates, establish a proper central government in Somalia and help people rise out of immense poverty. Yeah, very easy tasks all of them.

And while Indonesia for example has quite a large army and navy, it's still hasn't managed to eradicate piracy from local waters - but how much of that is due to lack of resources or will rather than incompetency or corruption, who knows?
 
The strange thing about it(not really) is the fact that the pirates are actually doing more for that local village then the goverment.

When your people are starving you have money to blow on other things unimportant.

Sounds familiar?
 
Bal-Sagoth said:
http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/blackwater-sets-sights-somali-pirates

Blackwater sets sights on Somali pirates

"Blackbeard, meet Blackwater. Worldwide." :lol:

I love me some PMCs
Click to expand...
and here i was thinking:

- some mercs
- old freighter with stacked containers, Falklands style
- a few MD-530's
- some heavy weapons

let's rock!

but looks like someone had a similar idea...

the brits did i better than Blackwater though. ;)
falklands-atlanticconveyor.jpg
 
The Royal Navy knows how to handle the scum

"Navy shoots pirate suspects dead

The Royal Navy has repelled a pirate attack on a Danish cargo-ship off the coast of Yemen, shooting dead two men believed to be Somali pirates."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7725771.stm

Jolly good job :P


edit: That is an awesome picture :mrgreen:
 
SuAside said:
and here i was thinking:

- some mercs
- old freighter with stacked containers, Falklands style
- a few MD-530's
- some heavy weapons

let's rock!
Click to expand...

Sell that idea to Michael Eisner (sp).
Sounds like a Disney ride that I'd enjoy.
Anti-Pirates of the Royal Navy
 
Bal-Sagoth said:
This is how you deal with them

http://news.aol.com/article/indian-...p/232183?icid=100214839x1213584506x1200814708

"NEW DELHI (Nov. 19) - An Indian naval vessel sank a suspected pirate "mother ship" in the Gulf of Aden and chased two attack boats into the night, officials said Wednesday, yet more violence in the lawless seas where brigands are becoming bolder and more violent."

They are criminals plain and simple. Sink the attack ships or board them and shoot them in the head.
Click to expand...
Funny thing is that they threatened the indian friggate with guns and rpgs before they were blasted into pieces. I mean seruiously. Even the pirates of old were smart enough to never challenge the royal navy to one on one combat. Ohh we got a small boat, let threaten a modern frigate with rpgs. Yeah like that would work.

Biggest problem atm is that the only people with money in somalia right now are the pirates and their organisers. This sends the wrong sort of message methinks.
 
Why aren't the crews of these ships armed? I imagine that'd be a lot cheaper (and force the pirates to either piss off or die) than letting their shit get pilfered while paying out the ass to get the crew home safely.
 
Because they don't have combat training, and most of those vessels run on skeleton crews anyway. I doubt many would take the job if it entailed rambo'ing your way out of a pirate attack. Not to mention the massive lawsuits by relatives. The somalis would just get into an arms race with the sailors.

No, I think the answer needs to come from shipping companies. Maybe they need to recruit PMCs to man each ship with, say, 10-15 mercs?

Blackwater is probably on the right track here, as they're not as limited by international regulations and political pressure as national navies are (not to mention the US Navy is stretched thin enough as it is). If shit gets out in the press, meh, what'd you expect from those guys? Also, as they'll actually MAKE money from hunting pirates, the motivational factor is much higher than for navies. Saudi sheiks won't have much of a problem paying for protection.
 
I remember pirates stole a ship with some tanks two months ago, maybe they stole the oil so they can make their tanks work? :lol: :twisted:

Still, how hard it is for a big ship to kill some pirates in a stupid motorboat? Put two heavy machineguns mounted in the ship (bonus points if they are miniguns), then just fill those pirates with a ton of lead each. If you want to be sure, put a team of four snipers on a constant lookout for pirate ships.
 
Come on. Nobody thinks those pirates rock for hijacking an oil tanker?? That rules. They're in the process of ransoming it back, and the Saudi's are actually negotiating with them.

It's hard to say whether or not the pirates are doing "more" for somalia than anyone, because (from my very limited understanding) Somalia has many different forces competing for control of the area. It's true that no foreign militaries have successfully intervened in the anarchy there, but whether or not it's beneficial to have one group of militants having money or power over other groups is debatable. I would like to know more about WHO these pirates are and what they're planning to do with their ransom money.

The tanker has $100,000,000 worth of oil on it. Talk about a jackpot for them.

What's more. Fuck Blackwater and their amoral mercenary asses. At least the pirates are dicking over the Man.
 
Ozymandias said:
The tanker has $100,000,000 worth of oil on it. Talk about a jackpot for them.
Click to expand...

Does not matter if your not alive to spend it :)

If they keep this up you can expect more direct intervention from governments. Who do you really think would win in a fight? Royal Marines or a bunch of rag tag pirates floating around in an armored pontoon boat.

Ozymandias said:
What's more. Fuck Blackwater and their amoral mercenary asses. At least the pirates are dicking over the Man.
Click to expand...

Mmmm yes please whine about Blackwater and the methods they use, oh the tears of people who do that taste oh so sweet.

Go introduce yourself to these noble crusaders who are "dicking over the man". If you actually come back to tell us the story I will be surprised :P.




Also about the Russian tanks that were hijacked earlier:

"Each Soviet-designed T-72 tank weighs more than 80,000 pounds. The pirates would need special know-how, not to mention special equipment, to unload them — assuming, of course, that they could make it to port with the Navy on their tail."

So yeah good luck with that, they can give my regards to Poseidon.
 
Ozymandias said:
Come on. Nobody thinks those pirates rock for hijacking an oil tanker?? That rules. They're in the process of ransoming it back, and the Saudi's are actually negotiating with them.

It's hard to say whether or not the pirates are doing "more" for somalia than anyone, because (from my very limited understanding) Somalia has many different forces competing for control of the area. It's true that no foreign militaries have successfully intervened in the anarchy there, but whether or not it's beneficial to have one group of militants having money or power over other groups is debatable. I would like to know more about WHO these pirates are and what they're planning to do with their ransom money.

The tanker has $100,000,000 worth of oil on it. Talk about a jackpot for them.

What's more. Fuck Blackwater and their amoral mercenary asses. At least the pirates are dicking over the Man.
Click to expand...


One thing to say to you about that, and one thing only.

1220594925291vb9.jpg
 
hi first time poster long time reader..... pirates,

did you see the latest pirate film?


it was rated RRRRRRRRRR
 
Funny thing is that they threatened the indian friggate with guns and rpgs before they were blasted into pieces. I mean seruiously. Even the pirates of old were smart enough to never challenge the royal navy to one on one combat. Ohh we got a small boat, let threaten a modern frigate with rpgs. Yeah like that would work.
Click to expand...

well... at least when guns werent on turrets the smaller ship actually often had the advantage of being able to out manouver the bigger ship's fire. of course few pirate ships had guns capible of really harming something like a man of war but their goal was capture not to sink so that was ok.

and if i recall correctly it was blackbeard whom with his small pirate sloop captured a large warship and proceeded to scare the shit out of a lot of people with it in order to get some easy cash. ive feard a few stories of modern pirates trying to take the destroyers and the like and i am sitting here thinking that if they can turn off the tracking shit they'd have it made if they captured one of those ships....
 
Well it brings money to somalia and most of the time nobody gets hurt. Some insurrancy companies pay for the loss, but still make a huge profit over sucking at globalisation, so I don't really see much of the problem. Would of course be better if "somebody" would fix or care about somalia, but that will never happen. lack of oil or so. Oh and do I really need to mention that violence will not improve the situation? next pirates will be scared enough to needlessly kill the hostages and afterwards detonate the ship. nicely done blackwater & co. kill everyone, destroy everything. didn't work in iraq, why should it work here?
 
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