Somali Pirates try to take a cruise ship full of Brits/Americans

[BirdGuano]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Somali-Pirates-Attack-Luxury-Cruise-Ship-Nautica-Carrying-British-American-And-Australian-Tourists/Article/200811415167952?lpos=World_News_First_World_News_A rticle_Teaser_Region_5&lid=ARTICLE_15167952_Somali_Pirates_Attack_Luxury_ Cruise_Ship_Nautica%2C_Carrying_British%2C_America n_And_Australian_Tourists
Somali Pirates Attack Cruise Ship



8:57pm UK, Sunday November 30, 2008

Steve Read, Sky Travel's cruise correspondent

A luxury cruise ship carrying scores of British passengers has come under attack from Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden.


The luxury cruise ship, Nautica, managed to avoid being hijacked

Two pirate boats opened fire on the six-star Nautica, as she sailed between Somalia and Yemen on Sunday.

The cruise ship, which carries 690 passengers and 386 crew, was sailing past several groups of fishing boats when two small skiffs tried to intercept it.

Captain Jurica Brajcic began evasive maneuvers when the pirates were about 1,000 yards away from the ship and managed to avert the attack.

While cargo ships and small pleasure boats have been attacked by Somali pirates, this is only the second time they have attempted to hijack a cruise ship.

Three years ago, rocket-propelled grenades were fired at the Seabourn Spirit. Two of the ship's officers were injured.

A Oceania Cruises spokesman said: "Nautica was immediately brought to flank speed and was able to outrun the two skiffs.

"One of the skiffs did manage to close the range to approximately 300 yards and fired eight rifle shots in the direction of the vessel before trailing off."


No one aboard the ship was harmed and no damage was sustained.

The ship's main defence against attack, a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), was readied during the chase.

It emits a high-powered beam of sound which, at close range, can shatter a person's eardrums.

The six-star ship was carrying American, British and Australian passengers on a 32-day cruise from Rome to Singapore.

British passengers have paid more than £15,000 for the cruise.

The ship's last call was in Sagafa, Egypt. She is due to arrive at Salalah, Oman, on Monday.

[Ought Six]

Who in the hell is dumb enough to pay for a cruise through pirate-infested waters? :re:

[BirdGuano]

Who in the hell is dumb enough to pay for a cruise through pirate-infested waters? :re:

Oh I think you could sell that package to some adventure types.

Provide the heavy guns and ammo and it could be fun. :D

Might shock the sh&%t out of the pirates too. :D

[rryan]

Oh I think you could sell that package to some adventure types.

Provide the heavy guns and ammo and it could be fun. :D

Might shock the sh&%t out of the pirates too. :D

No kidding---sit behind a Barret for a couple hundred$ an hour.

[Potemkin]

THey just took a page from history.

Achille Lauro

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achille_Lauro

[rc]

It emits a high-powered beam of sound which, at close range, can shatter a person's eardrums.

Now, it seems to me that if I were a pirate, and was unaware of the existence of this type of weapon, then it would probably be quite effective.

But if I were aware of this type of weapon, then couldn't it be defeated with the relatively simple expedient of wearing ear protection? Since I'm not an expert on such things, I guess I would just look for the "OSHA Approved" label.

I'm not a pirate, but do you suppose I'm the first non-pirate to have thought of this? I suspect the pirates thought of it.

[BirdGuano]

THey just took a page from history.

Achille Lauro

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achille_Lauro

They've already tried it twice in the space of a year.

Once were repelled by the sound thingy, second they were outrun.

[Sysiphus]

Who in the hell is dumb enough to pay for a cruise through pirate-infested waters?

Too many watching Pirates of the Carribean? ;)

[Ought Six]

I saw an interesting video on a military forum I frequent of our Navy shooting at a radio-controlled speedboat with a Phalanx system. The thing missed almost every time. A small, bobbing target like that gets lost in the waves and is very difficult to see, and even more difficult for even an IR targeting system to lock onto. Forget about RADAR in those conditions.

As the thread developed, it came clear that the idea of hitting small attacking boats with autocannon fire before they got within RPG range is a fantasy. It turns out that what really works is 5" shells with good proximity fuzes. They are fired just above the boat, and detonate right over it. The resulting steel rain of shards weighing up to several ounces and moving at speeds in excess of 15,000 fps has predictable results on the boat hull, engine, people, fuel and ordnance the boat may be carrying. This method is extremely effective.

Pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden and east African coast area usually involve swarm attack with up to 20 boats and up to 100 men. Since mounting 5" guns on civilian vessels is out of the question logistically, I think the most cost effective solution is the Bofors 40mm L/70 'Fast Forty' gun. It is widely available, inexpensive, is available with excellent low-cost targeting systems, has a rate of fire that could deal with swarm attacks, and has standard prefragemented ammunition with effective proximity fuzes available from dozens of nations who manufacture such ammo. The shells contain thousands of tungsten pellets arrainged around a large chunk of plastic explosives. It is essentially a omnidirectional Claymore mine with bigger BBs, fired at a rate of over 400 rounds per minute. These guns come as complete bolt-on units with the gun, ammo cassettes, targeting systems and power supply. They could be mounted on larger container ships and supertankers. Smaller coastal freighters could convoy with patrol boats mounting such hardware.

Something must be done to protect shipping. The global economy requires it. This may the most cost-effective solution. I do not think any nation wants to go into Somalia to solve this problem at its source.

[rc]

Pardon my ignorance as a landlubber, but how do the pirates actually board the boat? Do they just swarm it, shoot up lines, and climb up rope ladders?

I suppose one or two ladders would be easy enough to deal with. But eventually, the crew is going to get overwhelmed by numbers.

[Potemkin]

Pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden and east African coast area usually involve swarm attack with up to 20 boats and up to 100 men. Since mounting 5" guns on civilian vessels is out of the question logistically, I think the most cost effective solution is the Bofors 40mm L/70 'Fast Forty' gun. .

That would do it but something simple like an Olierkon 20mm fore/aft would be good backed up by some .50cal. M2s.

The problem isn't the hardware, it is the will to use it. I would bet a lot of the captains and crew have rules where they can't fight boarders. Everyone knows the game there.

Give up, don't get hurt, we will negotiate and eventually we will get you released.

Not saying I agree but the K&R (kidnap and ransom) rules are will established.

[Sysiphus]

Not saying I agree but the K&R (kidnap and ransom) rules are will established.

Of course, every once in awhile a hostage has to be killed or maimed, just so we know they mean business.

[Sooth]

I still like the 7.62 minigun which can rain down lead at 2,000 rounds a minute over a click out though the .50 gets their (everybody's) attention ever so much quicker especially with a good tracer mix.

Fact is, the pirates will not stop until somebody takes action to stop them.

Sooth

[Ought Six]

P:"That would do it but something simple like an Olierkon 20mm fore/aft would be good backed up by some .50cal. M2s."I guess you missed the part about a 6,000 rpm 20mm Phalanx system being totally unable to hit a speedboat. A 20mm Olierkon would be useless until the boats got extremely close, and were already shooting up the ship.
----------"The problem isn't the hardware...."Inadequate hardware will not get the job done, even if the will to use it exists.
----------".... it is the will to use it. I would bet a lot of the captains and crew have rules where they can't fight boarders. Everyone knows the game there. Give up, don't get hurt, we will negotiate and eventually we will get you released. Not saying I agree but the K&R (kidnap and ransom) rules are will established."I agree, but I think that this will not be an issue for much longer. The economic damage will force action, probably sooner than later.

================================================== ============

S:"I still like the 7.62 minigun which can rain down lead at 2,000 rounds a minute over a click out though the .50 gets their (everybody's) attention ever so much quicker especially with a good tracer mix."These weapons run through ammo incredibly quickly, and can only fire short bursts before they overheat. Pirate boats tend to be armed with 12.7mm weapons among other things, which means they could fire on the ship with relative impugnity from beyond the range of the miniguns.

There is, however, the new GAU-19/A .50 BMG four-barrelled minigun, which has a max rate of fire of 2,000 rpm. That would offer much better range, though it also needs to be fired by experienced operators who will limit their fire to short bursts so as not to overheat the weapon and/or burn through all their ammo too quickly.

Weapons like this are good for repelling borders when boats are in closer, but the idea is to never let the boats get close. You want to keep them out of weapons range. That is why a heavier weapon like the 40mm is required. And due to the inability of smaller autocannon to hit the boats, a heavier weapon with prefragmented ammo is again required to solve the problem.

================================================== ============

rc:"Pardon my ignorance as a landlubber, but how do the pirates actually board the boat? Do they just swarm it, shoot up lines, and climb up rope ladders? I suppose one or two ladders would be easy enough to deal with. But eventually, the crew is going to get overwhelmed by numbers."The pirates shoot up the ship until the crew surrenders and lowers their ladders, allowing the pirates to board.

[rc]

The pirates shoot up the ship until the crew surrenders and lowers their ladders, allowing the pirates to board.

Why can't they just pour boiling oil on them or something?

[US Blues]

Why can't they just pour boiling oil on them or something?

I was thinking the sludge in the spetic holding tanks

Why not use the fire hoses?

For that matter, what about the shotguns used to shoot skeet off the back of the boat

Aerosolized Noro Virus from the last cruise...

:lol:

[rryan]

Nuclear torpedoes?

[lilly]

If they attack a U.S. ship, wouldn't that trigger some sort of retaliation by one of our ships with guns that could blow them to smithereens, or torpedo them? I don't understand modern weaponry, but a plane with a guided missle certainly could take them out quickly.

Bye, bye Somali piracy.

I think the whole world would applaud.

[Ought Six]

We do not have any airbases nearby, so we do not have planes regularly patrolling the east coast of Africa. Putting a carrier task force permanently on station there would not be a cost effective solution.

All military orgs of any nation have the right to come to the aid of any vessel under attack by pirates and render assistance, up to and including laying waste to the pirate vessels.

[US Blues]

for what they're demanding in ransom, the Saudi's could afford to keep an AC-130 on "station" off the coast..

:beer:

[BirdGuano]

Let's play "cowboys and pirates".

:D

But seriously, we've been trying to get an African base to counter China's presence there for sometime.

This may be the excuse that makes it happen.

[Ought Six]

A single plane cannot patrol hundreds of thousands of square miles of ocean. It would take a carrier task force on-station, permanently, or the equivalent three or four squadrons of ground-based aircraft stationed in a local nation. We are talking about more air power than the vast majority of nations on this planet possess.

The realistic options here are very limited. We cannot escort the thousands of ships, large and small, that traverse these incredibly busy shipping lanes every week. We cannot patrol such a huge area by air. There is no will to invade Somali and root out the pirates. A combination strategy of larger ships mounting weapons, smaller ships convoying with small escort vessels, and perhaps limited air patrols could be effective.

The wealthy Gulf nations could pay (and perhaps already are paying) the Somali warlords to hunt down the pirates, but this is a bad strategy in the long run. Paying protection always is. The price keeps going up until the principals refuse to pay, then those who are supposed to be your protectors become your predators. Paying protection money always goes bad in the end.

One thing is for sure. The global economy cannot suffer a threat to the oil that flows on supertankers out of the Gulf. If the problem continues to grow, we will get sucked into military action in Somalia sooner or later. That did not work out so well last time around.

[Sysiphus]

If we were smart, we would just issue letters of marque to a few mercenaries, and pay a bounty of, say, $1 million per boat caught. The perps could then enjoy the next 30 years in a Saudi or Indian jail.

[BirdGuano]

If we were smart, we would just issue letters of marque to a few mercenaries, and pay a bounty of, say, $1 million per boat caught. The perps could then enjoy the next 30 years in a Saudi or Indian jail.

Doesn't Blackwater already have a navy ?

:D

[BirdGuano]

If the problem continues to grow, we will get sucked into military action in Somalia sooner or later. That did not work out so well last time around.

Only because politics dictated tactics.

[lilly]

Short story of tourist reactions to the news that a pirate speedboat was chasing them. They were told to keep their heads down, but naturally they rushed to take a look.

http://networks.org/?src=salon:2008:12:03:D94RESG00_piracy

[frodo]

The trouble folks is that it is usually hard to distinguish between pirates and fishermen until they start behaving like pirates, and if they have fish and lines on board and a few AK47's, all they need to do is throw the AK's overboard and they are peaceful fishermen again.

I think a convoy system might be the best immediate choice, followed by arming merchant ships longer term.

[Glockd]

Seems to me we, as in the United States Marine Corps "we", (with U.S. Navy Taxi service) solved this problem for you all once before.

That you let it get out of hand again should not be our problem. Time for somebody else to step up to the plate. Saudi? EU?