Plague of Somali pirates continues. 5 ships taken over the weekend.

[TCO]

dude, target practice. Fire up that 5" 54. Lead a landing party and kill the beys.

[Patroklos]

The last thing I am going to do is conduct an oppose boarding. Sure I have eight 50cals for supporting fire, but the problem is I will be on the target

KE ET rounds

[KrazyHorse]

Load the deck gun! 2000 yds to target!

[chequita guevara]

No, what you mean is that a convoy system would dramatically reduce the number of acts of piracy, while also preserving the lives of the pirates. Except that I don't give a **** about preserving the lives of the pirates, nor do many other people. A convoy system would simply be accepting that the pirates will continue to exist, and would be an attempt to react to them. A "shoot on sight" policy would be much more pro-active, and would have the added (and also primary) benefit of killing pirates.

Dramatically lowering the incidents of piracy is the objective. As far as I'm aware, piracy is not going on in front of warships, but hitting isolated boats and ships without protection.

Fear of death usually doesn't stop desperate people from engaging in acts of piracy, etc. So simply shooting pirates isn't going to solve the problem. But if they can't get any targets anymore, eventually they will move on to something else.

Just keep in mind that the more pirates you kill, the more global warming will increase.

[Zkribbler]

A simpler option would be to use a convoy system.

I believe we are. But so many ships use these shipping lanes, not all ships will put themselves into a convoy.

[Patroklos]

Dramatically lowering the incidents of piracy is the objective. As far as I'm aware, piracy is not going on in front of warships, but hitting isolated boats and ships without protection.

Whatever money that is lost to piracy is not even remotely comparable to what it would cost to divert all the maritime traffic using one of the most busy hubs of communication flagged under hundreds of different countries and then provide them with a military escort.

Do we force female college students into armored cars every time there is a campus rape?

Fear of death usually doesn't stop desperate people from engaging in acts of piracy

1.) feel free to support that assumption on your part

2.) piracy is now popular in Somolia precisely because it is seen as easy money and there is nobody with the balls to stop them. If it is no longer easy money and it leads to these new heros routinely never being heard from again, the popularity will subside.

I believe we are. But so many ships use these shipping lanes, not all ships will put themselves into a convoy.

There is a security corridor that is patrolled, but convoys are not organized. And you are correct, we in no way force vessels to use it (though kindly suggestions are given).

[SlowwHand]

Just keep in mind that the more pirates you kill, the more global warming will increase.

What?? You just drop this steaming turd on the table and leave?
Care to explain?

[Alexander's Horse]

The main problem with this Somali pirate business is the whole thing is massively over-lawyered. The naval forces don't have the freedom of action they need to deal with the problem.

[SlowwHand]

What's so hard to figure out? Nuke them. Nuke one nest of pirates and the rest will wonder WTF.

[Alexander's Horse]

yeah the main problem is the rules of engagement. A nuke prolly not necessary slow, much as I admire your warlike spirit, but sustained bursts of gunfire without having to check with capitals every time the warships load their weapons would probably help a lot.

[TCO]

I'm not sure what the issue is. We used to (and I assume still do) periodically blow small craft out of the water with light cannons in the Straight of Malacca and it never even made the news.

[Alexander's Horse]

Its not the US Navy (God bless em) that's the problem TCO. It's all those others that are out there like the Dutch. Even the British navy has caught the virus of caution.

[chequita guevara]

What?? You just drop this steaming turd on the table and leave?
Care to explain?

http://www.venganza.org/about/open-letter/

You may be interested to know that global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are a direct effect of the shrinking numbers of Pirates since the 1800s. For your interest, I have included a graph of the approximate number of pirates versus the average global temperature over the last 200 years. As you can see, there is a statistically significant inverse relationship between pirates and global temperature.

[bc1871]

Honestly, you rendition a few of these pirate sons of *****es to a country that uses "enhanced interrogation", and I guarantee they'd think twice.

[TCO]

Just ****ing hang some of them. Show pictures with flies eating their dead eyeballs of their emaciated skinny bodies. Get the added benefit of screwing with the anti DP EU types.