US Marines vs Pirates

[DinoDoc]

Maybe we could expand the WoT to the region

There is no war on terror. Or any such thing as a terrorist attack in the Hopenchange era.

[Patroklos]

I think most people just fail to see the point of parking Naval assets next to them only to engage in a staring contest.

Intimidation is the name of the game, but that only works if you believe those warships will act if you screw around. For a long time the pirates (rightly) didn't believe that, and the way this went down will only barely convince them otherwise.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I think the President was Jefferson. As for the international law, piracy is one of the few international crimes that allows worldwide jurisdiction. So, basically, if we wanted to, we could mop the whole mess up... but it's a bit harder because these pirates are basically small boats with massive firepower.

Maybe we could expand the WoT to the region

Yep, Jefferson. He took them on almost immediately upon taking office, in a war that lasted for his entire first term. Before that, in the last year of the Adams administration (1800), payment of ransom and tribute to the Barbary pirates accounted for 20% of federal government expenditures.

[rah]

Navy 4, pirates 0

[Zkribbler]

As far as I recall, one of the original purposes of having the Marines was to root out pirates.

I forget which President, one of the better ones, but didn't he just invade the pirate bases and start burning **** down until they agreed to stop?

Use whatever international laws were on the books to deal with the Barbary Pirates today. Of course they'd have to change the marine song. Does Mogadishu have a 'shore'?

The original purpose of the Marines was to keep order onboard warships and to act as snipers during sea engagements.

Rufus is correct in saying that it was Jefferson who sent to U.S. Navy to attack Tripoli. We did not, however, start burning stuff down until they agreed to stop.

We blockaded them for five years. Towards the end of that period, we recruited the Bey's brother to be our surrogate, built an army around him in Egypt, including Marines and mercs, and began marching along the Mediterranean. There was one terrific battle (in which our Marines were magnificient), but before the army could advance on Tripoli itself, one of our diplomats negotiated a truce, which included us paying ranson for the crew of the Philadelphia, which had been captured.

[Krill]

Shooting a guy 150 yards away is like WW1 level of competancy.

Surely the marines hacve improved in 90 years?

[Q Classic]

http://www.slate.com/id/2216031/

Navy snipers killed three Somali pirates who had been holding an American hostage in an 18-foot lifeboat on Sunday. The SEALs fired from a Navy destroyer 100 feet from the pirates. Can a sniper reliably hit a human target on a small boat bobbing on the ocean, or were they taking a chance with the hostage's life?

If the pirates' heads were fully exposed, it would have been an easy shot. A sniper rifle is accurate to within a "minute of angle," provided the shooter can keep his or her target in the crosshairs. That means that a good marksman can reliably hit a 1-inch target at 300 feet and reliably kill someone at 3,000 feet. The bobbing of the lifeboat would have been a factor, but snipers regularly shoot at moving targets from moving vehicles. (Advanced Navy SEAL training includes target practice from helicopters.)

There are two techniques for hitting a moving target—trapping, in which the sniper holds the rifle still and waits for the target to move into the sight, and tracking, in which the sniper moves the rifle to keep the target in the sight. Trapping is the easier method and is preferred among less-experienced marksmen. However, the Navy snipers needed to strike all three pirates simultaneously. Once the countdown began, they could not allow their target to drop from their sight and wait for him to return. (Sniper teams generally count down from five and fire in unison on the T in "two.")

The snipers had other challenges. First, they had to remain stealthy. If the pirates had noticed that gunmen were lying on the destroyer's fantail waiting to pick them off, they never would have exposed themselves to fire. During the day, the SEALs likely used nylon netting to keep themselves in the shadows. Second, they were a little too close for standard sniping tools. Because the barrel of a rifle sits a couple of inches below the sight, it's angled slightly upward. The center of the sight shows the spot the bullet will hit at 300 feet. At a little more than 100 feet, the SEALs would have had to compensate by aiming slightly above their targets. Finally, the SEALs were shooting from a tall destroyer into a tiny lifeboat, and shooting downward is difficult. A sniper rifle rests on a bipod, and the butt rests on the sniper's shoulder. In order to aim below the level of the bipod, the sniper has to prop his chest up. This can create some instability if it's not done properly.