How do pirates take over such huge ships?

[ItsFairmont]

I've been up close to those container ships. How in the heck do a bunch of pirates in a motorized skiff pull up alongside of and stop a ginormous freighter doing 20 knots?

Very confused. It seems as though the guys on the freighter would be laughing from 10 stories up, and it also seems the pirates would be easy targets for a couple plinkers on deck of the freighter.

Am I missing something? (obviously).

 

[RetiredGySgt]

I've been up close to those container ships. How in the heck do a bunch of pirates in a motorized skiff pull up alongside of and stop a ginormous freighter doing 20 knots?

Very confused. It seems as though the guys on the freighter would be laughing from 10 stories up, and it also seems the pirates would be easy targets for a couple plinkers on deck of the freighter.

Am I missing something? (obviously).

The Merchant Marines have NO weapons. As to how they board I assume there is an external ladder to the ocean level. The Pirates have Ak-47's and RPG's. An RPG can take down a TANK I doubt it would have much trouble opening the hull of an unarmored ship.

 

[Rightwngcrkpot]

Time to arm those ships - otherwise they are sitting ducks. Now I realize that Obama and Company would oppose arming these ship....well, for the same reason the libs opposed arming commercial airline pilots, and for the same reason they want to close Gitmo:

"Terrorists have rights!!!!!! Bawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!


RWC

 

[Diuretic]

Time to arm those ships - otherwise they are sitting ducks. Now I realize that Obama and Company would oppose arming these ship....well, for the same reason the libs opposed arming commercial airline pilots, and for the same reason they want to close Gitmo:

"Terrorists have rights!!!!!! Bawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!


RWC

Did you read post #2?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Time to arm those ships - otherwise they are sitting ducks. Now I realize that Obama and Company would oppose arming these ship....well, for the same reason the libs opposed arming commercial airline pilots, and for the same reason they want to close Gitmo:

"Terrorists have rights!!!!!! Bawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!


RWC

Well Obama wouldn't have much to say about it, you see few ships are American Flagged at all. Costs to much for most companies to flag in the US.

 

[del]

Time to arm those ships - otherwise they are sitting ducks. Now I realize that Obama and Company would oppose arming these ship....well, for the same reason the libs opposed arming commercial airline pilots, and for the same reason they want to close Gitmo:

"Terrorists have rights!!!!!! Bawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!


RWC

the ships are privately owned. most don't want to arm their crews for various money related reasons and have chosen not to. piracy is not new; if they felt a compelling reason to arm their ships, they would.

owners have rights!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[dilloduck]

I've been up close to those container ships. How in the heck do a bunch of pirates in a motorized skiff pull up alongside of and stop a ginormous freighter doing 20 knots?

Very confused. It seems as though the guys on the freighter would be laughing from 10 stories up, and it also seems the pirates would be easy targets for a couple plinkers on deck of the freighter.

Am I missing something? (obviously).

Johnny Depp can do anything.

 

[cbi0090]

Most are boarded at night, so they don't often see them coming. To stand watch around the perimeter of that size boat would take a far larger crew than what they have. Once they are on board they are the only ones with guns, merchant marines don't carry guns. An earlier post is right, an RPG can tear a hole in one of these ships. They are generally single hulled and even with multiple bulkheads, are easily disabled. They're not a solid as they look.
The U.S. Marine Corp came into being over just this very situation. One of their first actions "on the shores of Tripoli" was a reaction to pirating of this kind. The whole area needs to be occupied by someone. As long as there is no government it's just a free for all, like a kindergarten classroom with no teacher. It help Iran when they try and sneak missiles to the Hamas in Gaza, like they did recently, but got caught and bombed to hell by Israel in Sudan.

 

[editec]

Time to arm those ships - otherwise they are sitting ducks. Now I realize that Obama and Company would oppose arming these ship....well, for the same reason the libs opposed arming commercial airline pilots, and for the same reason they want to close Gitmo:

"Terrorists have rights!!!!!! Bawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!


RWC

Well Obama wouldn't have much to say about it, you see few ships are American Flagged at all. Costs to much for most companies to flag in the US.

Yeah, they might have to pay the crews a living wage.

But hey, don't worry about it.

Americans will inevitably pay to protect those ships anyway.

That's what Americans are good for.

Paying to protect everybody's interests but their own.

 

[cbi0090]

Time to arm those ships - otherwise they are sitting ducks. Now I realize that Obama and Company would oppose arming these ship....well, for the same reason the libs opposed arming commercial airline pilots, and for the same reason they want to close Gitmo:

"Terrorists have rights!!!!!! Bawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!


RWC

Well Obama wouldn't have much to say about it, you see few ships are American Flagged at all. Costs to much for most companies to flag in the US.

Yeah, they might have to pay the crews a living wage.

But hey, don't worry about it.

Americans will inevitably pay to protect those ships anyway.

That's what Americans are good for.

Paying to protect everybody's interests but their own.

It wasn't wages that ran the shipping industry out of the U.S. It was Valdez. Maritime law has never held any ship liable for anything more than the value of the vessel and it's cargo. This has been in place for hundreds of years. Valdez changed all that here in the U.S. It actually took an act of congress to override international maritime law and make Exxon liable for the cost of the spill. Once that happened the liability costs of operating a cargo shipping line in the U.S. became too high and they all moved to Monrovia, Panama, and such.

 

[editec]

How do pirates take over such huge ships?

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar, matie! Dunnie ye know that:

it ain't the size of pirates' ship in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the pirates' ship?

 

[Rightwngcrkpot]

The issue goes way beyond mere piracy: Somalia is a hotbed of Al Qaeda activity and has been for years. My guess is that the hijacking of these ships is for the sole purpose of raising money for Al Qaeda, and if that is true, it makes the piracy issue one of grave international concern.

Now - will any nation (or for that matter, The UN) have the testoserone to go in there - do the right thing - and clean house? When pirates along the Barbary Coast plundered international shipping in the early 1800s, The United States Marines went in there and kicked their pirate asses and put them out of business.

RWC

 

[Epsilon Delta]

Time to arm those ships - otherwise they are sitting ducks. Now I realize that Obama and Company would oppose arming these ship....well, for the same reason the libs opposed arming commercial airline pilots, and for the same reason they want to close Gitmo:

"Terrorists have rights!!!!!! Bawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!


RWC

Well Obama wouldn't have much to say about it, you see few ships are American Flagged at all. Costs to much for most companies to flag in the US.

That makes sense. In fact, wasn't this particular one they hijacked flying the Danish flag? Maybe the prates didn't know who they were messing with... OAIShdAPSODIHDSo.

 

[editec]

Those guys aren't much interested in supporting ARabs who think of them as non-humans, methinks.

What source can you direct me to that will show me they are Alquada operatives?

My sources tell me something very different than that, but I'm always willing to learn something new.

 

[Epsilon Delta]

The issue goes way beyond mere piracy: Somalia is a hotbed of Al Qaeda activity and has been for years. My guess is that the hijacking of these ships is for the sole purpose of raising money for Al Qaeda, and if that is true, it makes the piracy issue one of grave international concern.

Now - will any nation (or for that matter, The UN) have the testoserone to go in there - do the right thing - and clean house? When pirates along the Barbary Coast plundered international shipping in the early 1800s, The United States Marines went in there and kicked their pirate asses and put them out of business.

RWC

Hmmm.... Yeah, I dunno, it would make sense for Al-Qaeda to be doing SOMETHING there, since there's that big Islamic Fundamentalist uhhh... party? guerrilla? quasi-government? Fuck I don't even know what it is. The Islamic Courts or whatever. I mean, it might not be next to Afghanistan, but I'd imagine a huge chunk of land next to the middle east with no government would be a hotbed for terrorist recruitment. But then, I don't know if the pirates are associated with them, maybe they're just pirates. Got any links?

As for no nation having the testosterone... well, I'm sure you remember the Battle of Mogadishu. Hell, not even the Americans managed to stick around. In fact, I've heard that it was that sort of thing that emboldened Bin Laden, and he's always saying that Americans are weak once the body bags start coming, that they can't stomach conflict, etc. But fuck, I mean, there were 160 people in the US side (some Malaysians, Pakistanis, and Italians too) against 4,000 militias? Goes to show that you have to go in strong or not gone in at all. Afterall, America is the superpower... it CAN pretty much quash any objective it chooses, but it's gotta get that internal support.

I mean, you say not even the UN, but that's obvious. The UN can't do anything... it doesn't have an army! The UN can only do as its members states allow. So if no nation has the 'testosterone' to deal with the problem the only solution is to get MANY nations to do it co-ordinating through the UN. That way it's more fair... Americans shouldn't have to shoulder the full responsibility of cleaning that place up. Once we FINALLY agree to do something about Somalia it should be a whole international force (but a real one, one that can actually tame the goddamn place), and you know, most likely its gonna need a mini-Marshall plan once the mess gets cleaned up.

I know- it won't come cheap, but it's gotta be done eventually. We might as well go halfs.

 

[xotoxi]

I'm not sure how effective they actually are, but I think the concept of a sonic cannon is pretty cool!

Long range acoustic device - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[editec]

Well Obama wouldn't have much to say about it, you see few ships are American Flagged at all. Costs to much for most companies to flag in the US.

Yeah, they might have to pay the crews a living wage.

But hey, don't worry about it.

Americans will inevitably pay to protect those ships anyway.

That's what Americans are good for.

Paying to protect everybody's interests but their own.

It wasn't wages that ran the shipping industry out of the U.S. It was Valdez. Maritime law has never held any ship liable for anything more than the value of the vessel and it's cargo. This has been in place for hundreds of years. Valdez changed all that here in the U.S. It actually took an act of congress to override international maritime law and make Exxon liable for the cost of the spill. Once that happened the liability costs of operating a cargo shipping line in the U.S. became too high and they all moved to Monrovia, Panama, and such.

Where do you get this crap?

American Maritime industry was dying long before the Exxon Vadez incvident.

 

[Indiana Oracle]

Agree with RetiredGySgt on the how. Thing is we cannot let them get away with this when direct US interests are connected with the ship. I think The Prophet's crowd is handling things well btw.

 

[WorldAHope]

Time to arm those ships - otherwise they are sitting ducks. Now I realize that Obama and Company would oppose arming these ship....well, for the same reason the libs opposed arming commercial airline pilots, and for the same reason they want to close Gitmo:

"Terrorists have rights!!!!!! Bawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!


RWC

They are private vessels, not government or military. And they are from many nations, sail under many flags. Did you know that? Yes, you probably did, but that does not stop you from passing out another sneering comment.
Obama did not decide, does not decide to disarm those private international vessels, nor did he or does he decide to keep them unarmed. No matter how many times you lift up a cheek and let your ridiculous comments leak out from your opinion hole, you are wrong. Every time. Amazing.

 

[WorldAHope]

I'm not sure how effective they actually are, but I think the concept of a sonic cannon is pretty cool!

Long range acoustic device - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cool cannons. Can they be made to emit melodic blasts, like very loud skull shattering
"Greensleeves", or "Inna Gadda Davida" ?
I'll see it I can get one of those to bring to a Tea Party.
For protecting shipping, they could be purchased with proceeds of an international Stimulus bill.
Or would that be construed by NOsers as interpork ?