Somali Pirates Hijack Supertanker - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

aklim · #1 11-17-2008, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fulcrum525

That pretty bold and at the same time quite clever as well. Unlike a ship full of tanks you can't just torpedo the thing.

Which actually probably wouldn't sink it anyways....unless it was one of these http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_65_torpedo

Why? I would think that with enough holes it too will sink.

retmil46 · #2 11-17-2008, 01:50 PM

US had it's own version of this once upon a time during the cold war.

Pretty much a suicide weapon. If you're close enough to get a good enough bearing on the target, even for a nuke, you're inside the blast zone as well. And with a sub launched weapon, the underwater pressure wave will travel even farther.

#3 11-17-2008, 02:27 PM

Get a few jets out there, blow the house to splinters and take out anything that moves on the deck. No need to blow up the whole thing for a few worthless pirates, we need to save that oil!

dynalow · #4 11-17-2008, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ForcedInduction

Get a few jets out there, blow the house to splinters and take out anything that moves on the deck. No need to blow up the whole thing for a few worthless pirates, we need to save that oil!

The Royal Saudi Air Force has a bunch of F-15's. It's their ship. Let them handle it. That's if they have the stomach for it. Then too, they have a bunch of money, which would spare shooting up the crew in an attack. Maybe they'll just pony up.

What's in it for the US, besides the oil cargo, bound for the US according to the article?

Fulcrum525 · #5 11-17-2008, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dynalow

The Royal Saudi Air Force has a bunch of F-15's. It's their ship. Let them handle it. That's if they have the stomach for it. Then too, they have a bunch of money, which would spare shooting up the crew in an attack.

What's in it for the US, besides the oil cargo, bound for the US according to the article?

Thats the other thing....its a super tanker...start putting holes in it and you'll have the biggest ecological disaster in history. Do we have any specs on the ship itself?

aklim · #6 11-17-2008, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fulcrum525

Thats the other thing....its a super tanker...start putting holes in it and you'll have the biggest ecological disaster in history. Do we have any specs on the ship itself?

But if you let them get away with it, what is to say that they won't take 2 supertankers hostage tomorrow?

Fulcrum525 · #7 11-17-2008, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

But if you let them get away with it, what is to say that they won't take 2 supertankers hostage tomorrow?

Nope, just saying that the situation needs to handled without loseing the ship....

Suddenly "Rouge Spear" jumps into my mind.

dynalow · #8 11-17-2008, 03:37 PM

^^^Brand new ship. Double bottomed I'm sure. Probably 250,000-300,000 tons. Draft probably 35-40 feet I guess. LOA ?? Beam ???

Edit:
LOA about 1,080 ft. DWT 318,000.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Pirates-Capture-Large-Saudi-Crude-Oil-Carrying-Ship-Sirius-Star/Article/200811315153159?lpos=World_News_Top_Stories_Header_0&lid=ARTICLE_15153159_Pirates_Capture_Large_Saudi_Crude_Oil_Carrying_Ship_Sirius_Star

aklim · #9 11-17-2008, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dynalow

The Royal Saudi Air Force has a bunch of F-15's. It's their ship. Let them handle it. That's if they have the stomach for it. Then too, they have a bunch of money, which would spare shooting up the crew in an attack.

What's in it for the US, besides the oil cargo, bound for the US according to the article?

Just remember that it is a Saudi ship. Tomorrow it could be a US ship. The problem with giving in to hostage situations is that it breeds more hostage situations. If I take a hostage and you give me what I want, won't I repeat the same act tomorrow? Now if I take your cat hostage and you burn my family at the stake, would I try it with Mr Jones dog? OTOH, if I see that I can get money by taking your cat hostage, tomorrow I might apply that same principle and try extract money out of Mr Jones dog. Next day, I might expand it to Mr Smith's kids.

dynalow · #10 11-17-2008, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

Just remember that it is a Saudi ship. Tomorrow it could be a US ship. The problem with giving in to hostage situations is that it breeds more hostage situations. If I take a hostage and you give me what I want, won't I repeat the same act tomorrow? Now if I take your cat hostage and you burn my family at the stake, would I try it with Mr Jones dog? OTOH, if I see that I can get money by taking your cat hostage, tomorrow I might apply that same principle and try extract money out of Mr Jones dog. Next day, I might expand it to Mr Smith's kids.

I agree 100% about the cave ins feeding the alligator. Not a wise practice in the long run. (The alligator is always hungry!)

Few oil takers today that ply the global shipping lanes fly the US flag and are manned with American crews. Most are foreign owned and flagged and chartered long term to the major oil Co's. That's my understanding anyway.

cmac2012 · #11 11-19-2008, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dynalow

The Royal Saudi Air Force has a bunch of F-15's. It's their ship. Let them handle it. That's if they have the stomach for it. Then too, they have a bunch of money, which would spare shooting up the crew in an attack. Maybe they'll just pony up.

What's in it for the US, besides the oil cargo, bound for the US according to the article?

It's going to increase the cost of many imports is what's in it for us.

It's a nasty dilemma. The spike in attacks has to be connected to the huge ransoms they've been getting, especially huge for Somalia.

The money no doubt enables them to improve their weaponry, boats, everything.

I hear the ship owners are reluctant to arm the ships. I can see how it could be dicey but one wonders at the wisdom of allowing large ships to be boarded so easily by such low tech pirates. Shouldn't be that hard to have a radar system encircling the ship warning of approaching small craft. And then sufficient weaponry mounted in enough locations around the perimeter could interfere with the sea-worthiness of those little boats in a big way.

I know if I were a crewman, sweating out weeks and months of captivity by Somali slime, I'd sure be thinking of how nice it would have been to nip that stuff in the bud.

Palangi · #12 11-19-2008, 11:42 PM

Kiribati fishing boat taken by pirates....

http://www.pacificmagazine.net/news/2008/11/19/kiribati-fishing-boat-hijacked-by-pirates

So, WTH is a fishing boat out of Tarawa doing off the coast of Africa?? Not enough fish in the Pacific?

tankdriver · #13 11-20-2008, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Palangi

Kiribati fishing boat taken by pirates....

http://www.pacificmagazine.net/news/2008/11/19/kiribati-fishing-boat-hijacked-by-pirates

So, WTH is a fishing boat out of Tarawa doing off the coast of Africa?? Not enough fish in the Pacific?

LOL. The only thing Kiribati has is trash.

As for what they were doing out there, the Kiribati are nuts. Probably got blown out there by a storm and survived long enough to end up there.

I read an awesome book about Kiribati called The Sex Lives Of Cannibals. Highly entertaining read, I recommend it.

Fulcrum525 · #14 11-17-2008, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

Why? I would think that with enough holes it too will sink.

To a certain degree yes, sometimes it isn't that easy though. Anyone remember that freighter New Carissa that gave the US Navy a headache trying to sink off the coast of Oregon?

"400 pounds (180 kg) of high explosives were attached to the bow and detonated.69 rounds of gunfire from the David R. Ray's 5-inch (127 mm) deck guns then punctured the hull, and the Bremerton fired a Mark 48 Torpedo at the underside of the ship. The bow section flooded and sank stern-first, trapping the remaining oil within"