Avast ye, more pirate news... - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

LUVMBDiesels · #1 04-10-2009, 05:14 AM

I just heard on the morning news that a fleet of pirate "mother ships" is heading to where the 'MAERSK ALABAMA' and the lifeboat with the Captain and the scum is drifting. It looks like they are going to go toe to toe with the USN! We have a destroyer on scene and a frigate heading there. I can only hope that a couple shots from the destroyer's deck gun convinces these pirates to take up a new occupation. I would hate to think that we wasted a missile on them

Medmech · #2 04-10-2009, 05:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LUVMBDiesels

I just heard on the morning news that a fleet of pirate "mother ships" is heading to where the 'MAERSK ALABAMA' and the lifeboat with the Captain and the scum is drifting. It looks like they are going to go toe to toe with the USN! We have a destroyer on scene and a frigate heading there. I can only hope that a couple shots from the destroyer's deck gun convinces these pirates to take up a new occupation. I would hate to think that we wasted a missile on them

I wish they would stop firing warning shots and start killing some somali's, the only good ones are dead ones.

Medmech · #3 04-10-2009, 08:14 AM

From what I'm told they have to use kid gloves because there are still many people being held hostage from other hijackings at sea and ashore so bombing and killing may mean certain death for them. Personally I think pirates need to be tracked via UAV when they leave port and be blown out of the water when they reach a certain point. The assets with the hostage situation skill set are in very short supply and needed in other parts of the world reequipping and re-tasking SEAL Team 6 or Delta is not an easy thing to do, the run of the mill SEAL is not trained to pull an operation like this off.

Medmech · #4 04-10-2009, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by el presidente

That's understandable.

Isn't one of the very first targets usually communication? These jokers are using Sat phones....get the carrier to shut off their service and these bozos can no longer communicate at sea.

A Vuclan mini-cannon should be able to carve enough holes in any floatilla to get the message across.

Where's Chuck Norris when you need him??

From what I gather they have access to military grade technology and cutting the commo off that they do have will reduce intelligence gathering, OBL had the same sat phone for more than a year while we listened in on every conversation he had until he was tipped off that we were listening.

LUVMBDiesels · #5 04-10-2009, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

I don't think they will kill the hostages, remember they are their paychecks. They may not value their lives but I am sure they value their paychecks.

Bring in on b**ch's, lets rock!

Man, that is what I am talking about a few bursts from "ole reliable" and the speedboats are toast. Couple 3 or 5 inch shells and it is bye bye mother ship! What we need is to go in to the ports with a team of Israeli, French and US Marines to rescue the hostages and burn out the nest of vipers. "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli" means something! I say bring out the 'USS Constitution' as that frigate has a great record against pirates

dynalow · #6 04-10-2009, 08:57 AM

Pirates recapture U.S. hostage after escape bid
Navy officials watch as sailor jumps off drifting lifeboat, Toby Talbot / AP

Captain held by pirates attempts escape

April 10: Capt. Richard Phillips, the American hostage taken by Somali pirates, has been recaptured after attempting to escape from the lifeboat where he was being held. NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski reports.
Today show

updated 29 minutes ago
MOGADISHU, Somalia - The American sailor being held hostage by Somali pirates managed to jump off the lifeboat overnight but was recaptured, NBC News reported Friday.

Captain Richard Phillips tried to swim away before being taken back into the pirates' custody, NBC's Jim Miklaszewski told the TODAY show.

The escape bid was witnessed by the U.S. Navy but happened too quickly for them to come to his aid.

The lifeboat was drifting at sea after running out of fuel, and the pirates have vowed to fight any attack by U.S. naval forces stalking them at high sea.

"We are not afraid of the Americans," one of the pirates told Reuters by satellite phone on behalf of the gang holding Phillips in the Indian Ocean. "We will defend ourselves if attacked."

Despite their defiant talk, maritime groups tracking the saga — the first time Somali pirates have captured an American — say a more likely outcome is a negotiated solution, possibly involving safe passage in exchange for their captive.

Four pirates have been holding Phillips, a former Boston taxi driver, since Wednesday after a foiled bid to hijack the 17,000-ton Maersk Alabama several hundred miles off Somalia.

The ship's lifeboat has run out of fuel, other pirates are too nervous to help them due to the presence of foreign naval ships, and the USS Bainbridge destroyer is up close.

"Other pirates want to come and help their friends, but that would be like sentencing themselves to death," said Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme that monitors the region's seas.

"They will release the captain, I think, maybe today or tomorrow, but in exchange for something. Maybe some payment or compensation, and definitely free passage back home."

An official said the bandits were in talks with the Navy about resolving the standoff peacefully.

Phillips thwarted the takeover by telling his crew of about 20 to lock themselves in a room, the crew told stateside relatives.

The crew later overpowered some of the pirates, but Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vt., surrendered himself to the bandits to safeguard his men, and four of the Somalis fled with him to an enclosed lifeboat, the relatives said.

Phillips has a radio and contacted the Navy and the crew of the Alabama to say he is unharmed, the Maersk shipping company said in a statement, adding that the lifeboat is within sight of the USS Bainbridge, the naval destroyer that arrived on the scene on Thursday.

The Alabama began sailing toward the Kenyan port of Mombasa — its original destination — and was expected to arrive Saturday night, said Joseph Murphy, a professor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy whose son, Shane Murphy, is second in command of the vessel. The elder Murphy said he was briefed by the shipping company. Video

Phillips is one of about 270 hostages being held at the moment by Somali pirates, who have been plying the busy sea-lanes of the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean for years.

They are keeping 18 captured vessels at or near lairs on the Somali coast — five of them taken since the weekend alone.

Yet the fact Phillips is the first U.S. citizen seized, and the drama of his 20-man American crew stopping the Alabama being hijacked on Wednesday, has galvanized world attention.

It has also given President Barack Obama another foreign policy problem in a place most Americans would rather forget.

Perched on the Horn of Africa across from the Middle East, Somalia has suffered 18 years of civil conflict since warlords toppled former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

Americans remember with a shudder the disastrous U.S.-U.N. intervention there soon after, including the infamous "Black Hawk Down" battle in 1993 when 18 U.S. troops were killed in a 17-hour firefight that later inspired a book and a movie.

U.S. military officials said more forces were on the way and that all options were on the table to save the captain.

"We're definitely sending more ships down to the area," a defense official told Reuters. He said one of the ships would be the USS Halyburton, a guided missile frigate that has two helicopters on board.

Last year saw an unprecedented number of hijackings off Somalia — 42 in total. That disrupted shipping, delayed food aid to east Africa, increased insurance costs, and persuaded some firms to send cargoes round South Africa instead of through the Suez Canal, a critical route for oil.

It also brought a massive international response, with ships from the United States, Europe, China, Japan and others flocking to the region to protect the sea-routes.

As the patrols mainly focused on the Gulf of Aden, the gateway to the Suez, the pirates began moving further afield and have been striking as far south as Indian Ocean waters near the Seychelles and Madagascar.

Analysts say the attack on the Alabama could lead to a new phase in international efforts to stop piracy.

"Piracy may be a centuries-old crime, but we are working to bring an appropriate, 21st-century response," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

With a vast area for the pirates to roam in, however, analysts say the only real solution is peace and stable government in Somalia itself.

"All the world's naval forces do not have enough available ships to protect the 20,000 vessels that pass through the Gulf of Aden annually and the wider 2.5 million square miles of ocean where Somali pirate attacks occurred in recent years," said U.S. Horn of Africa scholar David Shinn in a recent paper.
******

I think this ends today.

Maybe the Halyburton is bringing a seal team with it. So, the Bainbridge gets up near the lifeboat, the seal team slips over the other side, A diversion is created and the lifeboat is overturned somehow. Captain is saved. Pirates captured or killed.

Or maybe these helos make a high speed pass and spray tear gas or something to disable them and then rescue the Capt and capture the pirates.

Hand salute to Capt. Phillips.

Txjake · #7 04-10-2009, 09:10 AM

"Piracy may be a centuries-old crime, but we are working to bring an appropriate, 21st-century response," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

oops, here comes the checkbook, when all we should be doing is wasting these bastards............

I am with Howi, UAV, follow blow up, AC-130 on the pirate villages

awsrock · #8 04-10-2009, 09:16 AM

These pirates are a joke. Have you seen them? It just looks like a bunch of dudes hopped on a boat and went out pirating. Of course, when you have a gun, you make the rules.

I'm all for blowin' em up. Who cares? They are doing illegal acts in international waters.

I'd like to see their "mothership". I bet it's a joke too. I can't believe they are going to go up against the navy...any navy! What do they expect??

Txjake · #9 04-10-2009, 09:20 AM

the media is having a field day with the mothership/pirate thing. remember, they wowed out about the Somali's "technicals", basically a pickup truck with a machine gun on it like it was a new version of the Abrams tank. These pirates, like the idiots in the technicals are easy to kill; we just have to get the stomach to do the right thing. I dont hold out much hope with Barry & Hillary running the show...

lutzTD · #10 04-10-2009, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Howitzer

From what I'm told they have to use kid gloves because there are still many people being held hostage from other hijackings at sea and ashore so bombing and killing may mean certain death for them. Personally I think pirates need to be tracked via UAV when they leave port and be blown out of the water when they reach a certain point. The assets with the hostage situation skill set are in very short supply and needed in other parts of the world reequipping and re-tasking SEAL Team 6 or Delta is not an easy thing to do, the run of the mill SEAL is not trained to pull an operation like this off.

I thought being a SEAL took you above "run of the mill"? Seems like a few SEALS could just pop up out of the water in the middle of the night and overwhelm these guys pretty quick. or just poke a little hole in thier boat say coupkle inches diameter, they will wear themselves out bailing and then be in the water. I bet those Russian guns wont last long submerged in salt. I hope the other idiots decide to bring out all the mother ships. All we need to do is stall them until the rest of the warships arrive then we can do a good ole fashoned siege type blockade until they run there supplies out and beg to be taken prisoner.

Medmech · #11 04-10-2009, 09:49 AM

^^I should have been more specific, this type of mission is not the standard SEAL skill set, it may be the Hollywood skillset but not in reality.

Medmech · #12 04-10-2009, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Txjake

I am with Howi, UAV, follow blow up, AC-130 on the pirate villages

Hey, there's a surprise!

Txjake · #13 04-10-2009, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Howitzer

^^I should have been more specific, this type of mission is not the standard SEAL skill set, it may be the Hollywood skillset but not in reality.

righto...plus this lifeboat has one door in and is completely covered. we will most likely lose the hostage and maybe some operators. as mush as I think these skinnys should be shark food, we have to act carefully here.. Standoff will get interesting when the motherships arrive, but hopefully they will be sent to the bottom... interesting times here and will show how we man up under the new administration. hopefully we do this right...

LUVMBDiesels · #14 04-10-2009, 11:26 AM

I still say this is a job for the smaller ships of the surface fleet. Frigates and corvettes are just the thing for dealing with these pirates, heck a CG cutter could take out the speedboats and probably sink a mother ship as well (on TV they look like captured tramp steamers with improvised towing capability.)

Sink the mother ships round up the now helpless speedboats and then blockade their ports. Go in with the Marines and clean them out.

This is an 19th century problem and should be dealt with in a 19th century manner!

http://www.history.navy.mil/docs/war1812/const3.htm

In the meantime I say the merchies should start running in convoys with a bunch of ships able to support each other and either an armed merchant ship or a frigate running shotgun, the pirates will have to turn back.

What we need to do is sink these b@stards, capture as many of them as possible and try them in an Admiralty court before stringing them up. The only way they should escape the ultimate penalty is by turning over all the hostages and captured ships intact immediately. The last thing we should do is turn them over to the Somali 'authorities' in other words their cousins...

Mistress · #15 04-10-2009, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Howitzer

From what I'm told they have to use kid gloves because there are still many people being held hostage from other hijackings at sea and ashore so bombing and killing may mean certain death for them. Personally I think pirates need to be tracked via UAV when they leave port and be blown out of the water when they reach a certain point. The assets with the hostage situation skill set are in very short supply and needed in other parts of the world reequipping and re-tasking SEAL Team 6 or Delta is not an easy thing to do, the run of the mill SEAL is not trained to pull an operation like this off.

Can't they swim under the boat with the captain aboard, tip it over spear the pirates and rescue the captain? It's amazing what you can work out in your head...