A U.S. military commander urged the shipping companies on Monday to provide armed guards for their cargo boats in case of piracy in the Horn of Africa.Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, who is in charge of the U.S. Navy’s Central Command fleet, said during an interview with CNN that shipping companies needed to provide a last line of defense against being boarded by pirates, including armed guards and barbed wire around the lower parts of the ship, among others.
“You need two things to have a successful piracy attack. You need pirates that are seeking monetary gain and you also need a ship that’s able to get pirated,” he said.
The commander said that two vessels survived pirate attacks last week because they had put barbed wire around the ship on the closest avenues of approach…
There really is nothing new about defensive armaments in the Merchant Marine. Vessels were armed during both of the World Wars as defense against submarine and aircraft attacks. A maximum of four 50-calibre automatic weapons mounted for raking fire – two on each side of the craft – with trained gunners – is about all you need.
A lot less expensive than a million-dollar ransom. If you can get it past the fracking lawyers.
#31 & #32 – Great ideas! Doesn’t Obama have some website where you could propose these? Should definitely submit them…
# 29 MikeN said, “Every pirate killed just creates more pirates.”
Pirates of the Caribbean IV
Better yet have the shipping companies pony up for a MK 15 Phalanx on each ship. With the proper set up it can take out both shoulder fired weapons and small surface craft.
I have watch this thing decimate floating targets at sea in a matter of secounds. Just the sound of the this firing would make the pirates turn tale and run.
The weapon is short range and defensive in nature. Sounds good to me.
I don’t understand why they just can’t use the assets at hand to protect these ships, and you don’t need to arm them to do that.
A combination of P3 Orion Navy recon aircraft and Air Force predator drones might be able to track and sink these terrorists. Both systems were created for long duration recon missions, though the predator probably not so much for maritime use. Both can carry armament in an attack role.
Really, how hard can it be to sink a boatload of Islamic terrorists zipping around the horn of Africa in Boston Whalers?
Another thought occurs to me. How about using less-than-lethal measures like the LRAD “sonic cannon”? It was used with good effect back in 2005 aboard the “Seaborn Spirit” cruise ship right there off the coast of Somalia. Why aren’t there more of those deployed?
Hmm Q ships making a comeback?