Jolly Roger sunk.

[commoner]

All I can say is "Well done India"........somebody has to take these pil*oc*s on.....we should get together and sink the lot of 'em.....

AHRR lads!....shiver m' timbers! ....commoner

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7736885.stm

[expat]

Some countries are not hampered by political correctness..........thank goodness.

Matt

[Al_Fallujah]

I agree. It about time someone did something decisive.  Not to downplay the small bit the Royal Marines did last week, but that was small arms stuff over open water. This was ship to ship. A bigger piece.

I have noticed that the discussions regarding the Cargo Ship Faina dropped from the news as well. The story was lost in all the election hoopla I think.  

That was the one with all the arms and tanks, etc. Last I heard they still have it, even though the deadline past. The rumor was they were offloading the smaller stuff.

They need to start hanging pirates on the spot again.

[Al_Fallujah]

I have watched modern Piracy stuff for a while, either High seas stuff, or river pirates on the Amazon. It fascinates me that this problem still exists.

[Craig.]

As Matt said, thank goodness some people dont have the PC brigade to worry about. Would be nice to see the Russians provide a proper force there. Fairly sure the problems would drop dramatically if they were left to deal with the problem.

[Hagar]

I have watched modern Piracy stuff for a while, either High seas stuff, or river pirates on the Amazon. It fascinates me that this problem still exists.  Always will of course.

What amazes me is that it flourishes.

A tanker crew member explained in a radio interview yesterday just how easy this is. The Sirius Star is reported as being three times the size of a US aircraft carrier. Even the largest tankers have a minimum crew these days. Typically two crew members are on duty throughout the night, one at the wheel & one on watch.

Some of these latest incidents took place on the high seas many miles away from the nearest land. I've read that even in congested sea lanes like the English Channel it's quite common to put the ship on autopilot while they play cards or watch videos. The heavily armed pirates draw alongside, throw up a few ropes, climb aboard & overpower the crew before they know what hit them.

[Al_Fallujah]

Sounds simple.  Thats a long way to throw a rope... prolly have some other grapnel hook method. I am not a nautical guru, so I would have no idea, really.

I am impressed though to cover that kind of distance in open water, board, and take her. It shows they are very sophisticated and well informed on the location of vessels at sea.

I saw nothing saying if they took her by day or night.

[Al_Fallujah]

The link I posted before may or may not work. The site is difficult.
I grabbed a screen shot of the map.



All events so far in 2008, both attempted and successful. On the actual page, if it will load for you, you can click on the icons, and it will give you the info regarding event.

[Hagar]

Sounds simple.  Thats a long way to throw a rope... prolly have some other grapnel hook method. I am not a nautical guru, so I would have no idea, really.

I am impressed though to cover that kind of distance in open water, board, and take her. It shows they are very sophisticated and well informed on the location of vessels at sea.

These chaps are pros with sophisticated equipment & weapons. A few grapnel launchers would do the trick. http://www.rebs.no/Products/Grapnel_Launcher/HH_Grapnel_Launcher.htm

I have no idea which sort of vessels the pirates use. The Sirius Star incident took place 450 nautical miles south-east of Mombasa, well away from the nearest land.

[Al_Fallujah]

I have seen references to speed boats in several reports. Would have to be something small and fast.
I was thinking of some kind of grapnel launcher like that as well.

25 in the crew, most of those on the rack, maybe 1 or 2 in the galley preping the next meal, 4 or 5 actually on duty.
Not a mariner, but I am gonna guess the biggest worries are other large boats, and sticking to navigable waters, maintaining course.

[Fozzer]

...what happened to Radar, scanning the seas?

...similar to ATC Radar scanning the skies?

F.... 8-)...!

[Al_Fallujah]

We need to ask an expert. How well can a small surface vessel like a speed boat be seen on RADAR? What about interference from the water?

I have wondered about Satellite imagry, but by the time someone sees a speed boat from a bird, its moved somewhere else. High altitude recon planes, maybe? The pirates are organized, but shoulder fired stuff has limits, and I have not heard if they have old soviet SAMs.

Line of site on open water is limited to 7 miles I think, then small stuff can hide just over the horizon. RADAR works on LOS.

For shipping companies, there would be the cost of the equipment on all their vessels, and personnel to monitor and maintain it.

[C]

Maybe we should start strategic placement of "Goalkeeper" and "Phalanx" type systems on high value shipping, and enforce exclusion zones around such shipping when on the open seas (and obviously disabling the systems when entering port or accepting visitors!)

[MWISimmer]

Maybe we should start strategic placement of "Goalkeeper" and "Phalanx" type systems on high value shipping...

Let's hope it's not a "Heurelho Gomes" (Spurs goalkeeper) system... it won't catch anything...

 :P

[C]

Maybe we should start strategic placement of "Goalkeeper" and "Phalanx" type systems on high value shipping...

Let's hope it's not a "Heurelho Gomes" (Spurs goalkeeper) system... it won't catch anything...