PIRACY

[Bgile]

Karl,

I agree that trying to spread democracy is often a foolish endeavor. I think you confused "Irak" with "Iran" in part of your paragraph, but I sure don't understand the way many Islamists treat women. I don't think the USA should be the policemen of the world, and I'm not sure we belong in Afghanistan, although the Taliban supported Bin Laden and I have a beef with him. I would keep firing Hellfire missiles at the Taliban from Predators and I don't much care what the Pakistanis think of my doing that.

[ufo]

@lwd

Well spoken! Some thoughts to that ...

...like it or not – killing people is less acceptable nowadays....

Looking at the history of the late 20th and early 21 century I'm not sure that is supportable. While some have an aversion to it others certainly do not.

True! But then - this is us facing the problem. It would be very convinient if the Chineese did us the favour of trampling Somalias costal regions to dust. They can. We can not. We probably would even have the cheek to protest at the UN just for good measure.

...If you want to have peace … buy peace.

Actually history teaches pretty much the opposite. If you buy peace you only buy it for a short term. Unless you can fix the underlying problems the conflict will be back in full measure.

I am happy to take examples! I can not think of a case where a nation that after a successful campaign invested money and politics in a region did not get stability as a reward. After NATO attacked Serbia many NATO members put massive investment into former Yougoslavia. The Balcans are fairly stable and it is not absurd to think of Serbia as a future NATO member. After the War in Siera Leone Britain invested into the country and though it is far from safe and stable it is much less of the horror it has been. After the problems in Sudan and Somalia neither UN nor NATO could find it in their hearts to spend a penny there and the region is going from bad to worse.
Stability needs investments. It can not be kept stable with weapons alone.

After that one ended the Americans decided to simply buy peace and rewarded the Germans with everything from care-parcel to Marshall Plan.

That's a bit of a misstatement of both the Marshap plan and the situtation at the time.

Feel free to write some pages about it. If you write a summary it boils down to more or less that. A Morgenthau-Germany would have made an equaly suitable battleground for war with Stalin yet it was decided to stabilize the region by paying big time for the rebuilding of western Europe. It worked.

...Lasting peace costs investment not weapons.

The European peace after WWII was at least in part due as much to nuclear weapons as economics.

True. But a policy of deterrent needs an inteligent enemy with something to loose. The problem with piracy is entirely different. The ones reaping the benefits are not the perpetrators. The ones who get the lion shares of the ransons for vessels do not care a bit if the whole of Somalia is blasted away to widen the entrance to the Suez.

What do you think you will achieve by blasting some fishing vessels on shore? Someone will build new ones..

But they will also have to finance the new weapons and find will crew. As the profits decline and the risk increase this becomes a loosing proposition

Other than indogenous piracy - poor men going to see for plunder, taking a VLCC is nothing a fisherman ashore drams up. This is organized. Of millions of pounds ransom for a vessel few pennies remain in Somalia the rest drains away somewhere else. This is organized more like the piracy of the North Afrika in the days of John Paul Jones. For those who pull the strings the crews are entirely expendable.
We (amonst others) need to find and fund other emplyment for the crews or take out the organizers. One is a job for our foreign offices, one for our secret services. The military only cures the symptoms.

And while they are building them someone will have the bright idea of packing a child's corpse into one of the vessels you just blasted, take pictures and the Do-gooder press will nail your fleece to the doors..

That assumes they are around to do the photos. It's also pretty easy to tell a recent corpse from an old one.

This kind of war is not about the truth. This is fought on the front pages and if you bring in a dementy with a long winded statement from a pathologist the day after tomorrow you have lost it allready on the home front. Like it or not the Western democracies have to fight a 'cleaner', a 'nicer' war than few decades ago. Something we inherrited from Vietnam amonst other wars.

... And for every innocent soul butchered you breed eleven more desperate men willing to go to sea. It will never end. It is in fact the same sad reason why we will loose the Afghan war..

Actually just the opposite. The people know who is responsible for acts like this and it isn't the west.

I think this overestimates the amount of free information in parts of the world.

That's why we're winning in Iraq and in the greater war on terror.

How I do whish you to be right on this one ... but I do not think so!

Q-sips are certainly an option. They work out at sea where collateral damage is hard to do. But they only nip the tip, they do not root out the problem...

But they can. They make it no longer cost effective.

A fishing vessel with rocket propelled granades and few desperate men costs peanuts. This is organized and for those organizing it the loss of one vessel costs near to nothing. A successful operation yields millions of Pounds.

For attacking pirates at shore – let's be honest: there are parts of Houston where robberies are more common than elsewhere. No one yet suggested solving the problem by carpet bombing Houston.
No! No! Now why is that different?!

Perhaps becuase there is a rule of law functioning there. That's a completely different situation from Somalia.

Then let us bring law to Somalia not war.

If these days you hit the innocent you campaign is doomed...

That depends on a bunch of factors.

[/quote]
Free press for example which luckily we have for the good or the bad of it. We can just not (any longer) do war atrocities which for example China could do without even blinking.




The world has changed and the 'Die Hard' films are just that ... films. But - yes - it can be done with sheer violence! A chap who sailed for the Merchant Navy had this fine (?) story about piracy: They delivered cement to Nigeria during the oil boom. Unloading was fiendishly slow and close to a hundred ships sat wallowing at anchor for weeks. And the lokals found out that a quick run to a frighter, kick and punch up the crew and take out everything valuable actually worked quite well as a second income. Some crew got killed, some embasadors protested and obviously nothing else happened.
One day a Soviet frighter had a dead man hanging from its bridge wing. There was never again an attack on a vessel flying the red banner. Civilized? Justified? It worked! It is just barbaric!
Even thirty years ago a British or American captain could not have done that. He would in the end have gone to jail for the lynching. The soviet captain probably never encountered any problems back home. There are different rules for different nations.

Piracy ... no easy fix to that!

Ufo

[lwd]

...If you want to have peace … buy peace.

Actually history teaches pretty much the opposite. If you buy peace you only buy it for a short term. Unless you can fix the underlying problems the conflict will be back in full measure.

I am happy to take examples! I can not think of a case where a nation that after a successful campaign invested money and politics in a region did not get stability as a reward.

It appears we are using different defintions of "buy peace". I would consider the above as fixing the underlying problem(s) once peace has been won (more or less) by the military.

The European peace after WWII was at least in part due as much to nuclear weapons as economics.

True. But a policy of deterrent needs an inteligent enemy with something to loose. The problem with piracy is entirely different. The ones reaping the benefits are not the perpetrators. The ones who get the lion shares of the ransons for vessels do not care a bit if the whole of Somalia is blasted away to widen the entrance to the Suez.

I disagree. The pirates are getting a huge payoff in local terms. What's more there's the lottery effect. IE they can see people who made it big. If that is taken away or the risk becomes too high then it becomes far less desirable to be a pirate. This means that the financers are making less and paying out more. Eventually it becomes a loosing proposition.

.... For those who pull the strings the crews are entirely expendable.

Too some extent but if captures go down and casualties go up they start finding it harder to recruit and their other costs go up as well. It's not just the loss of the crews it's the loss of the boats and the mystic and the decrease in captures.

.... The military only cures the symptoms.

It can cure more than the symptoms but it may not cure all of the problems. It can however set the stage so that the underlying problems are easier to solve.

...This kind of war is not about the truth. This is fought on the front pages and if you bring in a dementy with a long winded statement from a pathologist the day after tomorrow you have lost it allready on the home front.

Perhpas but the indications are that that is less true now than it was a few years ago. People are becoming less likely to believe press releases from organizations that have developed track records of lies. Indeed it is just such tactics that have hurt terrorist world wide. One can argue that Al Qudda has done more damage to itself in this way than western forces have through direct action.

Actually just the opposite. The people know who is responsible for acts like this and it isn't the west.

I think this overestimates the amount of free information in parts of the world.

The word eventually gets out especially when tactics like this are repeated.

But they can. They make it no longer cost effective.

A fishing vessel with rocket propelled granades and few desperate men costs peanuts. This is organized and for those organizing it the loss of one vessel costs near to nothing. A successful operation yields millions of Pounds.

But how many of them do you need for each successful operation? How long are they at sea? How many of them do you loose for each capture? Consider also that if losses are high it becomes easier to trace who is financing the pirates and that makes them more vulnerable as well.

...Then let us bring law to Somalia not war.

That has been the desire of quite a few for some time. The problem is it's not clear how to do it without a major commitment of ground froces and it's not even clear that would work.

...One day a Soviet frighter had a dead man hanging from its bridge wing. There was never again an attack on a vessel flying the red banner. Civilized? Justified? It worked! It is just barbaric!

I'd say: Yes Yes and No.

Even thirty years ago a British or American captain could not have done that. He would in the end have gone to jail for the lynching. ...

Possibly. Certainly if it was a lynching. On the other it's not at all clear from your story that it was a lynching. For instance the Soviet capatin could have held a court martial, found the individual guilty, passed sentence, and had it executed. A US or British captain could probably have done the same. Of course if there were repercussions he might have found himself looking for a new job.

[USS ALASKA]

At War (NYTimes.com)
September 18, 2009

Roboboat?

By C.J. Chivers

In recent years, maritime shipping companies, private security firms and navies around the globe have pondered the problem of high-seas piracy off Africa’s east coast, where more than 150 merchant ships have been attacked by small craft in 2009 alone. What to do? How to thwart a menace that can resemble a fishing boat? And across an area so vast?

It was inevitable that weapons manufacturers and dealers would weigh in. Now one has. Imagine an aquatic drone, an unmanned boat that could patrol the waters off eastern Africa and allow threats to be assessed and engaged by remote control.

This is an idea proposed by Timothy P. Sheridan, an American arms dealer who has been providing equipment to the Pentagon for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. (Sheridan, among other things, has arranged the shipment of tens of thousands of small arms for distribution to Iraqi security forces.)

His latest venture is called Maritime Defense Systems International, LLC., which offers an automated counterpiracy system, as he calls it, that could be outfitted to a vessel and set loose on patrol. The system contains a forward-looking infrared radar for surveillance and target detection, an automated machine gun on a rotating mount and a satellite video uplink that would let a remote operator run the craft from on shore or a work station on a distant ship.

Think, Roboboat. Now think Roboboat run by a trained naval officer, much as Air Force pilots fly Predator and Reaper drones.

In the next several weeks, Sheridan will be testing a preliminary version, which combines several off-the-shelf products, on a GB-12 patrol craft from Radix Marine, a boat manufacturer in Yakima, Wash. The first tests will be on manned vessels, with the system operated by joystick by the crew from within.

If the tests prove successful and market interest develops, Sheridan hopes to sell a fully remote system. The idea, he says, could solve one of the confounding problems with countering piracy — the questions of who has weapons, and what determines their rules of engagement. Few people advocate arming crews, which poses many risks: tactical, legal and potentially with liability.

An episode in recent days off the Somali coast pointed to the vulnerabilities of the vessels as they often sail now. Crew members on a North Korean ship were throwing Molotov cocktails — lit bottles of fuel, essentially — at two boats of pirates who fought back with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.

Sheridan and Radix hope they may have found a solution. A weapon system operated remotely by naval officers could provide both coverage of the water and professional control over the decision to go weapons-free. And the machine gun, Sheridan said, would have the range, penetration and firepower to cut up a skiff and pirates on board.

In one other possible configuration, if remote systems find market interest, they might also be fitted to merchant vessels as a self-defense means run from on shore by a commissioned officer behind a big screen, watching multiple vessels as they navigate dangerous patches of sea.

One obvious issue to work though would be rules and means to limit risks to civilian vessels that could be mistaken for pirate craft. For now, the proposal from industry suggests just how extensive the problem remains, and how elusive solutions have been.

“It’s a big ocean out there, and we have to figure out how to cover it,” said Brad Goodspeed, director of new product development at Radix Marine. “But everyone draws the conclusion that they want live-fire weapons in limited hands.”

[USS ALASKA]

WarIsBoring.com
September 27, 2009

Skull & Bones: Team Player

A year after Somali piracy peaked with more than 100 ships attacked, the world’s navies have assembled two dozen warships to combat the threat. David Axe joins the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Donald Cook in Djibouti, to observe firsthand this 'global war on piracy.'


Sunday, September 27th 2009, 11:57 pm

“Ship of interest off the port side,” the voice intoned over the ship’s PA system. It was near dusk on September 24th on the Gulf of Aden. The destroyer USS Donald Cook was zigzagging inside a patrol box assigned by NATO, trawling for Somali pirates.

I raced up four flights of stairs to the bridge, fingers crossed for an honest-to-God pirate or two to liven up my four-day embark on the 9,000-ton ship. But the vessel approaching on Donald Cook’s port side was a medium-sized tanker, hull number 421, wearing the gray livery you usually see on military vessels. Plus, she had a blue-and-white-camouflaged Sea King helicopter on her flight deck. One country is famous for that style of camouflage. Iran.

The tanker wasn’t responding to hails from “DC,” as Donald Cook is known to her crew.

Ensign Roland Machado, a tall Cuban-American, was on watch. “There’s so many warships out here,” he breathed. He wasn’t kidding. Some 40 warships belonging to more than a dozen nations have assembled to deter pirates. They’re spread out from the Gulf of Aden all the way down to Mombasa, Kenya. Almost all the nations — the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Russia, India, Japan, South Korea, China and others — cooperate and share information. Just one country refuses to play ball. Iran has deployed several vessels to African waters, but refuses to be a team player. Iran is the only country not to participate in monthly coordination meetings in Bahrain.

“Usually it’s cordial,” Machado said of DC’s encounters with other warships, including Iran’s. “Sometimes it’s annoying.”

DC’s bridge crew pulled out a ship recognition guide, just to be sure of the tanker’s identity. Meanwhile, DC’s skipper, Captain Derek Granger, hustled in, wearing a t-shirt, shorts and combat boots and clutching a fresh cigar. He consulted with the crew. The Iranian tanker usually traveled with a frigate, Granger said — so where was the frigate? There were some objects on the radar, but it wasn’t clear what they were. These were crowded waters. “No military emissions. Com-nav only,” reported DC’s Combat Information Center. “I’m not surprised,” someone muttered. The Iranians aren’t famous for their rigorous adherence to standard military procedures.

Pirates or no, it was shaping up to be a strange night in Somali waters. Granger installed on the port bridge wing, lit his cigar and blasted Everclear on his iPod. “We can live beside the ocean, leave the fire behind,” the song warbled, “swim out past the breakers, watch the world die.”

***

Skull & Bones: Behind the Piracy Decline

Saturday, September 26th 2009, 11:57 pm

In three months there’s been just one successful pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden. The same time last year, there were 17. Piracy off the Somali coast is apparently on the decline, big-time.

Commodore Steve Chick, the senior officer for the five-ship NATO counter-piracy task force, has a theory. He says the decline is a combination of three factors. First off, “merchant ships are taking better self-protection measures.” Chick recalls flying in his Lynx helicopter along the security lane through which vessels are encouraged to sail. Looking down, he saw ships with fire hoses at the ready and barbed-wire on their rails.

Also, the “military are doing better,” Chick adds. In Somali waters there are 20 warships belonging to three international flotillas — NATO’s, the E.U.’s and the American-led Combined Task Force 151 — plus another 20 ships from Russia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and Iran. All the forces, expect Iran, send reps to a monthly meeting in Bahrain to dole out patrol areas. The three flotillas take turns as chair of the assembled fleet, with veto power during any dispute over who sails where. So far, Chick says, there haven’t been any arguments. Officers on USS Donald Cook, part of the NATO force, describe sitting in the destroyer’s Combat Information Center listening to sailors from a dozen nations checking in.

Finally, something is giving in Somalia. Piracy has its roots in lawlessness on land. Where law takes hold, pirates can’t. The governments of three Somali nations — the Republic of Somalia, Puntland and Somaliland — have all stood up new naval forces, with help from the U.S., NATO and the U.N. While these forces have few boats, they don’t necessarily need them, Chick says. Rather, they should focus on beachfront security. As governments crack down, “piracy is becoming less socially acceptable” in Somalia, Chick says.

“Let’s not under-estimate pirates,” Chick cautions. They might adapt, and strike back. But with extensive international infrastructure now in place to address the threat, the world is well-positioned to keep up with any new piracy methods. “What we have here is a template,” Chick says.

***

Skull & Bones: Underway

Saturday, September 26th 2009, 3:42 am

“Thirty-second standby.”

That’s the voice from the pilot house of the destroyer USS Donald Cook, as the 9,000-ton vessel prepares to depart Djibouti. It’s bright and early on September 24th. After a night of liberty at Camp Lemonier in this squalid East African country, it’s time to get back to work. The warship, known as “DC” to her crew, is part of the NATO maritime group protecting the Gulf of Aden from Somali pirates. Today, DC will rendezvous with the British escort HMS Cornwall for a face-to-face with the group commodore, before heading off to DC’s own patrol box.

Idling pierside at Djibouti, DC’s powerplant is mostly shut down. Fuel, air and lube circulate, but the ship’s gas turbines — providing up to 100,000 ship horsepower — are off-line. Above deck, on the fo’c’sle, sailors are pulling in lines, and helping lash the destroyer to tugboats. As the pilot house counts down, the six engineers in the control room, pictured, stand by to fire up the turbines.

Ensign Justin Kelly, the turbine officer, describes the steps. First, the engineers switch on the generators. Then, the fuel pumps, filters, seawater pumps for cooling and the bleed-air outlet. The pilot house voice intones, “Three, two, one, mark.” And with the press of a button, Kelly’s engineers fire up the turbines. Donald Cook comes to life.

[USS ALASKA]

Washington Times
October 8, 2009
Pg. 12

Pirates Try To Take French Navy Flagship


NAIROBI, Kenya (Agence France-Presse)-- Somali pirates attempted to storm the French navy's 18,000-ton flagship in the Indian Ocean after mistaking it for a cargo vessel, the French military said Wednesday.

The crew of La Somme, a 525-foot command vessel and fuel tanker, easily fought off the brazen nighttime assault by lightly armed fighters on two lightweight skiffs and captured five pirates, a spokesman said.

"The pirates, who because of the darkness took the French ship for a commercial vessel, were on board two vessels and opened fire with Kalashnikovs," Adm. Christophe Prazuck said in Paris.

La Somme is the French command vessel in the Indian Ocean, overseeing French air, sea and land forces that are fighting Somali pirates and hunting terrorists under the banner of the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom.

The pirates tried to flee when they realized their mistake but were pursued by French forces who, after an hourlong chase, caught one of the skiffs, Adm. Prazuck said.

On it they found five men but no weapons, water or food as the pirates had apparently thrown all of the boat's contents overboard, the spokesman said.

A Western official at sea in the area, speaking to Agence France-Presse on the condition of anonymity, said there had been an exchange of fire between the warship and the pirate launches.

"One of the skiffs managed to get away in the night because La Somme was busy with the first pirate boat," he said.

"Despite the arrival of other vessels, they haven't yet managed to find the second boat," he said, adding that many warships in the area were busy hunting for another group, which attacked a cargo ship off the Seychelles islands on Sunday.

The world's naval powers have deployed dozens of warships to the lawless waters off Somalia over the past year to curb attacks by pirates in one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.

La Somme was operating about 290 miles off the Somali coast, on its way to resupply fuel to frigates patrolling shipping lanes as part of the European Union's Operation Atalanta anti-piracy mission.

This was not the first time that Somali pirates have mistakenly attacked a French naval vessel. Several pirates were captured in May when they attempted to board a frigate in the area.

Somalia is riven by factional fighting, and pirate gangs operate freely from several ports along its Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden coasts.

According to the environmental watchdog Ecoterra International, at least 163 attacks have been carried out by Somali pirates since the start of 2009 alone, 47 of them successful hijackings.

Last year, more than 130 merchant ships were attacked, an increase of more than 200 percent from 2007, according to the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The U.S. Maritime Administration warned last month that the end of the monsoon season was likely to bring an increase in piracy off Somalia and urged shipping companies to be vigilant.

[paulcadogan]

They need some more incidents like this. Q-ships!

[Karl Heidenreich]

AFP/File – The French navy logistics ship La Somme sails in the Red Sea in 2004. Somali pirates attempted to storm …
Wed Oct 7, 11:10 am ET

NAIROBI (AFP) – Somali pirates attempted to storm the French navy's 18,000 tonne flagship in the Indian Ocean after mistaking it for a cargo vessel, the French military said on Wednesday.

The crew of La Somme, a 160-metre (525-foot) command vessel and fuel tanker, easily saw off the brazen night-time assault by lightly armed fighters on two lightweight skiffs and captured five pirates, a spokesman said.

"The pirates, who because of the darkness took the French ship for a commercial vessel, were on board two vessels and opened fire with Kalashnikovs," Admiral Christophe Prazuck said in Paris.

La Somme is the French command vessel in the Indian Ocean, overseeing French air, sea and land forces fighting Somali pirates and hunting terrorists under the banner of the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom.

Officers on the ship have directed commando operations to free French hostages in the hands of Somali pirates.

The pirates tried to flee when they realised their mistake but were pursued by French forces who, after an hour-long chase, caught one of the skiffs, Prazuck said.

On it they found five men but no weapons, water or food as the pirates had apparently thrown all of the boat's contents overboard, the spokesman said.

A Western official at sea in the area, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said that there had been an exchange of fire between the warship and the pirate launches.

"One of the skiffs managed to get away in the night because La Somme was busy with the first pirate boat," he said.

"Despite the arrival of other vessels, they haven't yet managed to find the second boat," he said, adding that many warships in the area were busy hunting another group which attacked a cargo ship off the Seychelles on Sunday.

The world's naval powers have deployed dozens of warships to the lawless waters off Somalia over the past year to curb attacks by pirates in one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.

La Somme was operating 250 nautical miles (460 kilometres) off the Somali coast, on its way to resupply fuel to frigates patrolling shipping lanes as part of the European Union's Operation Atalanta anti-piracy mission.

This was not the first time that Somali pirates have mistakenly attacked a French naval vessel. Several pirates were captured in May when they attempted to board a frigate in the area.

Somalia has had no proper government since it plunged into lawlessness after President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991.

The country is riven by factional fighting and pirate gangs operate freely from several ports along its Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden coasts.

According to the environmental watchdog Ecoterra International, at least 163 attacks have been carried out by Somali pirates since the start of 2009 alone, 47 of them successful hijackings.

Last year, more than 130 merchant ships were attacked, an increase of more than 200 percent on 2007, according to the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

Pirates have in recent weeks resumed attacks with the end of the monsoon season. Last week Somali gunmen captured Spanish fishing boat The Alakrana with 36 crew members in the Indian Ocean.

The US Maritime Administration warned last month that the end of the monsoon season was likely to bring an increase in piracy off Somalia and urged shipping companies to be vigilant.

Calmer waters allow pirates, who often operate in small fibreglass skiffs towed out to sea by captured fishing vessels, to hijack freighters, trawlers and private yachts. Cruise vessels have also been attacked.

[RF]

So its a good area for Q-ships to operate....

[USS ALASKA]

USA Today
October 9, 2009
Pg. 1

Warships Ward Off Somali Pirates

Crews also ready to defend vessels

By Jim Michaels, USA Today

The number of ships captured by pirates off the coast of Somalia has dropped dramatically in the past two months because of the presence of an international flotilla of warships plying the waters there and a new willingness on the part of merchant vessels to defend themselves."People are acting differently, behaving differently, than they were just six months ago," said U.S. Rear Adm. Scott Sanders, commander of an anti-piracy task force in the region.

Military and shipping officials expected a spike in attacks when the monsoon season ended in early August, said Kim Hall, a Center for Naval Analyses specialist at U.S. 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain.

There has only been one ship captured since then: a Spanish-flagged fishing boat with a crew of 36 seized Oct. 2.

In August and September last year, pirates seized 16 ships, Navy records show. In the same period this year, no ships were seized.

Earlier this year, piracy was threatening to spiral out of control. Armed bands operating from Somalia were hijacking ships and holding crews for millions of dollars in ransom.

The crisis came to a head when the U.S.-flagged vessel Maersk Alabama was boarded by a band of pirates in April. The crew thwarted the pirates, but the ship's captain, Richard Phillips, was taken hostage on a life raft.

Navy SEAL snipers operating from the USS Bainbridge ended the standoff when they killed three pirates and freed Phillips.

After the Alabama seizure, the number of international navy ships operating in the area has tripled to an average of 25 to 30, Navy records show.

Naval vessels regularly dispatch boarding parties to inspect suspicious ships.

"We're a pretty formidable force out here," said British Navy Capt. Keith Blount, chief of staff of Combined Task Force 151, the anti-piracy unit. "That's not been lost on pirates."

Blount and Sanders were interviewed by telephone from the USS Anzio, the task force's flagship in the Gulf of Aden.

Merchant ships have been moving fast, placing concertina wire around the ship or using water hoses to ward off pirates.

Some crews have even taken it upon themselves to stock up on Molotov cocktails. "We don't recommend that," said Pottengal Mukundan, director of the International Maritime Bureau. If pirates fire a rocket-propelled grenade, it could touch off an explosion, he said.

[RF]

So the spirit of John Adams lives on....

However this is a military problem that should require use of the regular military personnel, and not a problem for civilians to have to sort out.

[hammy]

1 ) Under international maritime law Pirates are "Enemies of all mankind" . Stop pussyfooting around and HANG THE BASTARDS ! !

2 ) Learn the lessons of the past A) Institute a convoy system
B) Organise shipping control so you know exactly who is where at all times
C) put hunting groups together and start chasing them
D) construct a "stone aircraft carrier" on Socotra island
E) Naval air task forces to strike the Somali harbour where all this goes on and sink every damn thing there down to dugout canoes , and hit the houses and compounds of the leading players in all this . Wreck the fuel depot .
F)All big merchant ships to carry marines ( 20 each ought to do it )
G)All merchant ships to be fitted with the anti-pirate gear as used in the china sea in the 1920s ( a bit of barbed wire on the rails , and a fire hose or two is just pathetic ) Kevlar armour the bridge and the vital areas .

Honestly . The entire worlds navies have got squat-all to do at the moment except polish their tompions , and we cant even sort out a few boatfulls of homicidal savages with AK 47s , and a few RPGs and the odd Machine gun . Bloody Pathetic ! !

[RF]

1 ) Under international maritime law Pirates are "Enemies of all mankind" . Stop pussyfooting around and HANG THE BASTARDS ! !

Sorry hammy, but the European Union says ''no'' to the death penalty. The human rights of criminals come before the human rights of the people they murder.

Yet another reason I want so see my country free of the EU.

[RF]

Honestly . The entire worlds navies have got squat-all to do at the moment except polish their tompions , and we cant even sort out a few boatfulls of homicidal savages with AK 47s , and a few RPGs and the odd Machine gun . Bloody Pathetic ! !

Absolutely right.

[hammy]

Im not sure that the EU civil code (law) overides the Military/old Maritime laws ; .... If it did , then you couldnt have firing sqauds for crimes committed in wartime .
What really gets up my nose is this business of "handing them over to the Somali Authorities" . WHAT bloody authorities ? there arent any !
If you cant /wont hang them then you are going to have to build a nice Guantanamo style detention camp for them all .
Diego Garcia Island ; made for the job .