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I appreciate your concerns Road Runner but I think your missing my point.
€˜Nutters with guns€™ is not what I am on about, I am talking about €˜armed professionals€™.
The only nutters with guns is the Somalia pirates them selves, as you have pointed out yourself, with the incident last week with the RPG fired and damaging a vessel.
Take this scenario for example;
Let€™s say a security company such as €˜Black Water€™ opened up a naval department, and hired ex-marines from any navy with 6 -9 years experience in the responsibility of security on naval vessels. Run these recruits through additional petrochemical safety courses such as PBNA I/II/III/VI etc.etc.
In addition of the vessels crew which are forbidden to handle weapons, have the security crew on board just for this purpose. And when small unidentified boats are picked up on the radar getting to close, and after adequate warning, they can do what they are trained to do.
Now, it€™s not necessarily firing live ammunition from the deck of an oil tanker, the usual way is to deploy the marines in their own power boats to meet and greet these pirates with a fire fight a safe distance away from the protected vessel. This can deter these pirates from proceeding with their objective, in most cases without firing a shot. They most likely would chicken-out, as they are not taking on a handful of unarmed civilians.
If they are gutsy enough, to take the security crew on, well hard luck to them. In my book I would take no prisoners, as the less of these pirates able to run around the better. All it would take is 2-5 incidences, until word gets around of the fate laying waiting for them, if they continue this hobby. They would really think twice about high-jacking.
Remember, it€™s not just oil tankers being high-jacked and held for ransom. The majority are vessels with other safer cargos. It reminds me of a documentary I saw last year about the worlds biggest passenger cruse liner (I cannot recall the name). After setting out from Hong Kong, reaching the Indonesian coast. The captain spotted pirates getting to close to his ship on the radar, and without alarming the passengers, he quickly rustled up a security detail from the crew such as cooks, waiters etc. and armed them with baseball bats, and stationed them in the sections that the pirates could only come onboard. The only fear that the captain had was the pirates were armed with guns, and his crew had only baseball bats.
The scenario for using the world€™s navies;
€˜Pirate€™s Ally€™ is not a great stretch of water, but never the less you will find that patrolling this area to deter these pirates is not really feasible. Let€™s say a naval frigate got a report of a high-jacking in certain coordinates. Depending on how close the frigate is it could take several hours, or the most part of a day to reach that spot. By then they could be long gone. And if they did catch up with the high-jacked vessel, what can they do? Nothing! The pirates can still carry on with the ransom even dead in the water as they still have hostages, cargo and vessel.
The only thing the navies can do is to escort the vessels through pirate waters just like they did in WWI/II. This would cost an astronomical amount of money, which would eventually be passed on to the consumer, while versus the cost of an onboard security crew.
The last scenario, stop it at the source (on land).
Some have said to get the UN, NATO, etc. involved. Well, since when have these forces been any use to anyone since they were formed? There is far too much politics involved in these institutes for their own good. A soldier in these forces would need permission to scratch his own ass, and would need a few weeks of debate about whether or not to let him do it.
No Sir! Good old €˜Search and Destroy€™ with out the blessings of Somalia. If they can€™t sort it out, there is always some one who can. With all the technology we have today, we should know where all these high-jacked vessels are, they can€™t simply hide massive ships under a bush. The media has got these pirates addresses for Christ€™s sake. That€™s the trouble with this world today. Too much politics, and not enough balls. (I mean €˜balls€™ in a sensible and rational way)
I don€™t mean to go on, but I hope you understand were I am coming from. So Road Runner, maybe we€™ll meet up some day in Patt€™s and solve the worlds problems over a few cold beers.
Cheers Paultain
€˜Nutters with guns€™ is not what I am on about, I am talking about €˜armed professionals€™.
The only nutters with guns is the Somalia pirates them selves, as you have pointed out yourself, with the incident last week with the RPG fired and damaging a vessel.
Take this scenario for example;
Let€™s say a security company such as €˜Black Water€™ opened up a naval department, and hired ex-marines from any navy with 6 -9 years experience in the responsibility of security on naval vessels. Run these recruits through additional petrochemical safety courses such as PBNA I/II/III/VI etc.etc.
In addition of the vessels crew which are forbidden to handle weapons, have the security crew on board just for this purpose. And when small unidentified boats are picked up on the radar getting to close, and after adequate warning, they can do what they are trained to do.
Now, it€™s not necessarily firing live ammunition from the deck of an oil tanker, the usual way is to deploy the marines in their own power boats to meet and greet these pirates with a fire fight a safe distance away from the protected vessel. This can deter these pirates from proceeding with their objective, in most cases without firing a shot. They most likely would chicken-out, as they are not taking on a handful of unarmed civilians.
If they are gutsy enough, to take the security crew on, well hard luck to them. In my book I would take no prisoners, as the less of these pirates able to run around the better. All it would take is 2-5 incidences, until word gets around of the fate laying waiting for them, if they continue this hobby. They would really think twice about high-jacking.
Remember, it€™s not just oil tankers being high-jacked and held for ransom. The majority are vessels with other safer cargos. It reminds me of a documentary I saw last year about the worlds biggest passenger cruse liner (I cannot recall the name). After setting out from Hong Kong, reaching the Indonesian coast. The captain spotted pirates getting to close to his ship on the radar, and without alarming the passengers, he quickly rustled up a security detail from the crew such as cooks, waiters etc. and armed them with baseball bats, and stationed them in the sections that the pirates could only come onboard. The only fear that the captain had was the pirates were armed with guns, and his crew had only baseball bats.
The scenario for using the world€™s navies;
€˜Pirate€™s Ally€™ is not a great stretch of water, but never the less you will find that patrolling this area to deter these pirates is not really feasible. Let€™s say a naval frigate got a report of a high-jacking in certain coordinates. Depending on how close the frigate is it could take several hours, or the most part of a day to reach that spot. By then they could be long gone. And if they did catch up with the high-jacked vessel, what can they do? Nothing! The pirates can still carry on with the ransom even dead in the water as they still have hostages, cargo and vessel.
The only thing the navies can do is to escort the vessels through pirate waters just like they did in WWI/II. This would cost an astronomical amount of money, which would eventually be passed on to the consumer, while versus the cost of an onboard security crew.
The last scenario, stop it at the source (on land).
Some have said to get the UN, NATO, etc. involved. Well, since when have these forces been any use to anyone since they were formed? There is far too much politics involved in these institutes for their own good. A soldier in these forces would need permission to scratch his own ass, and would need a few weeks of debate about whether or not to let him do it.
No Sir! Good old €˜Search and Destroy€™ with out the blessings of Somalia. If they can€™t sort it out, there is always some one who can. With all the technology we have today, we should know where all these high-jacked vessels are, they can€™t simply hide massive ships under a bush. The media has got these pirates addresses for Christ€™s sake. That€™s the trouble with this world today. Too much politics, and not enough balls. (I mean €˜balls€™ in a sensible and rational way)
I don€™t mean to go on, but I hope you understand were I am coming from. So Road Runner, maybe we€™ll meet up some day in Patt€™s and solve the worlds problems over a few cold beers.
Cheers Paultain
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