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Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: 280plus on March 09, 2010, 07:26:09 AM

Title: More on Pirates
Post by: 280plus on March 09, 2010, 07:26:09 AM
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=68563

EU navies to go on offensive against pirates
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Tuesday, March 9, 2010
NAPLES, Italy — European naval forces plan to disrupt pirate operations off the coast of Somalia by hunting down and sinking the pirates’ supply ships, rather than simply trying to defend cargo ships as they transit through the area.

The Somali pirates use "mother ships" — usually loaded with ammunition, fuel and food — that allow them to operate farther out to sea and attack vessels on heavily used shipping routes, such as the Gulf of Aden and Somali basin.

Defense ministers from the European Union had to expand the objective of the EU-led Operation Atalanta, which now gives navies the authority to go after and "disrupt" these pirate supply ships, according to British Cmdr. John Harbour, spokesman for the EU Naval Force Somalia.

"We’re taking the fight to the pirates," Harbour said. "We know roughly where they’re operating from, and will position our resources to [capture] their mother ships."

Pirates often use the mother ship as a staging base while one or two smaller skiffs carry out attacks on transiting vessels. If officials feel they have enough evidence against the pirates, the pirates will be taken into custody and typically transferred to Kenya or the Seychelles for prosecution.

If there is not enough evidence, the EU will destroy the mother ship and a skiff but leave the pirates a way to return to Somalia.

"We mean to take them out of the game," Harbour said. "We’ll disrupt their operations for a few weeks to a month, and even though they’re likely to return, at least for a month, that one group will not be available to attack."

The EU’s new, more aggressive plan makes sense, said Roger Middleton, a Horn of Africa expert with the Royal Institute of International Affairs Chatham House think tank in London.

"I think that considered targeting of mother ships could be a very useful tactic," Middleton said. "The attacks in the Indian Ocean are reliant on mother ships, so anything that targets these is likely to be more successful than trying to respond to individual attacks.

Mother ships tend to stay in one area, from which multiple attacks can be launched, Middleton said.

"Given the great difficulty of protecting shipping in the Indian Ocean, a strategy to target mother ships seems to be a sensible idea," he said.

Until this point, Operation Atalanta’s main mission has been to provide escorts to merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid of the World Food Program and to ships of the African Union Mission in Somalia. The mission has expanded to include protecting vulnerable ships, such as slow-moving oil tankers, in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia.

This was a successful weekend for EU naval forces, which disrupted six would-be pirate attacks and detained 35 suspected pirates, all Somali citizens, Harbour said.

Additionally, a French fishing trawler under attack collided with the assaulting pirate skiff, tipping the skiff.

"The pirates were all swimming around and the people who they attacked picked them out of the sea and saved their lives," Harbour said. The six suspected pirates now are on the fishing trawler.

Naval forces are awaiting rulings from Kenya and the Seychelles to determine which countries will take in and prosecute the 41 men detained over the weekend, he said.
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: geronimotwo on March 09, 2010, 08:58:39 AM
i think it's great that if we (americans) keep our nose out of it, that someone else will step up to the plate and take care of a security issue.  personally, i liked the idea of mounting a .50 deck gun on anyone travelling the area.  it would save on detention costs.
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: MechAg94 on March 09, 2010, 09:58:17 AM
I guess they could also go up and down the coast of Somalia and destroy everything that can float, but that would be an extreme measure.
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: Jamisjockey on March 09, 2010, 10:43:40 AM
I guess they could also go up and down the coast of Somalia and destroy everything that can float, but that would be an extreme measure.

I think the answer is somewhere in the middle.  The Euros seem to be keen on making sure the pirates get trials.  I think that if you're caught in the act of piracy, your little boat should be blown out of the water with extreme prejudice. 
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: Tallpine on March 09, 2010, 10:48:03 AM
So, they are going after the Mother of all Pirates ?   :lol:


(how long till they sink the wrong ship?  =| )
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: HankB on March 09, 2010, 12:04:37 PM
I think the answer is somewhere in the middle.  The Euros seem to be keen on making sure the pirates get trials. 
I read that the Brits are loathe to capture pirates since once in Brit custody, they're entitled to apply for political asylum.

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=68563
 . . . Additionally, a French fishing trawler under attack collided with the assaulting pirate skiff, tipping the skiff.

"The pirates were all swimming around and the people who they attacked picked them out of the sea and saved their lives," . . .
:facepalm:
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: cassandra and sara's daddy on March 09, 2010, 07:19:46 PM
pirate mother ship should equal a big hole in the water a cloud of smoke and some shark bait.  to encourage the others
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: Mabs2 on March 09, 2010, 08:05:37 PM
pirate mother ship should equal a big hole in the water a cloud of smoke and some shark bait.  to encourage the others
Making a hole in water is pretty hard...
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: AmbulanceDriver on March 09, 2010, 08:11:07 PM
Making a hole in water is pretty hard...

Nah, it's just a matter of applying enough explosives......   Get a good barrage going, you can keep a hole in water for quite a while...........   :P
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: French G. on March 09, 2010, 11:17:40 PM
i think it's great that if we (americans) keep our nose out of it, that someone else will step up to the plate and take care of a security issue.  personally, i liked the idea of mounting a .50 deck gun on anyone travelling the area.  it would save on detention costs.

Don't worry, we're still in it. I was there chasing pirates before it was cool(2006). We even had a captured ship we used as bait as we escorted it to Kenya. Pirates in the brig, Bernie the pirate in the morgue, escorting and Indian ship full of charcoal to Kenya. The foreign navies were also with us then, French navy prominently. Felt weird as heck to be alongside a tanker getting gas and to see that tanker flying its Japanese colors. Times change I guess.
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: 280plus on March 10, 2010, 08:16:12 AM
Apparently so...
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: slugcatcher on March 10, 2010, 11:06:47 AM
I guess the pirates finally lost their lightsaber.
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: coppertales on March 10, 2010, 12:20:21 PM
I like the US Navy's way the best, bang, bang, bang, equals fish food......what dim bulb decided to capture the African pirates then turn them over to Africa for trial?....chris3
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: Mabs2 on March 10, 2010, 01:03:27 PM
Nah, it's just a matter of applying enough explosives......   Get a good barrage going, you can keep a hole in water for quite a while...........   :P
Yea, but the hole doesn't stay very long at all.


EDIT:  First grade spelling error.
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: AmbulanceDriver on March 10, 2010, 01:27:37 PM
Yea, but the whole doesn't stay very long at all.

So just wait for the next pirate ship to come along again.....   Lather, rinse, repeat.     >:D
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: French G. on March 10, 2010, 01:36:05 PM
I like the US Navy's way the best, bang, bang, bang, equals fish food......what dim bulb decided to capture the African pirates then turn them over to Africa for trial?....chris3

Same dim bulbs that try to correctly support the rule of law in the face of withering opposition from retro-tribalism, a malady that can inflict even our tribe. Guy that worked for me was brig staff guarding our pirates, they truly are sub-human in their behavior, doesn't mean we have to be also.
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: Sergeant Bob on March 10, 2010, 08:02:44 PM
Yea, but the whole doesn't stay very long at all.

Just long enough for a boat to fall into it!  =D
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: Mabs2 on March 10, 2010, 08:12:12 PM
Just long enough for a boat to fall into it!  =D
Like the Bermuda Triangle?  I still don't buy the "millions of bubbles" causing ships to sink thing.

I'm pretty sure it's Cthulhu.
Or at least Dagon, working for Cthulhu.
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: Sergeant Bob on March 10, 2010, 08:49:40 PM
Like the Bermuda Triangle?  I still don't buy the "millions of bubbles" causing ships to sink thing.

I'm pretty sure it's Cthulhu.
Or at least Dagon, working for Cthulhu.

Tiny bubbles (tiny bubbles)
In the wine (in the wine)
Make me happy (make me happy)
Make me feel fine (make me feel fine)

 :P
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: MillCreek on March 10, 2010, 09:01:56 PM
So I wonder what will be the preferred mode of sinking?  Naval gunfire, torpedoes, board the ship and open the seacocks?
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: Mabs2 on March 11, 2010, 01:41:43 AM
seacocks
hehe.
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: KD5NRH on March 11, 2010, 05:09:18 AM
Making a hole in water is pretty hard...

These guys are making two, plus whatever's at the other end of the trajectory.
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Felsmar.com%2Fpdf_files%2FWeird%2520Pictures%2FBattleship%2520firing%2520guns.jpg&hash=43a526733f26ee33563509d23ed2e2416d14147f)

Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: AJ Dual on March 11, 2010, 07:50:36 AM
Epic movie potential.

"Skinnies don't float!" could be the "Charlie don't surf!" of the 21st century.  ;)
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: 280plus on March 11, 2010, 08:02:10 AM
I've been on deck with a 5" / 54 going off. Somehow I just can't "fathom" being on deck for one of those broadsides, even inside. That thing most rock pretty good.  :O

 :lol:
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: MicroBalrog on March 11, 2010, 11:45:15 AM
I've read once the entire ship moves eight feet in the water from the sheer recoil. Don't know if it's true.
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: French G. on March 11, 2010, 12:32:03 PM
If you're on deck when those go off, you're likely done for.
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: 280plus on March 11, 2010, 03:51:27 PM
"The answer my friend is you are blowing in the wind,,,"  :O

 :lol:
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: Mabs2 on March 11, 2010, 05:45:38 PM
I always wanted to own a battleship.
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: Jamisjockey on March 11, 2010, 07:15:52 PM
I always wanted to own a battleship.

Why, when someone might just sink it?


 :P
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: AJ Dual on March 11, 2010, 08:23:16 PM
I always wanted to own a battleship.

Meh. I want a de-milled B1 Bomber converted into a private jet.
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: sanglant on March 11, 2010, 11:50:05 PM
"The answer my friend is you are blowing in the wind,,,"  :O

 :lol:

man, you messed it up


it's



"The answer my friend, is you blowing in the wind." [popcorn]
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: 280plus on March 12, 2010, 06:24:02 AM
Damn, can't get nothing right these days.  =|
Title: Re: More on Pirates
Post by: sanglant on March 12, 2010, 05:58:18 PM
hey you mess up less than me, and that's just postin' :angel: