Lightning Never Strikes Twice
By Mitch Berg
Somali pirates attack the Maersk Alabama – the ship from last spring’s hostage drama with captain Richard Phillips – again.
This time, the crew drove the pirates off:
Somali pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama for the second time in seven months on Wednesday, but guards on board the U.S.-flagged cargo ship repelled the takeover attempt, the EU’s naval force said.Pirates hijacked the Maersk Alabama last April and took ship captain Richard Phillips hostage, holding him at gunpoint in a lifeboat for five days. Navy SEAL sharpshooters freed Phillips while killing three pirates in a daring nighttime attack.
Somali pirates attacked the ship with automatic weapons early Wednesday about 350 nautical miles east of the Somali coast, but guards on board the craft fired back and thwarted the attempted hijacking.
Good to see that Maersk Shipping ignored Obama Administration advice to “apologize to the pirates”.
November 18th, 2009 at 9:39 am
I’m just sad that the guards didn’t send all of them to meet their 72 raisins. It’s way past time for interested governments to put some real firepower on a few of these ships and watch what happens to the piracy rate when a few pirate boats are ripped to shreds by Ma Deuce before they can even open fire with their AKs and RPGs.
November 18th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Bully for them. Nothing like a whiff of grapeshot to maintain civility on the high seas.
November 18th, 2009 at 10:51 am
B-san,
It’s way past time for interested governments to put some real firepower on a few of these ships and watch what happens to the piracy rate
Did you read about the “pirates” who tried to take on the French Navy supply ship?
Didn’t end well for them (they all got captured, after a SERIOUS show of force by the detachment of French Marines on board).
Did my heart good.
Lars,
Nothing like a whiff of grapeshot to maintain civility on the high seas.
Wonder if they ever made a 40mm grapeshot grenade.
If not – it’s high time.
November 18th, 2009 at 11:07 am
They used LRAD. Nothing strikes fear into the heart of a pirate like a non-lethal acoustic weapon.
November 18th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Mitch: yes, and I wish they hadn’t been so restrained in their response.
November 18th, 2009 at 11:47 am
MoN, LRAD does strike fear into the heart of a pirate. When that .50 caliber bullet stikes the heart of the pirate there’s no fear left; not much pirate, either.
November 18th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Given that they’re copper clad, I think there’d be some pirate left. Now a few hundred rounds of .50, on the other hand……
……and I like the idea of 40mm as well—though that would be more difficult to hide than Ma Deuce.
November 18th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
From the FOXNews article
However, Roger Middleton, a piracy expert at the London-based think tank Chatham House, said the international maritime community was still “solidly against” armed guards aboard vessels at sea, but that American ships have taken a different line than the rest of the international community.
“Shipping companies are still pretty much overwhelmingly opposed to the idea of armed guards,” Middleton said. “Lots of private security companies employee people who don’t have maritime experience. Also, there’s the idea that it’s the responsibility of states and navies to provide security. I would think it’s a step backward if we start privatizing security of the shipping trade.”
How sadly typical of a socialist. That’s the whole point of the RKBA movement in the US. The “states and navies” (on the high seas) can’t (or more often WON’T) do anything but monitor the situation once it has started mop up after the incident is over. The two incidents of the snipers sending the pirates to their raisins and the pirates who attempted to capture the French navy vessel are the 2 exceptions to the rule of state sponsored dithering and cowering.
I say every ship ought to have .50 cal gatling guns (a’la Jesse Ventura’s piece in Predator) on the front and rear.
“It’s way past time for interested governments to put some real firepower on a few of these ships and watch what happens to the piracy rate when a few pirate boats are ripped to shreds by Ma Deuce before they can even open fire with their AKs and RPGs.”
Truer words were never spoken Bubbasan. It’s a simple law of nature. Predators go after the weak, not the ones packing boat-shredding “heat”.
November 18th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
insert an AND in between “started” and “mop”
November 18th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Bill C,
While I don’t disagree, a couple of old M14s/FNFALs would probably suffice nicely; they’d put some nasty holes in the skiffs and their crews.
I say every ship ought to have .50 cal gatling guns (a’la Jesse Ventura’s piece in Predator) on the front and rear.
Ventura’s piece in Predator was actually a .223 (5.56x45mm), which was why it was theoretically man-portable.
November 18th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
While the “idea that it’s the responsibility of states and navies to provide security.” is all well and good, in an ivory tower sort of way….
Just as when seconds count, and the police are only minutes away, on the high seas, when minutes count, the navy (any navy) is only hours away.
And defensively, you never need a gun, until you need it badly.
November 18th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
The LRAD should only be used to tell the pirates who it was that just sunk their boat, and how far they have to swim to shore.
November 18th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
I’m no Obama fan, but where did you get the idea that his administration believes that crews should apologize to pirates? Last time after “dithering” on what to do, Obama gave the SEALs the go ahead and they double tapped the perps (without AG Holder having an opportunity to read them their Miranda rights and conduct a show trial on planet Manhattan) with extreme prejudice.
My cousin is a Merchant Marine although he no longer cruises into that part of the world. He told me that he is no fan of arming or carrying arms on merchant ships. His concern about arms on merchant ships is more about the crew getting extra portions of the grog ration and, being the kind of people who like being at sea for months/years at a time, getting a little squirrely. There is also the fear of escalation – merchant ships start carrying light arms, the pirates get heavier arms, etc. He also said that the ship has plenty of non-lethal weapons at hand – lots of high pressure hoses and steam lines that can cause a fatal end to a pirate climbing up the side of the ship and blow holes in/capsize the piece of sh** boats the pirates use. He told me he is more interested in having a coordinated multi-country paid for blue water navy task force to take charge of the area so that when a distress call goes out, some heavy metal immediately begins bearing down on the pirates and their mother ships so the merchant crews can get back to their cards games and p0rn.
November 18th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
i think the pirates are opportunists, more than idealists, and have no trouble recognizing flags. If a nation or shipping line were to let it be known (or demonstrated) that its ships are armed, the pirates would seek out other vessels. It’s just good business sense for both the shippers and the pirates.
November 18th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Seflores, the problem with what Obama did is that he more or less said that instead of taking out pirates whenever you get a clean shot that won’t endanger the hostages, the Navy had to wait until the hostage was about to be killed. In other words, he was unwilling to assume that those who would take people captive at the muzzle of an AK were bad people.
In a nutshell, apologizing to them, effectively.
Regarding the possibility of the pirates/terrorists getting heavier weapons, there is one wee little problem. You can’t mount Ma Deuce, let alone a howitzer, on a small fishing boat without it being pretty obvious what you’re doing. You invite the Navy to come in that way. Not much to fear with pirates getting bigger guns.
Hence, all merchant ships need is a few rapid-fire weapons with a similar, or longer, effective range than an AK–400 yards or so. And as the Maersk Alabama shows us, merchant crews can (just like civilians in the U.S. who also sometimes drink too much) be around weapons without killing each other.
I favor Ma Deuce instead of the M14. Fair fights (M14 vs. AK) might get innocents hurt. Far better to make it pretty spectacular.