Sonic Weapon on Cruise ship

The Seabourne Spirit, a passenger cruise ship, steaming off the coast of Somalia 3 days ago was attacked by "pirates", who manned 2 25 foot speed boats, with approx 5 men to each boat. They were armed with automatic rifles and at least 1 rocket propelled grenade. The "pirates" attacked at 5:30 am local time, and a few minutes after that the captain told everyone on the ship to head to the inner restaurant.

The pirates continued their attack, firing 3 RPGs, according to one account. The captain and his crew, all trained in evasive manoeuvres, went full speed ahead and also tried to run over one of the boats.
But the pirates continued to attack.
It was then that they brought out the Long Range Acoustic Device, a just about metre across parabolic looking dish, able to cause permanent hearing damage at a range of 300 metres.
It is a directed energy weapon, capable of emitting a 15 to 30° beam 84 centimetres in diameter.
As quoted from FOX News, the weapon was 'top secret', and initial claims stated that the crew made sounds that resembled gunfire to ward of the attackers. Obviously, this is not true. They used a possibly lethal acoustic weapon, and fired it straight at the aggressors. It was manned by a former Gurkha soldier, who knew exactly how to use it, and who was also the only person injured in the attack.

Now, why would there be a directed energy weapon aboard a civilian cruise ship that was going from Eygpt to Kenya, with a former Gurkha soldier standing by the man it, a soldier with active units only in Asia? There were mainly American and Australian tourists on board the ship, so what interest would a soldier from that background have being there? And why was the weapon labelled top secret? I'm not a conspiracy theory buff, but to me this seems very odd.
For a ship that made its maiden voyage in 1989, obviously these LRADs are not standard equipment, as they were only developed last year or so, and are still being fully tested in Iraq.
And obviously there was a bit of dis-information going on, with the reports of 'fake gunfire' to repel the attackers.

These sorts of weapons have only been deployed in very limited numbers to the US Police force and the US military, as their effects are not as yet fully known; so why would the US sell one off to some tourist company, where they are going to be used around civialians, hundreds of them, in an enclosed environment, with not even an American soldier operating it?


Anybody else ready to question this?

Wonderful information, where did you get it?

Facinating if its true, which it sounds like, without corroborating evidence.

Found a confirming link
www.timesonline.co.uk...

Nice!

The liner used a sonic blaster to foil the pirates. Developed by American forces to deter small boats from attacking warships, the non-lethal weapon sends out high-powered air vibrations that blow assailants off their feet. The equipment, about the size of a satellite dish, is rigged to the side of the ship.

[edit on 8-11-2005 by Netchicken]

This is an interesting find. Most people are not aware of the modern pirates- a weapon such as this to deter them would be great. Perhaps this was a staged test for the sonic weapon (I was wandering why small craft, not even high speed zodiaks, would even attempt to seize control of a cruise ship) the deck of a cruise ship is about 40 feet out of the water, and the hull curves outward, the whole incident is strange. Piracy is real, and the efforts to ward it off go to the extreme also, check this out
www.sundayherald.com...
They need one of the sonic blasters-
I have transited the Straights of Malacca several times, at the wheel of a 400 ft vessel, and let me tell you one other effective measure used to thwart off the attackers. Water. It is a sight to see hundreds of ships with their water cannons aiming high, along the decks, all expelling great amounts of water. Like you see the fireboats do in New York? It is effective-we also had personnel fore and aft, port and starboard, armed with shotguns and .45's...
But a sonic blaster would be awesome! The down side would be what if the pirates gained this technology? The pirates could wreak great havoc. A ship's crew would be in the easiest place to blast- the bridge.
Nice post

Why thankyou for agreeing with me, and sorry for not posting any links.
The 'sonic blaster' can be installed on ships, but I have found no evidence of them being carried aboard any US ships, built for war or not.
And the web site states that the device was attached to the side of the ship, which I believe to be false. From what I read, it was on the rear deck, easily accessible; or possibly man portable.

Accorging to this AP article the device is created by an American company and is commonly installed on Cruise Ships around the world.

Ship Blasted Pirates With Sonic Weapon

The LRAD is a so-called "non-lethal weapon" developed for the U.S. military after the 2000 attack on the
USS Cole off Yemen as a way to keep operators of small boats from approaching U.S. warships.

The devices have been deployed on commercial and naval vessels worldwide since summer 2003, the company said.

Its probably top secret because you don't want the pirates just putting on some noise cancelling headphones to cancel the effects. Of course now that it has been reported on, the sale of shooters ear muffs and ear plugs are probably going to skyrocket.

Thanks for finding that, I just couldn't find anything, but your link doesn't work. I don't think earmuffs, even noise cancelling ones, would be helpful against something like this. It emits an extremely high-frequency note at about 150 decibels, which would cut through just about anything you put over your ears.

This is basically the same post I made in this thread and I thought I would post here too.


In case anyone is interested I found a good picture of the LRAD (long range acoustic devide) that was used to fend off the pirates.




I think the next one shown below is the MRAD which is the same thing but the M is for Medium and the unit is about laf the size of LRAD


Source

Also wikipedia has a good article on LRAD

en.wikipedia.org...

The BBC have a topic about this as well, news.bbc.co.uk...

Thought it was an original find but a bit slow and missedthe times, well done!

Bit strange though what was sonic weapon doing on board a civilain crusie ship? strange but true apparently.

warpboost, you stated that the LRAD shown in your first picture was the one used to fend of the pirates. I presume you do not mean it was the weapon that was used against the pirates that attacked The Seabourne Spirit, as that ship did not have a mounted general purpose machine gun on deck.
I tried to include a picture, but obviously it did not work. I'll try again.

watch_the_rocks, I did not mean that exact LRAD pictured was the same one used on the cruise ship. That LRAD system is on a warship of some type. I posted the pics just to show what LRAD looks like and it is the same make and model system that was used on the cruise ship AFAIK. I find it odd that an ex Gurhka was the one who manned the LRAD. One thing I read made it sound like was employeed by the cruise line as a security officer, but another story made it sound like he was just a passenger that got involved I wouldn't be suprised if he was just a passenger and got involved considering that the Gurkha motto is 'Khathar hunnu bhanda marnu ramro' - 'I would better to die than live a coward'

The company that makes these devices is called American Technology Corporation. It is a publicly traded company that trades on NASDAQ under the symbol ATCO.

I have no information that has not been publicly disclosed, but my understanding is that there are both civilian and military applications, and that the technology can be used as a security device, as a deterrent, or as a short-range weapon.

It is essentialy the sonic equivalent of a laser beam.
As a laser is to lightwaves, so this technology is to soundwaves.


Cheers