Pirates Again Attack U.S.-Flagged Maersk Alabama

Pirates Again Attack U.S.-Flagged Maersk Alabama

cnsnews.com

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

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Will these pesky pirates ever learn? Oops! they weren't expecting a barrage of fire in return.
The good news is that the would be pirates were swiftly fended off by armed guards aboard the Alabama. Good for the crew!!

Perhaps we will should see an increase in armed guards aboard these vessels that travel in such hostile waters. I guarantee the end result would be a drastic reduction in pirate activity. The Navies of the world can't possibly patrol every square mile of open sea.

Apparently, pirate attacks have increased as of late due to a lull in the rainy season as it comes to an end.

cnsnews.com
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(Sarcastic as hell.)

Cant have people arming themselves on boats. Only bad can come of this. Next the pirates will come back with tactical nukes. They should have just laid on their faces and permitted those poor underprivileged pirates take what they need to feed their starving children back on shore. After all, it's America's fault they're poor and starving.

(/Sarcastic as hell.)

Ships don't need to fire back and repel the pirates, they need to SINK the boats. This is the only they will be stopped.

i'd say for at least the major merchant ships, a small contingent of armed men is only a good idea regarding recent pirate activity, and folk that far away from civilization should be allowed to protect themselves.

like a ship will have a trained medic why not have an artificer who is one of the ships armed guard simutaneously.

I am sure a barrge of warning shots from a couple of submachine guns would deter a great number of pirates

much prefer the old european pirates, they seemed much more stylish

Maybe they need to arm them with old style blackpowder Naval cannons.

a "whiff of grapeshot" will do nicely to stop pirates.

en.wikipedia.org...

Apparently, the crew of the Alabama also used sound cannons in addition to small arms fire to fend off this batch of pirates.

I agree that these merchant ships should also be permitted to take any action necessary to defend themselves. Sinking the pirate ships or showering the decks with grapeshot would be a great defensive tactic.

How wild is it that they had acoustic weapons onboard?I wonder where they got them because they sound rather sophisticated for non military.

I say strap a few of these to the sides of the ships and let the scums get to within 50yd's and BAM!



M134 Minigun

Sounds to me, and this is my personal opinion as are all non direct staff interactions.


That they may have acquired some technology for test purposes. Say they just happened to be within range of somali coastal raiders who are out and about in the shipping lanes.

Every ocean/sea going trade merchant worth his salt knows the waters and the enviorns in which they are dealing.

If they don't, they are fools.

The news makes these events out to be as if they occured for the first time this century. Truth of the matter is, it is one of the oldest jobs, right next to hooking and assassination.

that they happened to be attacked, "again", by the "pirates" seems a bit too much for me. There is obviously more to this than is being presented.

It is reports like this which are mentioned, which ought to be kept tabs on.

The only hitherto successfully employed technique to fend off pirates was by
LRAD (Long Range Accoustic Device) in 2005 from on board a Seaborn
Cruise Liner.

Meanwhile, many cruisers are equipped with LRAD, without, however, making
too much publicity about it.

See www.gcaptain.com...

Originally posted by susp3kt
I say strap a few of these to the sides of the ships and let the scums get to within 50yd's and BAM!



M134 Minigun

Yeah, I think it's about time deadly force is applied to deter the pirates, with emphasis being on deadly. A TOW missile will do miracles to a pirate boat.

I wouldn't worry too much about somalia atm, in about 15 months a new pro western leader is coming to power and guess who is putting him in power...

i want to know why we even have ships in that region pl;ease enlighten me.
are the pirates really just armed fishermen trying to defend there fishing grounds from poaching and illegal dumping or are they organized crime picking on poor defenseless merchant traffic if that is the case i say give merchants some dual mount 50s to deter the pirates

reply to post by proteus33


Well once they have hijacked the ship the demand millions from the ship owner. They state that they are taking back what has been taken out of their country through mineral mining over the decades. As for the reason why ships are going through that area, well that is a trade shipping route which all ships follow.