Comments

Bottom of Comments | Original Post

Kim,
You will need to issue Letters of Marque and Reprisal.
I have an electronic copy of an old one which I’m sending to your email address, dont let the spam filter eat it.

Author ID: 7404 | 5/27/2008 04:45 AM CST | #120864 |

But, but, but, we need to understand the root causes of their piratical behavior.  Afte that we must negotiate with them in good faith.

Either that or we blow their butts out of the water using the rule of engagement to “shoot first; ask questions later.” Sure, we might kill a few innocents, but in that part of the world, how many true innocents are there?

Author ID: 86 | 5/27/2008 04:46 AM CST | #120865 |

As an ex-Navy fire control type, I may be of some use.

“All stations, gun plot.  The ship expects to engage hostile targets off the starboard bow.”

Where do I sign up?

DeDog.

Author ID: 8353 | 5/27/2008 04:55 AM CST | #120866 |

There is a world treaty that no longer recognizes Letters of Marque.  So, no international protection for the ‘legal’ pirates, the Constitution of the United States notwithstanding.  It’s been that way since the early 1800’s, too.

And the US Navy does have a presence (a small one) off the Horn of Africa - leading a couple of other western nations (the neutered british, who can’t actually DO anything to the pirates since it would violate their rights), the surprisingly virile French (who actually sent some commandos to kill some pirates a month or so ago), and others.

Needless to say, the badguys stay out of the way when superior force is nearby.

The answer:  Each ship needs to be able to defend itself.  The laws of various ports being what they are, that means that a ship with weapons would be impounded, the crew imprisoned, should they enter the territorial waters of most any country in the world.

Author ID: 10968 | 5/27/2008 04:55 AM CST | #120867 |

Hey, the US never signed the 1856 Treaty of Paris, and I don’t think Texas did, either. So it’s all good.

Author ID: 7680 | 5/27/2008 05:10 AM CST | #120868 |

The purpose of a privateer was to attack and capture enemy commerce. I just don’t think Somalia or Nigeria has the commerce to make it worthwhile, excepy Nigeria has a bit of oil don’t they.

Author ID: 1368 | 5/27/2008 05:11 AM CST | #120869 |

A ship needs a guy who can keep an engine running. SIgn me up.

Oh, I can shoot too.

Author ID: 112 | 5/27/2008 05:13 AM CST | #120870 |

I can navigate.  and Shoot. I’m in.

Author ID: 10834 | 5/27/2008 05:20 AM CST | #120871 |

Ships just need to be able to mount weapons when they are at Sea.  A few 50 cals, and a few larger cannons suitable for putting nice holes below the water line with coverage all around the ship.  Oh, and plenty of weapons for the crew to discourage boarders.

Raise the cost of piracy and piracy will happen less often.

Author ID: 7681 | 5/27/2008 05:37 AM CST | #120873 |

Only half? I suspect it’d be more like a fleet & a half…

Author ID: 47 | 5/27/2008 05:41 AM CST | #120874 |

You’d have to get some kind of word out: “These ships are sailing under our flag and protection.  If they stop in your harbor to fuel and buy food, they will behave themselves, so leave them alone.  We Mean It.  Otherwise, as noted above, they’d face arrest most anywhere in the world for the ‘crime’ of being armed.

And somebody’d have to inform the Coasties that anyone with the contract CANNOT be harassed for being armed, too.

Smaller boats, hmmm… M2 for each side, small arms for the crew, and what’s a good small-caliber cannon for direct-fire work?

Author ID: 7749 | 5/27/2008 05:43 AM CST | #120875 |

Kim, this very subject came up about two years ago amongst myself and some friends.  Said friends being of the retired military types.  We think bringing back the concept of the British “Q” ship would work wonders for this type of action.  Take one modern day yacht, capable of 30 plus knots, paint and disguise it to look not so modern day, equip with false deck house for 20mm and 40mm deck guns, throw in a mix of other small arms, rocket launchers, grenade systems, etc.  and you have a viable concept.

Sitting there, listening to that conversation I was struck by one overwhelming fact.  Every last man there, and many more that I know, would gladly volunteer for such a job without a moments hesitation.  Piracy of this type has no national borders.  There should be no safe haven for scum such as this.  And treaties be damned, the pirates do not abide by any treaty.

Author ID: 8640 | 5/27/2008 05:45 AM CST | #120876 |

You’d have to get some kind of word out: “These ships are sailing under our flag and protection.  If they stop in your harbor to fuel and buy food, they will behave themselves, so leave them alone.  We Mean It.  Otherwise, as noted above, they’d face arrest most anywhere in the world for the ‘crime’ of being armed.

And somebody’d have to inform the Coasties that anyone with the contract CANNOT be harassed for being armed, too.

Smaller boats, hmmm… M2 for each side, small arms for the crew, and what’s a good small-caliber cannon for direct-fire work?

Author ID: 7749 | 5/27/2008 05:51 AM CST | #120877 |

One hears that the Royal Navy has been told that they cannot arrest the Somalian pirates, because they will then have grounds to claim asylum in the UK.  Aparently it would be against their human rights to send them back to a country where they would face execution or amputation.  Crazy world.

Me, I say don’t arrest them to, just plug the buggers with a bofors 40 and let ‘em sink.  Oh yeah, that and nip over to Nigeria/Somalia and burn every boat that can be found.  Regardless and bugger the consequences.

Rusty

Author ID: 11023 | 5/27/2008 05:51 AM CST | #120878 |

Wlll a letter of Recrational Touring for Olympic Water Shooting do instead.  As small pirate hunting craft has a an advantage over an armed cargo ship.  It can escort and pursue into the same waters that a pirate can go into.  A small fleet of RECTOWS can also conduct raids to wipe out pirate villages in the old style of 18th and 19th Navies.

Tax exemtption as reward indirect might be a way to finance.  Video records might surve as proof in liu of ears.  This way the privateers could keep the ears.

Author ID: 67 | 5/27/2008 05:51 AM CST | #120880 |

Firehand,

How about the M230 chaingun from the Apache?

Author ID: 47 | 5/27/2008 05:53 AM CST | #120881 |

Cap’n Kim, seaman Redcrown reportin’ for duty sir.  I’m old and cranky, ex-U.S.navy adrenalin junkie with excellent sea legs and better than average capability with a wide variety of small arms.  Prefer early to mid twentieth century military arms.

Author ID: 10887 | 5/27/2008 06:07 AM CST | #120882 |

I know absolutely nothing about seamanship, and my skill at arms isn’t exactly practical (hold on while I put on my jacket, sling, glove… get prone… right, now I’m ready to send some .22 flyin’!), but that is the kind of service I can get behind.  If you can think of any use for me at all, I’m in.

Author ID: 10880 | 5/27/2008 06:19 AM CST | #120884 |

You can’t stop piracy until you’re ready to hang pirates from the yardarm as a matter of course.

I’ll bring the rope.

Author ID: 200 | 5/27/2008 06:36 AM CST | #120888 |

Sure, why not?

Like most old farts, I achieved most all of my ambitions.  I’m at a point in my life where I’m not as patient with folls and idiots and killing some Third World Thug-Bastard sounds good.

Besides in our off hours we could sit around, drink and tell outrageous lies.

Author ID: 8125 | 5/27/2008 06:47 AM CST | #120890 |

Communications, Intel and Electronic Warfare standing by by here Boss!

And Mini-guns.  I wants a mini-gun!  Dillon Aero by choice.

We’ve actually discussed this before both on one of Kim’s sites and the GT/old NOR Forum.  I believe I’m the one that coined the phrase “Nation of Rifleman Q Ship Cruises”

hold on while I put on my jacket, sling, glove… get prone… right, now I’m ready to send some .22 flyin’!

Phil, some one has to take care of any survivors floating in the water after their pirate boat is sunk. No sense in wasting larger caliber ammo for that.

Author ID: 85 | 5/27/2008 06:51 AM CST | #120891 |

Israeli merchant ships’ officers are IDF Navy reservists. They carry guns. They don’t get pirated.

Author ID: 7912 | 5/27/2008 06:54 AM CST | #120893 |

I’ve never been to sea (Gulp) but I’ll try not to puke or cry when we lose sight of land.  I know nothing of seamanship so I’ll be the best armed deck swabby you’ll have.  My father sailed for most of his life and if he were dead he would be rolling in his grave to know that I’m a-skeered to be on the ocean.

Author ID: 10034 | 5/27/2008 06:56 AM CST | #120895 |

Blackwater didn’t ask about international law.  No, they just set up shop and waited for the customers to come.  Maybe Royal Caribbean or somebody will hire us with plausible deniability.  Maybe the CIA will pay us per head.

Whatever the case, I’m in.  My SKS says it’ll fire when wet.

Author ID: 9123 | 5/27/2008 06:56 AM CST | #120896 |

Kim - I’m in. Just tell me where and when. I’ve never tried 500 meter head shots from atop a rocking wheelhouse, and while it will surely take a fair bit of practice, I think I can find some .300 WinMag ammo to devote to the experience.

As to armament, I’ll offer my opinion: 40MM for distance, M2 and personal stuff for everything else.

As to longer term resolution, after subduing the miscreants, handi-cuff each, regardless of condition, to a solid part of the rigging and drop a few pounds of time-fused C4 into the bilge. When the supply of existing pirates has been dealt with, and the shore-bound realize that not only none ever come back, neither do their vessels, perhaps their desire to engage in more legitimate pursuits will be enhanced.

In the meantime, of course, there’s a job to do. I suspect that, should such an opportunity as discussed present itself, there will have to be a lottery among your readers, and an established period of service, to ensure we all get a fair chance to play.

Author ID: 8059 | 5/27/2008 07:11 AM CST | #120902 |

so where’s the sign-up sheet…

Author ID: 9956 | 5/27/2008 07:13 AM CST | #120904 |

You’d think that Lloyds or some other group of shipping underwriters would be happy to channel funds to such an enterprise.

One big problem is that a pirate hanged beyond the horizon has nowhere near the same effect as a pirate hanged amidst the embers of what had been his village.  And that means a landing party.  And that means Marines.  And that means reporters…
.

Author ID: 6570 | 5/27/2008 07:22 AM CST | #120908 |

If you need a powder-monkey, I’m game. You can even teach me to shoot at the same time.

Author ID: 8647 | 5/27/2008 07:23 AM CST | #120910 |

How about retro fitting one of these?

get rid of the viewing ports, add a torpedo tube and a fifty caliber on the deck and voila! Death from below....

Author ID: 5487 | 5/27/2008 07:25 AM CST | #120912 |

Hold on, Homer!  We’re PRIVATEERS!  The idea is not to kill pirates for sport, but for PROFIT!

Which means that we do NOT blow up pirate boats - we take them as prizes, the former piratical owners having been hanged from yardarms, cranes, davits, and other suitable suspension points.  Sell the prizes, cover our operating expenses.

And sell the TV and movie rights, too.  We can be stars of the latest reality show!  Come to think of it, we can market a whole line of items...toy cutlasses and pistols to the kids, “Licensed Pirate Hunter” clothes to the parents.

(I’m starting to scare myself here - this might just WORK)

Author ID: 200 | 5/27/2008 07:43 AM CST | #120918 |

First the irony....I am listening to “Come Sail Away” at the moment....

Second, I am going to agree with the “only half?” sentiment. Do you think your readers are slipping Kim? Surely they would have to turn folks away until more ships could be built.

Author ID: 9050 | 5/27/2008 07:46 AM CST | #120920 |

I guess this means I’ll have to go get my helicopter ratings after all.

I’ve heard some third hand accounts that the U.S. Navy has some rather small and lowly “merchant” ships floating around near Iraq and Iran, and that they ask questions later rather than sooner.

Author ID: 2436 | 5/27/2008 07:46 AM CST | #120922 |

“There is a world treaty that no longer recognizes Letters of Marque.  So, no international protection for the ‘legal’ pirates, the Constitution of the United States notwithstanding.  It’s been that way since the early 1800’s, too.”

Any treaty has provisions for the parties to withdraw.  We withdrew from the ABM treaty (thanks, GWB, that’s one of the things you did right), and if we actually signed on to this POS treaty, then we can withdraw from it as well.

Author ID: 7384 | 5/27/2008 07:47 AM CST | #120924 |

Oops, double post.

Author ID: 2436 | 5/27/2008 07:51 AM CST | #120928 |

I’ve thought about outfitting a cargo ship with a Pebble-Bed Modular Reactor to take make insane amounts of money off the fuel savings.

Currently I’m several hundred million dollars short of this lofty goal, but one of the many ‘pitfalls’ of running a nuclear vessel is that people would demand the tightest security.

Which would require (heavily) armed guards.

One could then take this vessel trolling in pirate-infested waters, and off as many pirates as gave you the oppurtunity in the normal course of business.

(Okay, it wouldn’t be trolling for pirates so much as scheduling routes through pirate waters. The thing’s got to make money!)

Author ID: 319 | 5/27/2008 08:00 AM CST | #120934 |

Piss on privateering. Ditto for international recognition or protection.

The clumsy bastards around the world can’t find the pirates, so they sure as hell aren’t any concern to me.

Had I the means, I’d simply arm my own version of a Q-ship or two, crew up, and go looking for trouble.

Ideally, with access to some good lawyers and an operations slush fund via Lloyd’s of London somewhere off stage, for contingencies. (Those gentlemen wouldn’t need any excuse, and they know how to keep their mouths shut.)

When pirate attacks slacked off, and a large number of native “fishing” vessels and their bandit crews in the troubled waters simply failed to return, one could retire quietly back to a safe port, and no one the wiser.

If someone else beat me to the draw and simply did that, I’d take the work for rations.

Author ID: 9097 | 5/27/2008 08:00 AM CST | #120935 |

Sign me up...I’m serious.  If this type of thing was ever organized, I’d be ready to go with 24 hours notice! 

As to your “half the fleet” comment?  I’d be surprised if you couldn’t outfit the ENTIRE fleet from your readership, with a steady number of reserves, as well.

Author ID: 6848 | 5/27/2008 08:05 AM CST | #120938 |

Oddly enough this exact topic is what my friends and I spoke about last night at our Memorial day BBQ. One letter has already been sent to a local congressman asking what we need to do to get letters issued.

Author ID: 37 | 5/27/2008 08:11 AM CST | #120941 |

There are 2 ways of the US and the civilized world dealing with this problem.  One is to allow/encourage/mandate any boats or ships operating outside of the territorial waters of these nations (where the respective coast guards and/or naval forces should be charged with protecting them) to be armed.  No permits to carry handguns, shotties and rifles of any kind and in any amount, ditto on the ammo (and, especially, no restrictions on AP or on incendiary ammo or on my favorite, API).  $5 permit for anything larger than .50 cal, or for full autos (just to make sure that any budding Bluebeards have to go through a permitting system).  Quad 50s, 25mm, 30mm and 40mm chain guns should take care of pretty much any threat. 

Option #2 is a variation on the Q-ship concept.  Send out bait - the bait will have radios and be stealthily armed (maybe with a couple .50s and plentiful rifles and full-auto shotties for the crews), and will be trailed by nearby subs, PT-type boats or out-of-view aircraft.  Upon the detection of an unidentified ship, the subs, etc. will be notified (if they aren’t the ones that do the detecting in the first place, and they SHOULD), and upon a determination that the ship is hostile (and all doubt will be erased if it goes within, say, 1000 yards of our bait), then the Q-ship and its companions will blow the pirates out of the water.  There will be a grand announcement in a Presidential press conference with the Joint Chiefs and details from the CNO, plus weekly press conferences to announce the sinking of X number of boats and the circumstances, to be broadcast all over the Internet as well as via the dinosaur media, just to be sure that word gets out.  Everyone will have fair warning, thereby reducing the number of idiotic close approaches by innocent/drunk boaters, and putting the pirates on fair notice.

Oh, and if we need to do any landings of marines or other forces, like in “The Wind and the Lion,” to teach offending governments who shelter or do nothing about these scum, then so be it.  The world will be a much safer place for innocents to travel.

One limitation - no boarding of pirate ships.  Too messy for our side.  Just blow the crap out of the pirates and film it all.  Enough broadcasts of that will serve just as well as yardarm hangings or firing squads.  Plus, as an added benefit, the ACLU assholes won’t have anyone to defend.  One exception-if the SOBs have hostages.  Then board and save them, and then summarily shoot any surviving pirates.

Any way you cut it, this is a problem with an easily implemented solution.  Take various ships and planes, manned by whomever, and start shooting the bastards.  We have the ships, the weapons and the men (and women, too - why should the fairer sex miss out on the fun).  Right now the only element missing is the balls for someone to actually put them all together with a mission.  Maybe if we get a hard-bitten old Navy vet as POTUS...well, I can dream, can’t I?  At least we’ve got a better shot at this than with a Leftist, America-hating scumbag as POTUS.

Author ID: 7384 | 5/27/2008 08:17 AM CST | #120943 |

Sorry, double post.

Author ID: 7384 | 5/27/2008 08:19 AM CST | #120944 |

I think that escort ships with armed drones carrying some small-caliber automatic weapon, and maybe a few small bombs that would be like air-dropped Claymores would be very effective. It shouldn’t be too difficult to come up with a plane that would be rather similar in capabilities to the Predator drones, and would be able to take off with virtually no runway, and ditch in the water to be picked up after the action was over.

Author ID: 209 | 5/27/2008 08:20 AM CST | #120945 |

“I’ve thought about outfitting a cargo ship with a Pebble-Bed Modular Reactor to take make insane amounts of money off the fuel savings.”

You know, with power like that you could have all kinds of bleeding edge equipment on board - like rail guns and multi-megawatt lasers.  Just a thought.

Oh, with plenty of quad 50s and 40mm Bofors guns as back-up, just in case the newfangled stuff doesn’t work as advertised.  You DO need tight security for such a ship.

Author ID: 7384 | 5/27/2008 08:22 AM CST | #120946 |

It would probably be easier to get the cargo ships armed, than to allow the return of privateers—it could be profitable, if you concentrated on recapturing hijacked cargos/cargo ships, but there are a few problems.

A) Up until recently, China was a major receipient of the hijacked cargoes—supposedly there’s been a crack down, but nothing’s ever really done by the ChiComs that interferes w. making a profit for some corrupt official.  As such, things could easily get embarrassing/v. tense when your pirates end up being ChiCom officials. 

B) Recovering the hijacked ship/cargoes from pirate ports would be pretty messy—trolling for raiding craft could be pretty fun, though…

Author ID: 8518 | 5/27/2008 08:37 AM CST | #120951 |

If we could come up with a few 5"/38’s or 50’s, I have a few hours on the gun director for those. for realistic encounters we’d probably be better off buying something in the Bofors or Oerlikon line in forty mm or bigger. Plus a number of M2 for each beam.

There are surplus mothballed cargo ships lined up five deep in multiple ports around the world; tramps aren ‘t competitive in a container world. But I think it would save trouble and expense just to buy a distressed mega yacht.  That way there would already be a helipad and waterline or even well deck launch options for small fast boats. 

Agree that there are two definite business models or strategies here: kill pirates only OR in addition liberate captured ships.  The practicalities of the latter are fiscal and political, with the political being the more troublesome.  Under even legal salvage laws it can be VERY profitable to end up with somebody else’s cargo.  That’s why piracy is back on the top of the news in the first place.  Seven years after 9/11 there are probably enough trained personnel of all ranks and skills floating about the open market to make recruiting shooters AND planners a matter of time, not possibility.

To pay, you must have product.  I doubt that delivering proof of dead terrorists to ship owners and governments will gin up much interest in cutting checks.  So the goal has to be recovering cargo, which means being able and willing to recapture ships.  Which further means dealing with hostages.

Step one, ideally, would be for nations and businesses to publish that they won’t pay ransoms.  They could even use the money saved to fund the first contingent of privateers - AND to pay a “danger” premium to crews operating in (what are now) recognized “pirate waters”. Step two would be formally reenacting privateer commissioning laws and ensuring the international courts recognize them.  ( and step two is here it gets impossible; too many multinationals and small countries’ governments are invested in the business). Step three: Reenact the Admiralty rules governing the disposition of Pirates captured on the high seas. 

There’s always rope on a ship.

You’ve got my email.

Author ID: 1093 | 5/27/2008 09:18 AM CST | #120959 |

Dillon Aero (http://www.dillonaero.com) - related to Dillon Reloading - is now offering their M134 modular 12v electric-drive .308 minigun (Gatling) for commercial sale.  3,000 to 5,000 rounds per minute (your choice), with fully enclosed modular ammo packs of up to 3,000+ rounds.  Watch the Dillon Aero introduction slide show to see a ship-borne mount.  They make it to fit a pop-up hatch for an SUV (no more traffic problems!), which could be fitted to several hidden ports on ships (see Q-ship, above).  Although the .308 round does not have the range or power of the Ma-Deuce .50BMG round, a few bursts of 1-2,000 rounds would no doubt take care of most pirate crews.  The ammo is a lot cheaper, too.  The price of the system is one of those minor details - hey, if you can afford a ship you can afford one of these.

Author ID: 8099 | 5/27/2008 09:25 AM CST | #120960 |

I’ll be in once my stint with the Air Force is up. I am a navigator, for planes, but boats can’t be that much different, right? I also have sailing experience and pretty decent weapons skills. And I am most definitely down for the after-the-fight drinking and outrageous lie telling.

Author ID: 11166 | 5/27/2008 09:33 AM CST | #120961 |

YARR!!!

AVAST YE MATIES!!!

Author ID: 10147 | 5/27/2008 09:33 AM CST | #120962 |

THIS is my idea of a “cruise vacation.” I’d be more than willing to pay for the privilege of serving on a pirate-hunting ship.

My “Powerball Lottery Winner” fantasy has long been to buy, equip and crew a ship for exactly this purpose.

Author ID: 1233 | 5/27/2008 09:52 AM CST | #120964 |

In response to the growing threat, the French and American governments have drafted a UN resolution to allow nations to pursue and arrest pirates.

The UN? That bunch of cowards and sex perverts? “Halt or I’ll shout “Halt”, again!”
The Q-ship is the best approach. Cruise the waters and make toothpicks and minnow food out of anyone that approaches.  This isn’t all that different from the piracy we faced 200 years ago and should be handled the same way.

BTW, I’m not a bad helmsman. I’ve actually had practice and all.

Author ID: 2303 | 5/27/2008 10:16 AM CST | #120967 |

I’m in. 

I’m not a sailor, but after a particularly nasty night on the Gulf, I don’t get sea sick anymore.  I can shoot.  I know which side is port (left) and which is starboard (right).  Bow is the front, stern the back.  I’ve got my gandad’s WWII copy of the Bluejackets Manual, so anything else I need I think I can read up on before hand. 

We just need a conservative Soros type to fund it.

Author ID: 324 | 5/27/2008 10:28 AM CST | #120970 |

Count me in. We should found the company and name it NoR Sea Security LLC. I would join, with appropriate pay, and shoot these bastards as soon as seen, and not with pussy pea shooters like ARs, but with AKs and M1s/M1a.

Author ID: 7161 | 5/27/2008 11:02 AM CST | #120974 |

If you can use a retired Navy CPO, qualified in Submarines and experienced in figuring out what the bad guys are doing, and who is pretty decent with small arms, I’m in!
Having had all the sub-surface fun I need, I’d like to hang out on a high-altitude weather deck with my ‘03 Springfield (hard bolt, 1918 vintage) and a buttload of incindiary ammo!
Look forward to hearing from you.

Author ID: 852 | 5/27/2008 11:39 AM CST | #120980 |

I’m thinking we’d like to have larger weapons to reach out and touch them at longer distances, things like 20mm, 30mm, and even a Bofors 57mm or two.  But why stop there when you can also use 106mm recoilless rifles, and 5” guns?

You know, things to REALLY make them not want to screw with shipping anymore, and even better yet to have them loaded on regular ships with common rapid-attachment mounts.

I’d LOVE to watch some pirate turds approaching a something innocuous like an old Chinese junk and these jerks start firing off their AK’s into the air, and we’d reach over and pull the tarp off a 30mm chain-gun and blow them out of the water!

Oh, WHAT FUN!!!

Who’s paying and when can we start? 

Author ID: 2187 | 5/27/2008 12:00 PM CST | #120987 |

I am a navigator, for planes, but boats can’t be that much different, right?

Well, for one thing, you have a hell of a lot more time to do pre-comps and resolve celestial fixes at 10kts than at 300kts

Author ID: 85 | 5/27/2008 12:06 PM CST | #120988 |

If you think “Ax Men” and “Dangerous Catch” are hits wait’ll you see FOG’s (Fat Old Guy) Navy: Search & Destroy The Western IO edition.
Take the Q-boat idea add some simple VHF/UHF scanning and DF capability, throw in some RC drones w/ onboard cameras linked back to the boat and go hunting.

The TV rights could be huge. Add to that revenue from contracts with freighters for green water escort services in areas of greatest threat.

Author ID: 8713 | 5/27/2008 12:10 PM CST | #120990 |

Where do I sign on, I do have background and experience.

What do you suppose the ideal “Q ship” would be to look easy, valuable and attract attacks? An expensive private yacht, or a smaller cargo vessel, or?

Author ID: 7964 | 5/27/2008 12:20 PM CST | #120992 |

In the immortal words of Roy Scheider. “We’re gonna’ need a bigger boat.”

Author ID: 6637 | 5/27/2008 12:42 PM CST | #120994 |

Can’t participate directly, but I like your thinking. But, if we want to get serious about ending Somali piracy we’re going to have to occupy the place and engage in pacification with prejudice.

“Pacification with prejudice?” I hear you query.

To which I reply; you gonna be hostile, you gonna be dead.

Author ID: 8242 | 5/27/2008 12:45 PM CST | #120995 |

If someone brings the Dramamine, I’ll bring the shotgun.  Woe to any boarders!

Author ID: 8829 | 5/27/2008 01:20 PM CST | #120997 |

need an old crusty horse soldier to add some cavalry flair to the crew?

Author ID: 8957 | 5/27/2008 01:34 PM CST | #121000 |

Oh hell yea! I’d be up for this-I can shoot/maintain guns, have some navigation skills, and probably some other skills that can come in handy. Just get a few decommissioned PT boats/warships, and a shit load of guns and ammo and we’ll be fine.

Author ID: 10452 | 5/27/2008 02:05 PM CST | #121003 |

A Letter of Marque is only needed to attack vessels belonging to an enemy.

Anyone can kill pirates.

Any American vessel can have any arms on it legally. Just pay the NFA taxes.

There is nothing preventing us from doing this other than finding a sponsor.

Supply will have to be by ship ... other countries tend to get pissy about armed US private vessels ... eventually the local US consul can get the ‘tards running third world countries to knock it off ... but it would be less trouble for consumables to be shipped there, and the armed vessel to remain at sea at all times.

Author ID: 1358 | 5/27/2008 02:10 PM CST | #121004 |

Put a helipad on the stern, and I’ll come fly your helicopter gunship for you.  And I don’t get seasick, after working in the GoM oil patch all these years.

Author ID: 372 | 5/27/2008 02:47 PM CST | #121007 |

If you need a competent machinist that can shoot, I’m in.
The Navy must have some of the old WWII 5” guns lying around they could let us use.
As these Destroyers proved they can be quite effective.

Author ID: 201 | 5/27/2008 02:52 PM CST | #121008 |

Since we’re all dreaming--

screw the bofors, we need 88’s on deck, ideally on an electric turret.  Nothing built today outside of the T72 and M1-series main gun can compare, and it has groovy AAA capability, too.

For the close fight, nothing repels boarders like flamethrowers.

For the close but not close enough to board fight, we should be able to score some Javelin missiles with training warheads--nothing says “tag” like 5lbs of concrete at Mach 7.

Bait ships need to be drones, as they’ll be surrounded by command and pressure detonated limpet mines.  Park the “yacht” seed the mines, chum the water, hilarity ensues.

A note on chum--shooting survivors is most distasteful.  Just stick around long enough to make sure there’s no flotsam bigger than a saltine, and the pirate crew walks the plank wearing mae wests.  Then a few pounds of chum, and we leave for the next AO.

We should capture ships when possible, and surrendering crews will either become the next fights’ chum, or be kept in a hold reminiscent of what the survivors of Bataan were shipped to Japan in, until we can put them ashore on the nearest atoll (like bikini) or nearest naval gunnery range.

As for salvage, we could lie in wait until the pirates seize a ship, then call the owner and ask what it’s worth to get it back.  For pirate harbors, we need some BUDS-trained folks to sink ships @ harbor, alongside the port.  Eventually, they’ll have no place to put in.  Or a Trojan Horse, a container boat filled to the brim with Joe Huffman’s special powder.  Our best long-range shooter (or the 88’s) could set it off.

Any boat worth taking from the pirates will be seized, any pirate taking captives will be summarily executed, after a full trial, presided over by the men of DuToit’s Deciders (or whatever crew name we come up with).  Of course, the pirate may choose to defend himself, or we will provide defense for him, from the one captive we keep on board (the first card carrying ACLU/Amnesty International retard we come across).  If we don’t have a resident lawyer, then a trial by ordeal is in order.  The ordeal I recommend is surviving a gunshot to the aorta.

We would have to sustain ourselves somehow, and assuming that insurance companies or governments aren’t willing to provide support, we may have to resort to selling captured ships for scrap, or selling them to artificial reef-builders, or something of that nature.

Either way, I’m in.  No Naval experience, I am an Armor guy by trade, so I could maintain and employ the 88’s fairly well, in CQB I have proved myself, and will engage in combat as necessary.  Can always provide “non compis mentis” arguments based on TBI and PTSD.

Author ID: 7769 | 5/27/2008 04:22 PM CST | #121012 |

Gang,

The “Privateer” idea is nixed, not so much by specific treaties, but by customary international law.  The United States has taken positions in favor of this particular rule, so we are pretty much locked out of taking a different position now.

Having said that, there is nothing that says that the United States cannot create a new service, which we could call the “Armed Riparian Guard,” (get the piratical acronym?) which, for international law purposes, would be a part of our Navy, the purpose of which would be to patrol the world’s oceans and kill pirates.

I defer to sea power geeks as to how it should be equipped, but in general terms I am thinking of small, fast, lightly armored vessels with a brace of Ma Deuces, some kind of light naval gun, a big supply of some kind of shoulder fired anti-armor missile that can be fired against surface vessels that have some sort of armored protection, and a dozen or so guys with small arms, operating in squadrons supported by a “mother ship” for supplies and a recommissioned old destroyer or frigate (need not have current generation anti-air and anti-submarine suites, electronics, commo gear, etc) to protect the mother ship and in case something heavier is called for in terms of backup.

Sneak one of these little groups into a piracy hot spot, stay in the shadow of some attractive merchies, and kill the bad guys when they appear.  Hopefully, they will die so fast they can’t get out warnings to their buddies.

Honzie

Author ID: 9829 | 5/27/2008 04:47 PM CST | #121015 |

For the life of me I can’t think of a port on the East African shore that would be worth turning into a base.  Which sucks, because without a land base the cost of a tender cuts into the bottom line.

We don’t get a letter or anything like a formal commission.

We find, at a few removes, the money behind the insurance carriers that underwrite those routes and arrange a meeting.  Here we (having done our homework on the used ship and armaments market) present our basic proposal as well as a brief on core crew, equipment, and intended procedures. It is essential that we develop operational intelligence of the shore based networks behind the floating threat before this meeting, lest we end up as somebody else’s game piece in a regional power game.

We then commission our Q-ship.  It must be nondescript to the casual observer, faster by ten percent than any ship in its class, and armed with at least two computer/radar directed large caliber (>3") hidden guns.  I wonder if the Russkis have a naval analog of their T-72 autoloader main gun that could be servoed...?

We’re going hunting, not looking for a fight.  There is no reason to trade shots with any one.  We will ship quick firing guns for worst case scenario stuff, of course.

It is necessary to have sufficient sensor capability to prove that the dear (and briefly noisily) departed were in fact showing aggression and that our actions were defensive.

We will ship cargo, properly documented and available instantly for inspection.  I am thinking two cases of Snickers bars will probably fill the freezer portion of the crew’s beer locker just right.

I don’t see any legal or practical way to go about cargo/hostage recovery as a successful for - profit undertaking.  At a minimum we’d need intelligence that just can ‘t be got without government - level assets.  And it’s been governments, not owners, that seem to be the ones coughing up the money for ransoms.  This indicates they lack the will to confront; it probably rules out any clandestine support to resistance, as well.

BTW, I second the idea of FOG’S Navy as a show concept.  Too right I’d sit through some Rogaine adverts to catch that on the tube!

Author ID: 1093 | 5/27/2008 05:22 PM CST | #121016 |

The US might currently support the stance of not supporting privateers by international law, but all it takes a strong President to rescind that stance. It’s in our Constitution and as a private citizen I’m all for Letters of Marquis, and as a Guardsman and former active duty servicemen I’d love to furnish my communication and electronics experience to such a venture.  HOOST the COLORS and let’s seen the scurvy dogs down to Davy Jones or just hang them from the yardarms.

Author ID: 8320 | 5/27/2008 06:12 PM CST | #121018 |

The reason why people were so eager to end privateering is because privateers had a nasty habit of turning pirate when peace broke out, or when prizes were scarce. Piracy usually disappeared during times of war only to shoot up to very high levels when peace was declared. It was an awfully thin line between the two sets of predatory seamen - Captain Kidd wasn’t so much an out-and-out pirate as a privateer-and-pirate-hunter who crossed the line when it came to capturing French prizes. No one really knows for sure how legal some of his actions were, as he really didn’t get a fair trial.

I love the idea, but the potential for abuse would be so high…

Author ID: 11044 | 5/27/2008 06:14 PM CST | #121020 |

Potential for abuse?  Dammit, were FOG’s Navy!  We’re respectable and trustable. We aren’t pirates, were pirate killers!  Jeez.  Some guys just don’t get how ‘GOOD’ we are.

Author ID: 10034 | 5/27/2008 07:45 PM CST | #121023 |

We have to get a ship large enough to carry the Mk110 Mod 0 gun system.  It will pretty much take care of business and all that will be left is the cleaning up.

Mk 110 Mod 0

Author ID: 8640 | 5/27/2008 08:16 PM CST | #121025 |

TmjUtah: the closest thing that I can think of to a naval analogue of the T-72/80/90 cannon/turret is the AK-130: http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNRussian_51-70_ak130.htm

On that note, I wonder how much it would cost to buy a used Russian warship and refurbish it…

Author ID: 10452 | 5/27/2008 11:17 PM CST | #121030 |

History Channel

Typical History Channel wussiness but it was an interesting show about recent piracy and the ‘nonviolent’ options being considered.  But they also had their breathless ‘Oh no!’ about arming the crews and the chance for accidents or (if I remember correctly) someone going postal, and whined about ‘mercenary’ hired guns.

Author ID: 359 | 5/27/2008 11:33 PM CST | #121032 |

Business Opportunity

May 27, 2008
4:30 AM CST

I am an old-fashioned man, and my solutions to simple problems tend to follow Occam’s Precept rather than the subtle, convoluted and ultimately ineffective solutions proposed by academics, liberals, Frenchmen and government weenies like the State Department [some overlap].

So I read about this simple problem:

Mariners are being warned of a growing threat from pirates around the world after attacks on shipping rose by 20 per cent over the last year.

Gone are the cannon and cutlass, to be replaced by rocket propelled grenades and automatic rifles, but according to new figures from the organisation that collates reports of global piracy, the spirit of Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow is alive and terrorising the ocean waves.

The International Maritime Bureau’s latest report reveals the first rise in pirate attacks since their previous peak in the mid 1990s. In one particularly savage incident in the Philippines in March, pirates shot dead the captain of a passenger boat and two of his crew before tying them to their anchor and tossing it overboard. They then shot the two remaining crew members and escaped in a motor boat.

The sharp rise in pirate attacks is blamed in large part on the collapse of law and order in Somalia and political unrest in Nigeria. The seas around the two African countries are now regarded as some of the most dangerous in the world.
...
The IMB’s records are a litany of brutality. Last year pirates who attacked a Danish tanker off the coast of Nigeria tied up the bosun and threatened to cut off his ears unless he told them the code for the locks on the cargo control room. In another attack off the Nigerian coast, a Panamanian tug boat was boarded by five men who approached in a small fast boat. The pirates rounded up the crew on the bridge, smashed a bottle over the master’s head and forced each crew member to hand over their belongings.

Needless to say, the response has been tepid and inadequate:

In response to the growing threat, the French and American governments have drafted a UN resolution to allow nations to pursue and arrest pirates.

Yeah, right. And after the proposal is adopted in 2035 (following two or three dozen vetos by the godless Russians and Chinese, no doubt), a single frigate will be sent out to patrol the world’s sea-lanes, with its coordinates beamed on Pirates Network every hour, just to be fair and “warn” the bad guys.

Screw that.

Of course, by now my longtime Readers will probably know what’s flashing in front of my eyes like a 300-ft Las Vegas neon sign:

PRIVATEERS!

Indeed, if some enterprising billionaire were to offer the funding to equip a mini-fleet of privateer vessels (instead of pissing it away on nonsense like Alleviating Third World Hunger—which sounds wonderful, but achieves nothing), I think I’d volunteer right quickly to crew one of them. My gout-induced lack of mobility is irrelevant on board a ship, and what I lack in seamanship and such, I will more than make up for with weapons prowess, and bloodthirstiness which would make these so-called pirates look like a bunch of Baptist Sunday-school teachers.

As long as said privateers are equipped with rocket-launchers and Ma Deuces (not to mention ummm sidearms of the usual sort to be found on these pages), I think we would provide a sterling service to the cargo fleets of the world, and be a scourge to pirate scum everywhere.

Besides, if I’m going to die, I can think of far worse ways than in the throes of battle on a sinking ship, with my bayonet or cutlass thrust into some Third World thug’s belly.

I bet I could crew half the fleet just with volunteers from among my Readers.