U.S. navy tanker under apparent pirate attack off Somalia

[FLRon777]

I hope the security team killed a few of these pirates. Then they should locate their "mother-ships" and sink them immediately.

U.S. navy tanker under apparent pirate attack off Somalia
Reuters
9/24/08

The U.S. Navy said on Wednesday it appeared pirates had tried to attack one of its big military oil tankers.

A security team aboard the vessel opened fire on two small boats near Somalia after they ignored warnings and pursued the ship, a U.S. Fifth Fleet spokesman said.

"From all appearances it does look like it was a pirate attack and the incident is currently under investigation," he said by telephone from Bahrain.

He said the Military Sealift Command (MSC) oil tanker, the John Lenthall, which usually carries a range of fuels for the U.S. armed forces, was transiting outside Somalia's territorial waters when the incident took place.

In a statement the navy said a whole range of warnings were given before the security team opened fire on the small open skiffs which came within 400 yards of the tanker.

The skiffs then retreated and the navy said there were no reports of any casualties.

"This incident is clear proof that all mariners must remain vigilant," said Captain Steve Kelley, the commander responsible MSC ships in the region.

Somali pirates have in the past mounted attacks on merchant shipping from skiffs launched from so-called "mother ships" in the waters in and beyond Somalia.

Heavily armed Somali pirates have hijacked more than 30 merchant vessels of the Horn of Africa country this year, with attacks off its coast and the Gulf of Aden almost every day.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080924/ts_nm/us_somalia_piracy_navynews_1

[cjlandry]

Isn't it wonderful that they messed with the wrong ship, for a change?

Shouldn't every ship be equipped so as to be "the wrong ship"?

It sucks that there are so many laws and regulations against non-government-sponsored vessels being well armed.

Yes, this vessel's crew and support were able to protect her, but the rest of the merchant and private fleets are sitting ducks.

Everyone, everywhere, should have the right to be equipped to repel attackers, whether on land, at sea, or in air.

[Targettarget]

I didn't know the military has it's own tankers transporting fuel.

I will give them credit for attacking a US naval ship. That has disaster written all over it (for the pirates).

[VaderGlock]

That took some stones to attack a US Navy ship in a fishing boat- provided of course they knew what they were doing.

It makes one wonder how much of this goes on that we never hear about....:whistling:

[Norman]

I'd love to shoot me some pirates.

[Tx-G30]

:wave: WTG squids !

[sebecman]

Isn't it wonderful that they messed with the wrong ship, for a change?

Shouldn't every ship be equipped so as to be "the wrong ship"?

It sucks that there are so many laws and regulations against non-government-sponsored vessels being well armed.

Yes, this vessel's crew and support were able to protect her, but the rest of the merchant and private fleets are sitting ducks.

Everyone, everywhere, should have the right to be equipped to repel attackers, whether on land, at sea, or in air.

I didn't realize there were any such laws?

I spent time on a sword fishing boat (among others) in my younger days and we were armed to the gills. Shotguns, scoped rifles, Ar15 and everyone had a handgun.... we loaded the 12 g's with 2 slugs and the rest buckshot....that way when the skiff gets in range you put the slugs thru the hull at the water line and then unload the buckshot on the crew....

I think what they need to do over there in Somolia is send a few heavily armed decoys out and kill kill kill......

[Dragoon44]

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z222/Dragoon44_bucket/gtasomaliaot8.jpg

[Just Say No]

What we need to do is pimp out our navy in the Gulf of Aden. Have one destroyer guarding 10 civilian ships going up against 5 fishing boats with RPGs and at most DShK 12.7mm machines guns. Hell we would have the taken out before they were even on the horizon.

[Beware Owner]

They should've taken them all in, and sent a pinky per pirate in a bag tied to a single pirate's neck with one eye, one leg, one arm, one tooth, one finger, one walnut, half a butt hole, and half a scalp, back to the mother ship. That'll send a message.

[tbhracing]

Where is the video???

[Just Say No]

They should've taken them all in, and sent a pinky per pirate in a bag tied to a single pirate's neck with one eye, one leg, one arm, one tooth, one finger, one walnut, half a butt hole, and half a scalp, back to the mother ship. That'll send a message.

Don't count on it. The country has been without a government since we left and I can imagine that really does wonders for the economy. On top of that you have the Chinese who have no scruples about giving everything up to nuclear weapons to Somalia's neighbors for oil coupled with the fact that there are no consequences (short of international action) for pirates in the country and I imagine unemployment hovers around 80%.

Look at Iraq, when you are a family man and the sole provider and the only people paying enough to feed your family are the insurgents you have few options. I am not justifying either but I am just pointing out why they do it.

[4TS&W]

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z222/Dragoon44_bucket/gtasomaliaot8.jpg

:rofl:

[Beware Owner]

Don't count on it. The country has been without a government since we left and I can imagine that really does wonders for the economy. On top of that you have the Chinese who have no scruples about giving everything up to nuclear weapons to Somalia's neighbors for oil coupled with the fact that there are no consequences (short of international action) for pirates in the country and I imagine unemployment hovers around 80%.

Look at Iraq, when you are a family man and the sole provider and the only people paying enough to feed your family are the insurgents you have few options. I am not justifying either but I am just pointing out why they do it.

I know I'M not getting paid to end up like that! :rofl:

[J.M.Towers]

....I am not justifying either but I am just pointing out why they do it.

I'll go ahead and justify it.

:cool:

There, that wasn't so bad.

[DWP21]

So if I win the lottery who wants to arm a couple of yachts and go pirate hunting with me?

I hear there are some guys over the Kentucky way with a 90mm field gun for sale.

Any experienced machine gunners want to man a quad .50 in the nose of my yacht?

[Beware Owner]

So if I win the lottery who wants to arm a couple of yachts and go pirate hunting with me?

I hear there are some guys over the Kentucky way with a 90mm field gun for sale.

Any experienced machine gunners want to man a quad .50 in the nose of my yacht?

Leave me in the room with a 25watt bulb and a chair. :supergrin:

[blackjack]

Talk about your poor victim selection technique...too bad the swab jockeys didn't just ventilate them all and send them to Davy Jones' locker.

[Dragoon44]

The conversation aboard the pirate boat.


"Hold my sign and watch while I attack this ship."

[TimP]

So if I win the lottery who wants to arm a couple of yachts and go pirate hunting with me?

I hear there are some guys over the Kentucky way with a 90mm field gun for sale.

Any experienced machine gunners want to man a quad .50 in the nose of my yacht?

I can run a 249, and have shot more than a couple rounds out of an M2

[4TS&W]

So if I win the lottery who wants to arm a couple of yachts and go pirate hunting with me?

I hear there are some guys over the Kentucky way with a 90mm field gun for sale.

Any experienced machine gunners want to man a quad .50 in the nose of my yacht?

I'll be shooting from the "spotter plane"......

...an AC-130 spectre gunship :wavey:

[Texas357]

So, now we are instituting regime change in Somalia? That throws off my betting pool.

[Texas357]

I'll be shooting from the "spotter plane"......

...an AC-130 spectre gunship :wavey:

I think an escort of a half-dozen mini-subs with deck guns is worth considering.... The pirates would never know which ships were escorted.....

Also, sharks with frikkin laser beams..... need I say more?

[cjlandry]

You'll have to settle for sea bass with bad attitudes. (what's the actual frickin' line? Throw me a frickin' bone here!)

[Dennis in MA]

Ill tempered, CJ.

BTW - didn't they get the memo that last FRIDAY was National 'Talk Like a Pirate' Day?

[series1811]

Talk about your poor victim selection technique...too bad the swab jockeys didn't just ventilate them all and send them to Davy Jones' locker.


We should set up some Q-Ships like we had in WW2, that masqueraded as cargo ships until a German submarine would surface next to them to shell them (at which point guns started poking out of cargo boxes and blasting them).

They would fill the entire hold of Q-ships with balsa wood, so even if torpedoed, they would still float. :supergrin:

[NeverMore1701]

I can run 249s, 240s, and M2s.... The Mk19 is still my favorite though, you NEED one of those for anti-pirate duty :D

[Atlas]

Stupid is as stupid does.

[Historian]

I guess they took international talk like a pirate day seriously,

Argh!!

[frank4570]

I'd like to run a few remote controlled small jet boats filled with c4 and ball berrings. If you give me the money I'll build them.

So if I win the lottery who wants to arm a couple of yachts and go pirate hunting with me?

I hear there are some guys over the Kentucky way with a 90mm field gun for sale.

Any experienced machine gunners want to man a quad .50 in the nose of my yacht?

[DWP21]

There are some sick people on this board and there is no way having a pirate hunting party without you guys.

[Historian]

This was a clear error in the victim selection process.

[AJ Dual]

Don't count on it. The country has been without a government since we left and I can imagine that really does wonders for the economy. (snip)

Look at Iraq, when you are a family man and the sole provider and the only people paying enough to feed your family are the insurgents you have few options. I am not justifying either but I am just pointing out why they do it.

So, now we are instituting regime change in Somalia? That throws off my betting pool.

It's actually arguable that some things are better in Somalia when it operates as a "failed state" with no central government, than when there was one that was forced on Somalia or propped up from without.

You can't do 'regime change' when there is no regime to change.

Like much of the ME, but with it's own African flavor to it, the primary unit of self-identification and first loyalty of the Somali is his family or clan. The problem is that if a central Somali government is erected, from within or without, it is inevitably seen as being the tool of one particular clan to amass wealth (kleptocracy) and rule all the others. Much like simmering resentment against the house of Saud's iron grip on Saudi Arabia. And the other clans inevitably all engage in civil war and insurgency to take the central government down. So in Somalia a central government becomes a deadly prize over which everyone must fight.

Somalia is a unique beast, because despite being divided up into the largely autonomous clans, it also has a very high degree of ethnic and language homogeneity which means that there aren't as many huge cultural barriers to overcome there. Unlike say Iraq, where there are family/clan loyalties, but also the deep divisions between Sunni, Shia, and the Kurds. And in the absence of any functional Somalian government, there is a traditional system of law and justice and arbiters which provides for restitution and punishment for crime that happens between members of different clans. And there are sanctions against the clan who won't punish their offending family members according to the traditional code.

That's not to say Somalia is some kind of libertarian/minarchy-anarchy paradise, far from it. The piracy in the ocean that Somalia's stateless status allows is just one example.

However, the life of the average Somalian has been demonstrably much better off without a Somali government, than when there was one. And that's a big embarrassment to the likes of the U.N. and the other traditional nation states that have had involvement there trying to 'fix' things...

[Biscuitsjam]

Quick questions - how many of you know that Ethiopia recently invaded Somalia and sent in "peacekeepers" to prop up the Western-backed government?

How many of you know that Ethiopia is a Christian country and that the main government opposition is made of Islamic extremists?

[VaderGlock]

Quick questions - how many of you know that Ethiopia recently invaded Somalia and sent in "peacekeepers" to prop up the Western-backed government?

How many of you know that Ethiopia is a Christian country and that the main government opposition is made of Islamic extremists?

Didn't know that. I thought there was a large Communist presence there. :dunno:

[slewfoot]

Quick questions - how many of you know that Ethiopia recently invaded Somalia and sent in "peacekeepers" to prop up the Western-backed government?

How many of you know that Ethiopia is a Christian country and that the main government opposition is made of Islamic extremists?

Ethiopia had a large population of Jews also. Somewhere in the vicinity of 85,000 of them have emigrated to Israel.

[chowchow]

Not a good idea to attack a US N Tanker ship with .50 BMGs .