Plugging the Gaps

JohnGaltLakeTahoe: For the love of God, cease your spamming.

Listening to the story unfold last weekend about the standoff between the USS Bainbridge and the pirates in the lifeboat, I couldn't help thinking that the USS Constitution - yup, the 215 year old wooden frigate permanently tied up in Boston Harbor, which fought the original Barbary pirates in the 1800???s - would have been almost as suitable as the state of the art Bainbridge for this particular mission. If that's overstating things a bit, then it's probably safer to speculate that there are lots of mothballed Vietnam and Korea-era destroyers and frigates out there that could be brought on line for a job like this. Or helicopter carriers: rehab a couple of retired helicopter carriers; equip them with suitably armed anti-pirate helicopters capable of responding quickly within a radius of, say 250 miles.
In British and Dutch colonial times, their big shipping firms (like the Dutch East India Co.) maintained their own armed vessels for escort duty. Could the big shipping lines now organize a proto-navy or coast-guard and send their merchant ships past Somalia in escorted convoys?
Alternately, could NATO simply blockade the Somali harbors where the mother ships are based? It???s not like there???s really an organized Somali government against whom this would be seen as an act of war.

This happened in the 60's and was it reported in the News NO!

From 14:03 until 14:10, the Israeli air assault unleashed hell, concentrating a coordinated strafing attack first of bombs, then of rockets, armor-piercing bullets, and napalm on the ship's communication antennas and crew. Basically these fighters exhausted all of their ordnance and ammunition on a ship they knew could not return fire before they left. (3) page 16 and (4). Israel later confirmed that multiple Mirage fighter-bombers and Dassault Mystyres swept-wing fighters were used, and this was confirmed from photographs taken by Liberty sailors. During the assault, the aircraft jammed all frequencies so the Liberty was only able to communicate during the short intervals when the Israeli rockets were in-flight, as the fighters had to switch off jamming temporarily. (1) page 36. Also during the assault, the American flag was shot away, but before the torpedo attack began, it was replaced with a larger 8x13 foot version. (3) page 19.

Between 14:24 and 14:28, the three torpedo boats arrived in visual range and were reported as flying Israeli flags. (3) page 19 and (1) page 36.

At 14:31, both the USS Liberty and the torpedo boats opened fire at each other. At least five (5) torpedoes were launched, and two (2) torpedoes made contact at about 14:35, and later mechanical analysis revealed one of the torpedoes hit in an area where a few meters in either direction would likely have broken the ship in half. Twenty-five (25) Americans working in the SIGINT section were killed instantly by this torpedo. Following the torpedoes, the Israeli boats raked the USS Liberty with cannon and machine-gun fire, shooting at any visible sailor above deck. At one point, the Israelis concentrated their fire on the boiler, trying to cause an explosion and sink the ship. The torpedo boats were later confirmed to be Ayah class motor torpedo boats, each carrying two (2) torpedoes, and (4) cannons. Before the ship was scrapped, there were 861 holes larger than a man's fist and thousands of 0.50 caliber machine gun holes. (3) pages 19-20, (2) pages 7-8, (1) page 37-38. Same as the fighter attack, basically the Israelis expended all of their ordnance and then just opened up with machine-guns, possibly to keep the sailors from activating a new radio line. They threw everything they had at the USS Liberty, trying to sink a defenseless vessel that they had confirmed to be American.

As a Coast Guard Boarding Officer I can tell you yes we do have Jurisdiction on the High Seas when it comes to Piracy. Obviously you all are not familiar with international laws and treaties when it comes to this and that's OK. You aren't the experts in this field. As far as sending armed pilot boat escorts that is ridiculous, if they don't get there ass shot off then they have just given the Pirates an excellent platform to continue marauding. What I???m saying is it doesn???t fix the problem it is a knee jerk reaction that will ultimately fail. Arming the boats is also out of the question for the same reason and Maritime Law and treaties forbid it in most countries.

The whole issue is systemic of a failed state and the fact that there was no one to enforce Somalia???s territorial seas and EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) which normally extends out 200 miles from there customs waters at 12 miles. Since there was no one to enforce this it was being violated by foreign fishing vessels and illegal dumping of toxic waste. To counter this Somali fishermen took up there weapons and started attacking them. They soon found that this could be profitable and it has gotten progressively worse since.

Yes the United States Coast Guard is the best suited and trained to take this on. We are the Premier Maritime Law Enforcement agency in the world. With that said we have trained the US Navy, foreign Navies and Coast Guards in our tactics and procedures, so a joint UN action is probably the best answer with the USCG as the Lead agency.

fsiliber: And why not post a wizard on every boat who could cast an anti-piracy spell as defense when going through dangerous waters? Having "hundreds of drones in the air" with "laser guided missles" to "blow the speedboat to bits" is about as reasonable, logical and possible as what I just suggested here.

fsilber: Piracy is criminal. It's against centuries old international admiralty laws. National laws have nothing to do with it because it takes place in international waters.

Why not have small, heavily armed pilot ships ride along side of the Cargo ships passing through Somalia? The cost couldn't be half as much as they are already losing.

The Coast Guard can't do squat until the politicians in the various national capitals have the guts to order something done. Time was when officers on the scene had the international authority to act immediately Now they have to wait for a decision from the Undecided Nations.

So far, this has been going on for some time... This is a Global problem. Let the Wealthy Ship owners and countries, send their own security to protect their own. Let the countries send their Navy to protect their own. This isn't a USA problem. American Tax Payers aren't responsible for problems on the High Seas...

So why not arm the vessels that are likely to be attacked? All we would have to do is put troops onboard while they are in harms way. When they are not helecopter them off.

we have a lot of diesel subs that are mothballed in storage lets put them to use. station about 5 of them in the most dangerous areas and wait for the pirates.then we blow them out of the waterand slip away undetected. another mystery of the sea?

we have a lot of mothballed diesel subs why not use them we could sneak up on these pirates and blast em to kingdom come and then slip away

I agree that the navy or coast guard should not be bothered with the marine policing jobs. Instead a loosely organized international police force, under Interpol supervision, that is armed with a couple of ships and that many more speed boats is all needed initially. Retired army/ navy and other professional police agencies will be able to handle the patrolling of the marine waters. After all, we are preventing a theft/ hijack here and not waging a war. Essentially, its a very low intense law enforcement operation and does not need army bigwigs to waste their time on this menace. One should assemble this force quickly to get to work first and then expand as the threat is analyzed and understood in depth. Once some professional resistance is perceived, chances are that the pirates will beat retreat and disappear altogether. Each passing ship may have to chip in with some fee to enjoy protection so that the overall operational costs can be put under check. Effective communications and air support makes a vital link for a successful rescue effort.

Station two troop ships in the area one at the north and one at the south end. Before a US ship enters these waters put a squad of marines onboard and when they leave the area take them off. The marines should stay out of sight until attacked. Use drone aircraft in the area to track the pirate boats back to the mother the mother ship then take have our ships deal with the mother ships. Station an aircraft carrier in the area and when a ship is attacked send a fighter to back up the marines. A fighter traveling at 1500 knots will get there a lot sooner than a ship at 40 knots.

The problem is here and now, can't wait years to get ready. The Coast Guard already has their plate full here in the US. It's stupid to load them up with more work half-way around the world. We either practice what we preach or shut the hell up. The Navy is there now and whether good enough or not for the job, who cares, give them all the authority to take care of business, take the gloves off. We want other nations to be our partners and work together,but pretending it's not our problem and walk away, that stinks of betrayal. Pirates are rabid dogs, you treat them as such. The world community didn't pay attention to the problem till it escalated and many hostages are in the pirate hands, used as pawns. They want to go home, they don't want to die and ignoring that fact that pirates have no heart or respect for human life means all the more to hunt them down and make life miserable for them. Use drone warfare to rain down ordinance in their own homes. Make the 1st mile between land and water a total dead zone with ordinance. they will realize the chance for survival is zero to none. They will want to start talking when they run out of food and other goods. I fighter who doesn't eat won't fight much.

What a bozo! Calling on using the Coast Guard because they know how to use non-lethal means. Okay, give the pirates machine guns, grenade launchers, and the will and motivation to use them and then give the good guys video cameras and megaphones...let's see now...hmmm...I do believe the pirates win. I agree there should be a diplomatic solution but in the meantime the pirates are going to continue to use lethal means, which unfortunately means, we'll have to do the same in order to keep our guys alive.