Hijacked Tanker. [Archive] - World Naval Ships Forums

designeraccd

19-11-2008, 13:37

From WSJ:

There has been some progress on this front. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has dispatched a formidable multi-national force -- including British, Italian, and Greek ships -- to join the American, French, Canadian and Danish vessels already cruising off Somalia's vast coastline. France has also aggressively pursued pirates, freeing captured vessels and hostages.

Capturing pirates is not the critical problem. Rather, the issue is how to handle those in captivity. Traditionally, pirates fell within that category of illegitimate hostiles that once included slave traders, brigands on the roads and, in wartime, unprivileged or "unlawful" enemy combatants. As Judge Nicholas Trott, presiding over as a pirate trial, explained in 1718: "it is lawful for any one that takes them, if they cannot with safety to themselves bring them under some government to be tried, to put them to death." This law, of course, has changed since the 18th century. Pirates, brigands and unlawful combatants must be now tried before they can be punished.

One solution would be for the capturing state to press charges based on the much misunderstood and abused principle of "universal" jurisdiction. This is the notion that any state may criminalize and punish conduct that violates certain accepted international law norms. Although its application in most circumstances is dubious -- there is very little actual state practice supporting the right of one state to punish the nationals of a second for offenses against the citizens of a third -- piracy is one area where a strong case for universal jurisdiction can be made (if only because piratical activities often take place on the high seas, beyond any state's territorial jurisdiction).

Moreover, given the nature of naval operations, discerning who is a pirate is usually a much easier task than separating Taliban and al Qaeda members from innocent bystanders. This fact, all things being equal, should make the task of prosecuting captured pirates an easier process, both from the legal and public relations perspective.

The key problem is that America's NATO allies have effectively abandoned the historical legal rules permitting irregular fighters to be tried in special military courts (or, in the case of pirates, admiralty courts) in favor of a straightforward criminal-justice model. Although piracy is certainly a criminal offense, treating it like bank robbery or an ordinary murder case presents certain problems for Western states.

To begin with, common criminals cannot be targeted with military force. There are other issues as well. Last April the British Foreign Office reportedly warned the Royal Navy not to detain pirates, since this might violate their "human rights" and could even lead to claims of asylum in Britain. Turning the captives over to Somali authorities is also problematic -- since they might face the head and hand-chopping rigors of Shariah law. Similar considerations have confounded U.S. government officials in their discussions of how to confront this new problem of an old terror at sea.

In the last few years France determined to return its pirate prisoners to Somalia based on assurances of humanitarian treatment. The U.S. has, of course, rendered terror prisoners to foreign governments based on similar assurances, and only time will tell whether they are genuine. An equally important question is whether the transfer of captured pirates to local authorities will result in prosecution at all. In many areas, local governments may be subject to corruption or intimidation by strong pirate gangs.

One thing is certain: As in the war on terror, the new campaign against piracy will test the mettle of Western governments. It will also require them to balance the rights of lawbreakers against the indisputable rights of the law-abiding to not live their lives in danger and fear.

Now, IMhO, the judge in 1718 put it succinctly and correctly......enuff with the lefty/liberal PC crud.......DFO

battlestar

19-11-2008, 13:40

G'Day All

Yeah, the Indians have been very busy of late. My understanding is that INS Tabar was ordered into the area by IN Western Command out of Mumbai with the sole purpose of maritime protection. They have done a outstanding job thus far.

Having met with several ranking officers of the IN, and touring Tabar in 2006, well, if the pirates opened fire first on Tabar, they signed their death warrants. Tabar is a tough nut to crack, and her weapons would have made the engagement quick. And the Indian Officers I've met are not the sort to stuff around.

Now the question is, will the EU Fleet heading for the region have the same rules of engagement? Another Question, will the USN finally act?

Stay tuned!

designeraccd

19-11-2008, 13:48

Given the new President we are about to get: one wonders what the USN will be ordered to do. If he is as liberal and PC as most of his supporters think...USN will probably be ordered home...or to put daisys in the ends of gun tubes...hope I'm wrong! BTW, US MSM is finally starting to wake up to this story, but as usual most of the "reporting" is full of...uh, well...not real good...typical. Of course the talking heads wouldn't know a DDG from a speedboat........ DFO :eek:

battlestar

19-11-2008, 14:01

G'Day All

Hi Designeraccd. I have a friend that went to High School in Hawaii with Barry Obama. This Friend is a USN CDR (Ret). He tells me that Barry aint the Liberal that everybody thinks, but he's one smart cookie. I wouldn't bet the house on the media being right with the stuff that's said about him. ADM Mullen is the current head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he rose through the navy as a Surface Warfare Officer (He Commanded USS Goldsbourgh DDG-20), and he'll be advising Pres Obama about things such as this.

I hope Barry listens! Or you will be right!

designeraccd

19-11-2008, 14:21

At this point I'm "HOPEFUL" that President elect Obama isn't the ultra liberal his record would seem to indicate; the last thing the US or world needs is another ineffective Jimmy Carter...or bubba bill. No doubt he is highly intelligent, but is he SMART enough to really lead effectively? Soon we will all start to see.....DFO :confused::eek:

astraltrader

19-11-2008, 15:03

With the US political system the President is as good as the team he surrounds himself with. So far his choice of staff seem fairly promising...

designeraccd

19-11-2008, 15:09

True, like any leadership position one must have a good supporting staff. However, putting bubba bill retreads in...hhmmm? This is the vaunted CHANGE? Well, I hope....pardunn the sorta pun. OTOH the "leader" we have had for the past 7+ years has been a major help in putting us in the ditch, on many fronts...........DFO :)

nigelweysom

19-11-2008, 18:48

as we have just been extolling the actions of the Indian navy for actually doing some thing why are we bothered what sort of president Obama becomes ?
Nigel

Colin Hawken

19-11-2008, 20:12

Just a thought. If a Warship,of whatever nationality,shelled and destroyed the pirates lair,what could anyone do about it? It was mentioned in one of today's papers that the US Marines cleaned up the Barbary Coast.Why can't the same be done to the Somali coast? International Lawyers could huff and puff as much as they liked,it would be a case of job done. Until this sort of action is taken terrorism will never be beaten. The time for waffling is over.

designeraccd

19-11-2008, 20:48

Agreed...past due for concrete action, but itzz NOT PC so the pols of the world waffle...and the thugs PROSPER: crime does pay..............DFO :mad:

herakles

19-11-2008, 23:03

This from the Guardian today:

Britain is to lead an armada of EU warships to the Gulf of Aden next month to tackle the escalating problem of piracy in a mission expected to last 12 months.

The naval fleet, under UK command, would "disrupt and to tackle the scourge of piracy", foreign secretary David Miliband said today on a visit to Beirut. Piracy threatens trade and prosperity, he added.

EU military planners this week drew up a detailed mandate, including rules of engagement for the use of force, for the mission at a meeting at Northwood, Britain's joint operations centre in north-west London. Plans for the EU fleet, led by HMS Northumberland and known as Operation Atalanta, are due to formally agreed early next month, European defence officials said today.

The EU fleet, originally proposed to escort boats carrying food aid to Somalia, should include ships from ten countries.

Nato military chiefs, meeting in Brussels today, indicated that a coordinated worldwide response was required to deal with piracy amid a plethora of proposals about how to deal with the problem.

Russia today came up with its own proposal - land operations against the bases of Somali pirates.

stewart mcloughlin

20-11-2008, 00:32

And to think it's only ten years since Tony Blurr scrapped hanging for piracy.
Stewart

Colin Hawken

20-11-2008, 09:31

Not much hope then?:(

Colin Hawken

20-11-2008, 09:37

battlestar

20-11-2008, 11:22

G'Day All

Tabar on Patrol off Horn of Africa.

(Not the greatest size I know, but it just arrived from mates in India, who are very happy their navy is kicking butt!)

battlestar

20-11-2008, 12:59

designeraccd

20-11-2008, 13:37

Now that sounds like a reasonable plan...even if not PC by liberal "standards". Being rewarded (ransoms paid) for criminal action is pure BS. It simply is not the kinder, gentler world that some deluded people would like to believe as they sit in their comfy houses, thousands of miles away from very bad people who have nothing but disdain for our so-called Western civilization. DFO :)

battlestar

20-11-2008, 14:55

G'Day All

Stuff Political Correctness! Its the mental equivilant of Nazi Thought Control! (I said that to a BIG PC person, thought she'd have a stroke right in front of me!):D

Destroy the threat! Period! So Santa can get his boatloads of gifts to the ungrateful people that think the world is full of gumdrops and flowers!

My admiration is to those on duty in far away lands, on distant seas, not whinging idiots! Stuff them!

designeraccd

20-11-2008, 15:37

Oh my....someone with LESS PC than ME! LOL! My lefty/liberal Democrat "friends" just don't understand my concern for all this stuff "on the other side of the world". Prior to WW II, I'd guess they would have made good isolationists...now, IMO, they just stuff their heads in the SAND!

Meanwhile latest here is that some of these "pirates" are threatening bad things if they don't get "their" money within 10 days...how about the recieving end of 4.5", 5", 76mm etcetcetc??? DFO :D

astraltrader

20-11-2008, 15:42

G'Day All

Just had a thought.

In or around 50 BC Pompey the Great conducted operations to rid the Medditerranian Sea of pirates. He launched both land and sea offensives, driving the pirates from their bases and then destroying them. After this, the Med was calm for many years until after Dictator Ceasar's death.

Time for a Pompey style operation now I think! :)

Sadly Ian warfare has changed so much that to attempt that sort of operation would be doomed to failure from the word go.

The sort of area the pirates come from is similar to Afghanistan in that the terrain and spread of population would prove to be ideal fighting grounds for the terrorists.

The only place the war could be won IMO is at sea - where the sophisticated technology of naval vessels would provide a clear advantage.

The trouble is it would take a concerted effort from a large coalition of countries and would require many warships including carriers.

As has been already stated current international laws would make this highly unlikely without a drastic change of heart and resolve...

battlestar

20-11-2008, 15:44

G'Day All

Oh my....someone with LESS PC than ME! LOL! My lefty/liberal Democrat "friends" just don't understand my concern for all this stuff "on the other side of the world". Prior to WW II, I'd guess they would have made good isolationists...now, IMO, they just stuff their heads in the SAND!
Meanwhile latest here is that some of these "pirates" are threatening bad things if they don't get "their" money within 10 days...how about the recieving end of 4.5", 5", 76mm etcetcetc??? DFO :D

Yeah, not a great fan of PC. I have this nasty habit of telling it like I think it is, and if they don't like it...well thats their problem. PC are for closed minds, like Islamic Radicals, who are PC in their own way!

I'm all in favour of naval gunfire and aircraft to solve the problem!:D

Oh, Designeraccd, not to tease, but is was a bamly 90F here today, but it did rain in the early morning!:eek:

designeraccd

20-11-2008, 16:04

HMS Bergamot

20-11-2008, 16:47

You REALLY know how to hurt a guy! Light Lake Effect snow still coming down, courtesy of Lake Michigan. So much for riding my motorcycles.

As far as striking these scum: it would be difficult to really eradicate them, and I'm afraid Western political "will" is non existent at this time. IF we would wake up to the costs these scum are adding to each of us...maybe things would change, but for now......... OTOH if it gets very "expensive" for these maggots they might go back to racing sand fleas. Expense being enough of them begin meeting their "Allah" courtesy of Western military power. DFO :mad:

The problem is that the older tactics don't work as well as they used to. I can imagine 'survivors' wearing explosive jackets, waiting to be picked up in a lifeboat, or how about a 'Q' boat with hidden missiles, just sitting, waiting to take out someone else's expensive ship. Life has become cheap, and suicide bombers an as yet uncombatted threat.

I agree that there is a problem, and that piracy in the area now seems rife, but the 'swing em from the yardarms' strategy might just make things worse.

I think, personally, that armed men on the merchantships will help for a start, with a better radar watch at night, higher speeds, and no stopping for anyone!

astraltrader

20-11-2008, 17:53

G'Day All

I'm all in favour of naval gunfire and aircraft to solve the problem!:D

That is what I was saying in post #35!

herakles

20-11-2008, 17:58

Colin Hawken

20-11-2008, 19:45

One can hardly say that hijacking is new. It's been a massive problem for a long time. So why get all excited now? Because it's a Saudi ship that's been stolen?

The West do seem to be sitting on their hands over a great many world threats. The reaction to terrorism appears to be muted.

Yet when something dramatic was done - to invade Iraq and clear out that monster - people fell over themselves to condemn it.

I wonder what will be said if Iran is attacked?

We all know what lies we were told to justify going into Iraq. What bigger lies will be told to justify striking Iran. Not that I'm totally opposed to the idea
but we certainly didn't do the people of Iraq any favours.

herakles

21-11-2008, 01:06

An anti-piracy watchdog has welcomed the destruction of a suspected Somali pirate vessel in the Gulf of Aden by an Indian navy warship. "If all warships do this, it will be a strong deterrent. But if it's just a rare case, then it won't work," Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, told Associated Press.

Mr Choong said he was heartened by the Tabar's success.

"It's about time that such a forceful action is taken. It's an action that everybody is waiting for," he said.

designeraccd

21-11-2008, 14:34

Looks like the Indian Navy is getting real serious:

Larger Indian warship to fight pirates off Aden
New Delhi (IANS): The Indian Navy will be sending guided-missile destroyer INS Mysore to the Gulf of Aden for patrolling the waterways hit by a spate of ship hijackings by Somali pirates, defence sources said on Thursday.

The move comes after a successful hostile action against Somali pirates in the area by the Indian Navy.

A Delhi class destroyer, INS Mysore will replace INS Tabar in the Gulf of Aden, a Navy official told IANS on condition of anonymity. He said the destroyer will set sail from Mumbai soon.

The official said a proposal of the shipping ministry to send four more warships to strengthen operations against piracy in that region was still pending.

The Indian Navy's stealth frigate INS Tabar Tuesday night engaged the pirates and sank a "mother vessel"that had two speedboats in tow. INS Tabar, which so far has escorted 35 merchant vessels passing through the region, had also staved off pirate attacks on two merchant ships last week.

The 6,900-ton Delhi class destroyers are the largest indigenously built warships till date and pack more fire power in them than frigates.

INS Mysore carries on board two Sea King helicopters, along with a Cheetah or a Chetak, and stock 16 Uran missiles, 100mm AK 100 Gun, four multi-barrel 30mm AK 630 gun.

With Marine Commandos, INS Mysore is said to be a potent force to patrol the Gulf of Aden to stop the pirates from attacking or hijacking merchant vessels.

Good for the INDIANS, now if the "West" would get "serious".....DFO :o

designeraccd

21-11-2008, 15:20

Now this:

Piracy Watchdogs Urges Navies to Fight Back
Shipping Companies Must Protect Themselves
By DANA HUGHES and LUIS MARTINEZ
NAIROB, Kenya Nov. 20, 2008

RSS The head of the piracy reporting center today applauded the Indian warship that blasted a suspected pirate ship and said such muscle flexing by the world's navies was long overdue.

This lawless region harbors many modern-day pirates who routinely capture ships."It's about time that such a forceful action is taken. It's an action that everybody is waiting for," Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, told The Associated Press.

The Indian warship, the Tabar, tried to stop a ship that matched the description of a pirate "mother ship" in the Gulf of Aden where numerous ships have been attacked by pirates. Rather than be boarded, the pirates fired on the Tabar. The warship fired back, starting fires on the pirate vessel and triggering several explosions that destroyed the ship.

"If all warships do this, it will be a strong deterrent. But if it's just a rare case, then it won't work" to control the unprecedented level of piracy in the Gulf of Aden, he said.

There is no consensus among the world's powers, however, to go after the pirates despite the fact that the ships that have been captured are anchored in clear view off the coast of Somalia.

The U.S. Navy said Wednesday that it's not about to use its military might to free a giant oil tanker or any other ship captured by Somali pirates because if naval forces recover one ship, they would have to recover them all.

Besides, a Pentagon official asked, what would they do with all the captured pirates?

Gee...I can figure out a simple, COST EFFECTIVE answer to that PC question.....DFO

battlestar

21-11-2008, 21:16

G'Day All

DAMN, now I know the Indians are serious, the Delhi class DDG's are nasty.

Sad to see the USN run by accountants.

Terry, I was agreeing with you! But then I often do!;)

Oh, Designeraccd, still cold? Again not to tease, but today will be a bamly 91F here today. We don't get snow, but when it gets hot, the devil goes back to hell for relief and a cooler climate!:D

herakles

22-11-2008, 09:18

There's been an interesting development. It seems that Muslims are taking a hand to track down the hijackers as hijacking is contrary to Muslim beliefs. Of course they will attack from the land rather than the sea.

mik43

22-11-2008, 14:40

Herakles, it is only the hijackers of the Saudi VLCC that the Islamic fundamentalists are after as the ship belongs to an Islamic state and thus breaches Islam - or their version of it!! So for the rest of the poor sods - tuff!!
Mik

designeraccd

22-11-2008, 21:00

speaking of the Russians............

Russia says it will send more warships to combat piracy in the waters off Somalia.

The RIA Novosti news agency quotes the head of the Russian Navy Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky as saying the ships are needed to fight intensifying pirate activity.

A Russian destroyer, the Neustrashimy, is already patrolling the Gulf of Aden, along with ships from the United States, India, and other countries.

Meanwhile, countries bordering the Red Sea are holding an emergency meeting in Cairo to discuss strategies for fighting the pirates. Egypt is concerned the attacks in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean will stop shipping companies from using the Suez Canal, one of the country's main profit centers.
***
Encouraged by millions of dollars in ransom payments, Somali pirates have been hijacking ships at an unprecedented rate. The International Maritime Bureau says more than 90 ships have been attacked this year, and at least 36 hijacked.

The pirates are believed to be holding 17 ships at the moment with some 300 crew members.

Just lovely, how long until the "West" gets some backbone? DFO:mad:

spruso

22-11-2008, 22:05

PC certainly have a lot to answer for.

I think these people must believe in the old fable of "The Emperors New Clothes"

Love the reply to a question by a PC reporter as to whether the authorities believed that the Gas Chamber was a deterrent to crime.

The officer in charge replied that none of it's users had ever complained or reoffended!

Cheers
Bruce

herakles

23-11-2008, 01:38

From the BBC today:

India 'to step up piracy battle'

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45227000/jpg/_45227639_ins_mysore_226.jpg India is expected to increase its deployment in the Gulf of Aden

India is bolstering its naval presence in the Gulf of Aden to tackle piracy off Somalia's coast, reports say.

The Indian navy is planning to send at least one more warship to the area, according to local media reports.

And Delhi has formally been given permission to act under a UN resolution allowing navies to pursue pirates into Somalia's territorial waters.
Piracy incidents have surged off the Somali coast and a number of Indian crews have been on hijacked ships.

On Tuesday, an Indian warship sank a suspected pirate "mother ship" after it came under attack in the Gulf of Aden.
Earlier this week, a Saudi Arabian super tanker, the Sirius Star, was hijacked along with 25 crew. The tanker, loaded with oil worth $100m, is now anchored off the Somali coast.

Security Council mandate

According to local media reports, the Indian navy now plans to send at least one more warship to the Gulf of Aden.
INS Mysore - a destroyer - could be deployed as early as next week, reports say.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif SOMALIA PIRACY
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45220000/gif/_45220517_africa_piracy2_map226.gif
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/inline_dashed_line.gif

The Navy refused to confirm the report, saying it did not discuss deployment of ships.
Under a UN Security Council resolution passed in June, states co-operating with Somalia's transitional government are permitted, for a period of six months, to enter its territorial waters to "repress acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea".

The international forces are allowed to use "all necessary means", in a manner consistent with relevant provisions of international law, according to resolution 1816.

India is among several countries currently patrolling the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes which connects the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
In recent weeks, there has been a growing demand for multinational efforts to fight the pirates, with more than 90 vessels attacked this year.

France, India, South Korea, Russia, Spain, the US and Nato also have a presence in the region.

'Pirate-infested waters'

India has called for greater co-operation between foreign navies to tackle the piracy threat.
India deployed INS Tabar in the Gulf of Aden on 23 October, and it has escorted 35 ships safely through the "pirate-infested waters", the navy says.
Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Shipping in India has confirmed that seven Indians are among the crew of the MV Delight, a Hong-Kong registered Iranian cargo ship, which was hijacked on Tuesday.

The 25-member crew includes two Pakistanis, seven Filipinos, seven Iranians and two Ghanaians. The ship was carrying wheat and was bound for Iran.

A week ago, 18 Indian crew members of the Japanese-owned cargo ship MV Stolt Valor were released after being held by pirates for two months.
Somalia has not had a functioning national government since 1991 and has suffered continuing civil strife.

designeraccd

23-11-2008, 11:28

from a naval blog..............

It is important to note a few things. Not a single US flagged ship has even been approached by pirates (one might say they are intentionally avoided), and not a single US mariner has been taken hostage. After a year of what is often described as sophisticated attacks, not a single action has been taken against the US due to the threat of US response. The United States still lacks any reason to get involved against Somali piracy, and has responded appropriately by doing nothing. The rest of the world has been getting hammered by pirates, and because the United States did not solve the problem for the rest of the world, they are being forced to take action for themselves. The Russians are sending another ship, the South Koreans are sending a ship, and what can only be described as the most important step yet, Saudi Arabia is joining the NATO effort.

When India, who has nothing else but a less restrictive RoE, arrives on the scene and kicks ass in a period of only one week with one ship, then clearly the problem can be managed better than what we have seen in the past. The Indians have to be getting information from someone, and whether that someone providing intelligence is in Europe or the United States, if India is getting help in the form of information it is almost certainly due to the passive US policy, because it is the same passive position of the US that has the Europeans committing to the problem.

Don't be misled by the media headlines, the US policy has been to do nothing and allow the development of an international response. We are witnessing the slow and sometimes painful strategic gains of this policy, and it all good for the United States. Let it develop and feel good about it, because for once we are witness to our nations maritime strategy producing our intended national goals. It is obviously very difficult to stomach in the rapid information flow of the information age, but the desired result is not the United States to manage this problem unilaterally, rather we want to solve this very difficult problem in a multinational way, and we find ourselves on the verge of our desired national objective to dealing with this problem.

John Odom

23-11-2008, 12:23

Thanks for posting that, designeraccd, Now I understand the situation better. Maybe we are using some of all that satellite intellegence afterall.

designeraccd

23-11-2008, 13:22

Or at least some "intelligence".....perhapzz king georgee and crew have learned something afterall...or is it just because they are getting outta town soon, so let the next guy..uhh...deal with it, or not. Meanwhile the most powerful Navy in the world sits..........

No doubt it does need to be a joint, concerted effort by nationS to eradicate the problem. IMhO...........DFO

John Odom

23-11-2008, 13:56

I have been thinking more about the post above. Yes, probably the fact the George W. is lame duck may be a big part part of it. Another is that there are VERY Few US flagged ships that are not warships or other government owned ships. The US maritime industry has fled off shore to flags of convenience. So, there are few US flagged targets. Perhaps the basis of logic in the above is void. Maybe, they are not studiously avoiding US flagged vessels, they just haven't found any?

designeraccd

23-11-2008, 14:11

oopzz...u may have indeed put your finger on it, but who needs a merchant marine, or auto industry...or machine tool industry or or or.............DFO :rolleyes:

CYLLA

23-11-2008, 14:22

Reading through this thread ,and after reading most of the on line news paper article's on this problem.
With all this technical gear we have nowadays at hand ,with radio contact with these mother ships far out at sea ,i have come to think ,DO they have a sort of :SHIP AIS:where they can pick and chose where to go ,and hit a ship in a certain position ,with out interference from naval vessels.

It,s not like having ASBOS roaming the sea at will like we might think .

cylla

designeraccd

23-11-2008, 16:30

They certainly do seem to find it a target rich environment now don't they? Given that so far the odds of getting whacked are almost 0, but their "payoff" is close to 100%...Las Vegas would be jealous. IMhO, time to CHANGE those odds...radically. DFO :mad:

designeraccd

23-11-2008, 16:35

Meanwhile this from the U.N. Now IF something concrete with TEETH should come of this...............

Security Council approves anti-piracy plan
Published: Nov. 21, 2008 at 4:20 PM

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- The United Nations Security Council has approved a resolution aimed at curbing pirate activity off the coast of Somalia.

The U.N. resolution also calls for stronger enforcement of the arms embargo against the African nation, AllAfrica.com reported Friday.

The resolution, approved Thursday in New York, outlined the manner by which individuals accused of destabilizing the country can have their assets frozen and travels limited.

Meanwhile, the Kenyan government announced it is convening an international summit on fighting piracy, The Nation newspaper reported.

Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula said President Mwai Kibaki has instructed him to convene the meeting as soon as possible.

"The president has directed me to organize an international conference where he will take the leading role on the issue of piracy along the Indian Ocean waters."

herakles

23-11-2008, 16:50

Great. So the matter has reached committee discussion. And at the UN!! In other words nothing is going to happen.

designeraccd

23-11-2008, 17:26

Oh...you have noticed what a superb track record of doo-nothing but blow HOT AIR to increase global warming the U.N. has? Well, come on now, somebody has to help prove al bore correcto about hot air...err, global warming. Now why do I have all that snow on my lawn again?? DFO :eek:

designeraccd

24-11-2008, 12:16

from a naval blog today...........

The Tabar’s action has been greeted with cheer — from Australia where a newspaper said India’s action was the “template” for the battle against piracy, to the International Maritime Bureau that has asked other navies to learn from India, to the US where the state department spokesperson congratulated India.

At naval headquarters in New Delhi, however, the optimism generated by the Tabar’s action is tempered by a concern over how the Indian Navy will fit into the complex naval grid in the Gulf of Aden. There is also concern that the presence of so many warships from all over the world will invariably lead to “snooping” — efforts to assess the potential of battleships and record radar and communication signatures.

It is for this reason that the Indian Navy now wants to cover the tracks of the deployment of a second ship to the region after first letting it be known that a Delhi-class destroyer would be off Somalia in four days. There are three Delhi-class destroyers in the Indian fleet — the INS Delhi, INS Mumbai and the INS Mysore.

“There are about two-dozen warships there from about a dozen or more countries,” a senior naval officer in Delhi said. “We have to know how to co-ordinate with them.”
The final paragraph of the article has some bite.

In purely military terms, a huge asymmetry exists in the battlefield of the Gulf of Aden — the pirates are armed with AK-47s, speedboats and “mother vessels” that are usually dhows, while the navies have frigates, destroyers, cruisers and helicopters. Yet, they are clueless, in the absence of leadership, on what to do to secure the sea lane.

herakles

24-11-2008, 18:27

Here's the latest on the hijacking of the Saudi tanker from the Melbourne Age:

TENSION is mounting between pirates holding a Saudi tanker and Islamist fighters threatening to attack them, with a week remaining for the ship's owners to meet a ransom demand.
"If the pirates want peace, they had better release the tanker," Sheikh Ahmed, a spokesman for the Shebab Islamist group in the coastal area of Harardhere, said.
The Sirius Star, a huge tanker carrying about $US100 million ($A164 million) worth of crude oil and owned by Saudi Aramco, was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean on November 15.
Pirates have anchored it off their base in Harardhere, north of Mogadishu, and demanded that a $US25 million ransom be paid by November 30.
The Shebab (youth) armed group, which controls much of southern and central Somalia and rejects an internationally backed peace process, has positioned fighters around Harardhere. Islamist leaders have stressed that piracy is a capital offence under Islam and condemned the surge in piracy in Somalia's waters.
Mohamed Said, of the pirate group holding the Sirius Star, said his men were not afraid of the Shebab's threats.
Some Harardhere residents have argued that the Shebab is divided over the issue of piracy and some of the Islamist fighters have moved in only to claim a share of the ransom.
The pirate group said talks were under way with Saudi Aramco's shipping arm and that the crew would not be harmed. Pirates operating from Somalia now hold at least 17 ships.

designeraccd

25-11-2008, 11:59

from another naval blog............

Actually the most stunning aspect is the lack of a clear strategy on how to deal with the situation from our military leaders.

Ship owners continue to plead for the International Community, anybody, to defeat the scourge of piracy off the Gulf of Aden. The response so far has been fairly lukewarm at best, especially after Monday’s call for a blockade of the Somali Coast. Here are the typical responses:

…NATO, which has four warships off the coast of Somalia, rejected a blockade.
U.S. Gen. John Craddock, NATO’s supreme allied commander, said Monday… “That’s far beyond what I’ve been tasked to do.”
Lt. Nathan Christensen, 5th Fleet spokesman…declined to comment on the idea of a blockade.
But the navies say it is virtually impossible to patrol the vast sea around the gulf.
“Blocking ports is not contemplated by NATO,” said NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Brussels. U.N. Security Council resolutions “do not include these kind of actions and as far as NATO is concerned, this is at the moment not on the cards,” he said.
Everyone involved sees the need for action, but few even contemplate the obvious, that we there will be a need to go to war to stamp out this recent outbreak of piracy. According to Galrahn, Russia is calling for an amphibious assault against the pirate’s inland strongholds. But considering America’s continued reluctance to use her unmatched amphibious capability in an aggressive manner, we don’t see this happening.

John Odom

25-11-2008, 14:49

Thanks for the upsates. John

designeraccd

25-11-2008, 21:40

Ooopzz: it's now being reported on cable news that the pirate "mothership" was in fact a Thai flagged merchant ship that-apparently-pirates had taken. Supposedly 14 crew members are "missing", but one has been picked up after 6 (?) days in the water.

If indeed at least one speed boat with thugs did get away from the Indian frigate it simply adds to the need to destroy this "disease". DFO :mad:

designeraccd

25-11-2008, 22:01

despite hand wringing liberals and lawyers everywhere, IMhO, this Indian Admiral has it figured out:

Interesting opinion piece by a retired Indian admiral, Rear Admiral Raja Menon, titled "Piracy, Somalia and India":

The current series of pirate attacks is just a small indication of the growing disorder in this part of the world, to which India cannot be a silent witness. The sad feature of all this, is the absence of any maritime leadership to control the situation with force, firmness and speed. The multi-lateral mechanism to achieve this aim is traditionally the UN and India’s delayed participation in the Somalia patrol is on account of the hoary old MEA (NB E1: India's Ministry of External Affairs) belief that all initiatives in the world must come from the UN — a body not known for reacting fast enough to prevent tragedy the world over.
***
As usual the pirates have actually sought sympathy by making excuses, such as we can’t help it, we have no other means of income or, we want only money, we won’t sell any military cargoes, or even worse we are protesting by being pirates since the world neglects us. These protests are clearly ridiculous, because the whole area is just as poor, but only Somalia resorts to piracy. The pirate attacks began almost four years ago, but increased in intensity when the world failed to respond and pirates began to get away with huge amounts of ransom money. The ‘high life’ that the pirates lived attracted the envy of all the young, unemployed youth into becoming pirates too. . .
***
This is a ridiculous situation, as the ROE (Rules of Engagement) of the NATO ships worries more about the human rights of the pirates, than about stamping out piracy. Actually there is an 1838 convention that permits any warship to interfere anywhere on the ‘High Seas’ to intercept pirates and try them — without handing them over to the country of origin. Today’s interpretation by human rights lawyers state that pirates cannot even be handed over to their own state if that state does not respect the human rights of the pirates. This is an absurd situation. . . .The answer appears to lie in New Delhi, where the MEA needs to draw up its own coalition of Indian Ocean powers, under the Indian navy to stamp out the pirates, in their harbours, ruthlessly

The situation has gone way past rediculous..........DFO :mad:

Then again, I just heard one of the AIRHEADS on a tv news show state: "I didn't even know there were such a thing as pirates until this week!" Must be nice to live in the "bubble" called NYC...........or Wall Street, or Washington D.C. ..........

designeraccd

27-11-2008, 12:38

from a naval blog.............

The media didn't really dig very deep here. The question is not whether the Indian Navy should have blown up a trawler that was shooting at it, particularly one towing two motor boats. The Indian Navy has the right to self defense, even in the face of the stupidity required for pirates to shoot at a warship with their AK-47s.

The real question here is why a Thai fishing trawler is near Somalia. Are we seriously supposed to believe that fishing trawlers make their money doing cargo hauls between Oman and Yemen? Really? That is a tough sell without a lot more proof than CNNs reporting is providing.

The more likely reason the Somalian pirates raided the ship is because it was illegally fishing in the Somalia Exclusive Economic Zone. Did any reporters ask Wicharn Sirichaiekawat, owner of the Ekawat Nava 5, questions about why his fishing ship from Thailand is way the hell over off the coast of Somalia? If a reporter wants to talk about Somalian piracy, they need to do some basic research into fishing off Somalia, because it is part of the story.

A Thai fishing trawler off the coast of Somalia transporting fishing gear between two countries, and it just so happens to be happening during a fishing season when catches right now are running 50% to 150% better than normal. To borrow a pun, that story sounds fishy to me.

Also of note is the German contingent flying P3C Orions in this area...that ARE ONLY allowed to shoot cameras on their anti-piracy flights. That'll SHOW them, but not stop them........DFO :rolleyes:

designeraccd

28-11-2008, 16:39

Like India doesn't have enough trouble, now this.....

Somali pirates hijack ship, British guards escape
Somali pirates hijacked a chemical tanker with dozens of Indian crew members Friday and a helicopter rescued three British security guards who had jumped into the sea, officials said.

A warship on patrol nearby sent helicopters to intervene in the attack, but they arrived after pirates had taken control of the Liberian-flagged ship, according to Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Malaysia.

The ship master had sent a distress call to the piracy reporting center, which relayed the alert to international forces policing Somali waters, Choong said. No details about how the pirates attacked or the condition of the crew were available immediately.

Choong said the ship was being operated out of Singapore.

Still on board were 25 Indian and two Bangladeshi crew members, said diplomats who could not be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media. The British security guards escaped by jumping into the water, said a news release issued by their company, Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Solutions.

CYLLA

28-11-2008, 17:14

I just saw this on the WWW,and could not believe it ,what the heck are they being paid for???.....loafing around on the upper scupper till the s**t hits the fan. it,s beggars belief.

CYLLA

designeraccd

28-11-2008, 17:35

Yea, kind of a big black eye for that "security" firm! Maybe they were trained the same way as the Indians I've seen on CNN: waving guns and blind firing into a building that has hostages. Good grief! Not exactly the way I was taught to use a weapon in the USMC........... DFO :eek:

herakles

01-12-2008, 08:16

From The Age today:

Pirates fire on cruise ship

Arjun Ramachandran
December 1, 2008 - 3:58PM

About 50 Australians had a run-in with pirates off the coast of Somalia when their cruise ship was fired at.

The Oceania Nautica, an 11-deck cruise ship, was moving through the Gulf of Aden in the morning when the naval bandits struck yesterday.

"She had sailed past a group of fishing trawlers not deemed to be hostile when out from behind one of the trawlers came out two small skiffs deemed to be hostile," said Tim Rubacky, a spokesman for the Oceania.

"The officers on the bridge alerted the captain and ... like clockwork they did everything they've trained for in piracy evasion."

The cruise ship ramped up its speed to about 20 knots, and started to pull away from the skiffs, he said.

"One of the skiffs trailed off, but the other one closed to about 80 yards (73 metres) off the stern and fired about eight rifle shots at the vessel," Mr Rubacky said.

On board the Oceania were 47 Australians, 310 Americans, 212 Canadians and 29 UK residents. None were injured, and the crew was safe.

The ship was on a 32-night voyage from Rome to Singapore.

The cruise company was unwilling to elaborate further on the encounter, saying full details had been passed to international authorities who are trying to crack down on the pirates.

Almost 100 vessels have been attacked off Somalia this year, which includes the capture by Somali pirates of the 330-metre Sirius Star, carrying two million barrels of oil.

The pirates have been undeterred by international pledges of tough action since the super tanker was captured, continuing to roam Somalia's waters and having seized six ships over the past two weeks.

An Indian navy ship appeared last week to have dealt a blow to the pirates by sinking what was believed to be one of the "mother ships" of the smaller speedboats from which the attacks are launched.

But the International Maritime Bureau last week said it had found the destroyed ship was a Thai fishing boat that had been taken by pirates and was not hostile.

designeraccd

01-12-2008, 12:06

Here is a link, in French...can anyone summarize it? Looks like (lotsa pics..) that the French have some civilian ship, with a helo deck and chopper, that is escorting, too???

http://www.meretmarine.com/article.cfm?id=108939

Ship also appears to have HMGs and troops on board...hhmm, creative thinking?! DFO ;)

mik43

01-12-2008, 15:01

As I read it the French have the CGG ALize with troops on board - marines - with a helo and are providing escort to small convoys of merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden. They are quite rightly being a bit sparing with their comments on what the Alize can and cannot do. The cruise ship Seabourn Spirit used ultrasound generators to dissuade pirates, and also her speed helped a bit. That's the gist of it anyway.
These sound generators are mean beasties and have a fair bit of range and actually are quite cheap £28K or thereabouts, when compared to the cost of a capture and ransom. I'm only glad that the QE2 on its last voyage to Dubai stayed out of trouble. But then she was the fastest in the Cunard fleet.
Mik

astraltrader

01-12-2008, 15:01

Richard - a strange message from the IMB...

"But the International Maritime Bureau last week said it had found the destroyed ship was a Thai fishing boat that had been taken by pirates and was not hostile"

Surely if the fishing boat had been taken by pirates then it seems pretty hostile to me!:confused:

John Odom

01-12-2008, 15:46

Shooting at the Indian Frigate defined them as hostile, even if the ship was not hostile when under control of the original crew.

designeraccd

01-12-2008, 16:01

I guess some people have a very difficult time overcoming their PC correctness....no matter what actually happens! I wonder how they would classify the butchered fisherman from the hijacked boat used in the Mumbai attack??? DFO :mad:

designeraccd

04-12-2008, 12:50

Aaahhh, the UN...in "action"..................

What A Cooperative Maritime Strategy Looks Like

Yesterday (Dec. 2, 2008), the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed UNSCR 1846. From our perspective, the most significant aspect of this resolution is its inclusion of the Suppression of Unlawful Acts (SUA) clause. This clause, based on the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, provides an immediately available instrument for logistically effective consequence delivery applicable to 78% of the world's States (those nations who have signed the Convention). The SUA Convention was the result of the hijacking and murder of passengers aboard the Cruise Ship ACHILLE LAURO in 1985 by the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF). The act was doubly egregious because the murdered victim, Leon Klinghoffer, was wheel chair bound and defenseless. The SUA Convention was adopted by the IMO in 1988 and came into force in 1992.

SUA applies to nearly all of the attacks occurring in the Gulf of Aden, and obliges State Parties to criminalize such acts and establish jurisdiction when the offense is committed against their vessels or nationals. SUA establishes a framework whereby masters of ships may deliver suspected SUA offenders to a coastal State Party and the coastal State Party is obliged to accept custody and extradite or prosecute unless it can articulate why the Convention is not applicable. Leveraging States SUA obligations in conjunction with existing international law against piracy provides an effective legal framework to deliver an "endgame." We have worked for several months now with our partners on the Joint Staff, through the "interagency process", and with our international partners to pursue this outcome. This is definitely a step in the right direction and I will provide updates in the future.

designeraccd

04-12-2008, 21:24

and now this.............

Somali Pirates: Bigger, Bolder and Thwarted by NATO ship
Five merchant ships under attack by a dozen or so pirate small boats got help from an Italian warship and her helicopter and the intervention ended the attack. As reported here:

Alerted by a distress call, the Italian navy destroyer put itself between the ships and a group of pirate "fast boats", with all vessels using water hoses to repel the pirates.

The Italian warship, Luigi Durand de la Penne, also used its helicopter against the pirates, dispersing their attack, a NATO official said.

"This is probably the biggest multiple, coordinated attack we've seen," the official said, adding that more than 12 pirate boats were involved, perhaps as many as 20.
Swarming attacks? Where have we heard that before? Oh, yes, here, in an Iranian threat.

herakles

13-12-2008, 19:58

From today's Age newspaper:

Indian navy captures 23 pirates

December 14, 2008 - 7:23AM

The Indian navy captured 23 pirates who threatened a merchant vessel in the lawless waters of the Gulf of Aden and a German naval helicopter has thwarted another attack on a freighter being chased by speedboats off Yemen.

The successes on Saturday came days before Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to ask the United Nations to authorise "all necessary measures" against increasingly bold Somalian pirates operating in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

An Indian navy ship, the INS Mysore, was escorting merchant ships in waters off Somalia's coast on Saturday when it received a distress call from seamen on board the MV Gibe, who said they were being fired on by two boats that were approaching fast.

The Mysore and its helicopter sped to the scene, and the pirate boats attempted to escape when they saw them, according to a statement from the Indian government.

Indian marine commandos boarded the pirate boats and seized "a substantial cache of arms and equipment", including seven AK-47 assault rifles, three machine guns, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and other weapons, the statement said. They also found a GPS receiver and other equipment.

The pirates were from Somalia and Yemen, two countries on the coast of the Gulf of Aden. The Gibe was flying an Ethiopian flag but little else was known about it, the Indian statement said.

herakles

14-12-2008, 19:32

A German naval helicopter has thwarted another attack on a freighter that was being chased by speedboats in waters near Yemen. A German military spokesman said a navy frigate had chased away pirates in speedboats pursuing an Ethiopian freighter off the coast of Yemen.

The German frigate responded to a distress call from the freighter, and a helicopter took off from the deck to investigate. The pirates turned away from the freighter as the helicopter flew overhead, said the spokesman, who declined to give his name in line with military policy.

Wombat

29-12-2008, 04:08

I have been following this thread with interest, and although I do not approve of Piracy in any shape or form, I am going to play “Devils Advocate” and say “let’s not forget what initiated the Piracy in the first place”.

Somalia has always been a bit of a “basket case”, they have a very weak government who was not strong enough to defend their coastal fishing grounds when Trawlers from other countries got too greedy and began fishing in their waters, taking away the only means of earning a living for the local fishermen.

If the government had been strong enough to defend its waters and uphold the law of the sea in the first place, Piracy would not have got off the ground and the local fishermen would still be quietly fishing their own waters. Instead they took it upon themselves to defend their fishing grounds, and in doing so found a new source of income, and one that turned out to be more lucrative as they got bolder in their actions.

Or does the law of the sea only apply to those with the biggest ships and the biggest guns? (The bully comes and takes what he wants).

Personally too many ships talking too many languages make me more than a little nervous, how can such a diverse fleet be coordinated with so many different languages and politicians on opposite sides of the table? My opinion is we have satellite technology that can spot two men walking in the desert, why don’t we use it? In the last war they used RADAR to warn the RAF when the Luftwaffe were on their way, so the Pilots could rest, refuel, and maintain their aircraft in-between attack. Surely if the Pirates were monitored, not as many ships would be needed to intercept them, and could be directed to the target area for which the Pirates were headed. The satellite could identify Friend and Foe, and any potential target ship could also be warned of probable attack. This way even if not carrying arms, they could take measures to help prevent Hi-jack until help arrived.

I agree that something needs to be done to stop the Pirates, but taking their “Toys” away achieves nothing, they would just go back and re equip with new toys paid from out of their lucrative bootie! I don’t understand what the Germans were thinking of. I believe the Captain was ordered by his government to let the men go, was this decision based on humanity or commerce?

Obviously there is no way these men are going to return to eking out a meager living as a fisherman, now they have discovered the rewards of their Piracy, but I just think that it should never have been allowed to happen in the first place. When the Politicians “stuff up”, it’s always the military personnel that have to pay the price and put things right! But at what cost!

Wombat,
(James).

herakles

29-12-2008, 04:41

You make several very valid points.

But I suggest this business is a lot more complex. You talk of their "toys" yet these toys are sophisticated and not the normal sort of thing that fishermen would have access to.

No, there's more to this than meets the eye.

Wombat

29-12-2008, 04:50

I agree there is a lot more involved.

My use of the term "Toys" is merely a metaphore, but these people are no longert fishermen anyway they have moved on.

Its going to take a lot to sort this mess out.

Wombat,
James.

designeraccd

05-01-2009, 11:59

Monday, January 5, 2009
EU Changes Tactics on Pirates, Goes Offensive
The latest news of French success against piracy is only half the story.

This is how the AFP is reporting the story.

"Three days after a French vessel thwarted an attack on a Panamanian cargo ship" the frigate Jean de Vienne conducted a "decisive action" against "two new attacks" it said in a statement.

"The 19 Somali pirates who tried to seize the two boats were intercepted," it added, saying they carried weapons, ammunition and material for boarding ships.

"They will be transferred to the Somali authorities," it added.

The French defence ministry said pirates attempted to attack a Croatian and a Panamanian ship and that French forces seized assault rifles, two rocket launchers, and more than 1,000 litres of oil.
I find these successes interesting, but check out the additional information from the official French Navy statement. There is something in there that goes beyond the simple "warship did X and captured Y" element of the event. Translation mine.

The pirates fled and were tracked by a Spanish maritime patrol aircraft. Subsequently the Spanish aircraft guided the Jean de Vienne to intercept the pirate boat. The pirate boat carried 9 Somali pirates, 5 equipped with assault rifles and one rocket launcher.
In other words, the suggestion here is that Operation Atalanta isn't just operating as a response to attacks anymore to scare the pirates off, but if a pirate attacks a ship, even if it is not successful the Europeans are now hunting down the pirate ship and taking prisoners. That is an enormous tactical change in the way anyone has been approaching pirates off Somalia to date.

That kind of proactive action could very easily create huge numbers of prisoners (noteworthy the French are turning them over to Somali authorities), but if the legal system in Somalia works (a big if), it might make a serious impact in curbing piracy over time.

That's the ? isn't it: what do the Somalia "authorities" do with the scum?...DFO

Maritime Michael Ian

05-01-2009, 13:40

I think that there is one main point that has been overlooked in pirates being able to take tankers especially, and that is - as I uunderstand it- that these supertankers are manned ( you notice I use the "manned", I'm totally ant-PC) by virtually a skeleton crew! 40 years ago there would have been a crew of probably 100 plus, allowing for many eyes to keep lookouts!

As for taking the law into one's hands.... again as I understand it, piracy is a crime in International law...whatever that is.... and has been for the last couple of centuries, as is kidnapping ( which the taking of hostages amounts to) so I have no trouble in allowing RN or any Western Navy vessels to blow the pirates and their vessels out of the sea. *****footing around is not the way to deal with thugs like them. There is only one action they understand and that is the use of force to exterminate them. It has been done in the past, there is no reason why it cannot be done now.

As the Daleks say in Dr. Who..... Exterminate,exterminate.....

Ian

herakles

07-01-2009, 19:21

An Australian warship may be set to join an anti-pirate task force operating in the seas off Somalia.
The plan, being considered by the Australian Defence Force, follows an upsurge in pirate activity in which Somali pirates have seized cargo ships and demanded millions of dollars in ransoms for their release.
The US has expressed a strong desire for Australian involvement in a new multinational counter-piracy task force, which was formed on January 1.
Defence head Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said on Wednesday that taking on the pirates was a possible role for an Australian warship since the country had ended its long-running mission guarding Iraq's offshore oil terminals at the top of the Persian Gulf.
The Australian warship would serve in what's called Task Force 151, alongside US, British and other nations' warships.
HMAS Parramatta, now in the final weeks of its six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf, is now part of the US-led Task Force 152 engaged in patrolling the central gulf area.
Air Chief Marshal Houston said the defence force was considering all the options for future deployment of an Australian warship.
"Task Force 152 is one. There is also the possibility of perhaps going further and getting involved in some of the important counter-piracy work that is coming on in the north Indian Ocean," he told sailors aboard the Anzac class frigate HMAS Parramatta on Wednesday.
"That is something we will be looking at quite carefully in the months ahead, developing a proposal for government's consideration."
Australian warships have operated almost constantly in the Persian Gulf since before the 1991 Gulf War, initially enforcing United Nations sanctions against the former Iraqi regime and more recently guarding Iraq's two vital offshore oil terminals.
Following the negotiation of a memorandum of understanding with the Iraqi government, the Australian government decided the time was right to end the security role in the northern gulf.
Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said on December 24 that the Australian ship would be assigned to other tasks, at the request of the US.
Air Chief Marshal Houston said the other tasks included the current role with Task Force 152, or employment with Task Force 150 in the north Indian Ocean engaged in counter-terrorism and counter-smuggling activities, or with the new counter-piracy task force.
"What we will be doing is looking at the options available and making recommendations to government on the best way to go," he said.
"The Americans appreciate what we do, whatever we do."
Air Chief Marshal Houston said piracy was a major problem in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia.
"Ships carrying Australian passengers and cargo pass through that area," he said.
"We will just have to wait and see how the mission develops."

mik43

08-01-2009, 14:42

Hi Ian
ref your comment about 'skeleton crew' for the tanker, they don't need that many people nowadays to crew a modern ship. Automation/computer systems etc mean that the number of crew required is small. However your point about 'lookouts' is true as too many ships have a very basic watchkeeping staff with deck seamen having to fit in lookout duties as and when required around their other duties typical one man and his dog stuff, and I'm not joking either. However it is worth remembering that the hijacking of this tanker was done in area which was taken to be safe and she was a quite a distance off shore.
Mik

herakles

08-01-2009, 16:44

Further to my post that Australia will send a ship to help in the seas off Somalia, The Age newspaper conducted a reader poll today asking if we should take this action or not. Nearly 50% said "not".

I accept that on-line reader polls are notoriously unreliable but I found this figure extraordinary.

astraltrader

08-01-2009, 19:34

I agree with what you say Richard - a very surprising result.
I would be most curious as to why those who indicated a reluctance to be involved came to that view?

herakles

08-01-2009, 19:51

I agree with what you say Richard - a very surprising result.
I would be most curious as to why those who indicated a reluctance to be involved came to that view?

So would I, Terry. Reasons why are not solicited so one can only guess. Isolationism perhaps? "Doesn't affect us", which is wrong as it does.

I just don't know.

kookaburra

08-01-2009, 23:50

Clearly Australian public opinion needs some educating about the extent and nature of this problem. We feel like a distant little country sometimes - although I would interpret that poll as a kneejerk reaction from The Age's precious school teacher readership that the request to join the anti-piracy force comes from the U.S.

herakles

09-01-2009, 00:13

"School teacher readership" - I like that.

Your suggestion could be true - that the USA suggested it therefore it must be resisted at all costs. Just like the hysteria of (a) John Howard being awarded the medal and (b) that he is staying in a place that Obama apparently deserves more so.

astraltrader

09-01-2009, 00:46

Ha! That explains everything Jeff. Schoolteachers - bound to have their feet firmly planted up in the air!!

herakles

09-01-2009, 00:49

Foot in the mouth disease more likely!

Dare I add that in my experience, private school teachers are ignorant and public school ones ignorant and have to let you know this. I'm doing some teachers a grave dis-service.

kookaburra

09-01-2009, 04:38

Yes. I wasn't joking. The Age literally does have a dominant schoolteacher/education sector in its audience. It's why the education round is so important to it.

herakles

09-01-2009, 04:51

And it's why it's articles are so left wing!

Years ago The Age had a half page devoted to things computing. Just before the Classifieds. I wrote and told them this was short-sighted and suggested several changes. The letter was printed in the computer section with a comment from the Editor saying that The Age regarded their present coverage more than adequate. Ha! :rolleyes:

What a newspaper it once was.

mik43

09-01-2009, 14:44

Hi guys
Ref the tanker Sirius Star, is is reported that she has been freed by the pirates but there are no further details of whether a ransom has been paid or not,
Mik

mik43

09-01-2009, 14:48

Hot of the press - it is rumoured a US$3m ransom was paid. The pirates have left the ship which is now steaming to safer - hopefully - waters.
Mik

designeraccd

10-01-2009, 22:35

What a LOSS to humanity.............

Karma in Somalia
Sounds like bad joo joo, according to the AP.

Five of the Somali pirates who released a hijacked oil-laden Saudi supertanker drowned with their share of a reported $3 million ransom after their small boat capsized, a pirate and a relative of one of the dead men said Saturday.

Pirate Daud Nure said the boat with eight people on board overturned in a storm after dozens of pirates left the Sirius Star following a two-month standoff in the Gulf of Aden that ended Friday.

He said five people died and three people reached shore after swimming for several hours. Daud Nure was not part of the pirate operation but knew those involved.

Abukar Haji, the uncle of one of the dead men, said the deaths were an accident.

"The boat the pirates were traveling in capsized because it was running at high speed because the pirates were afraid of an attack from the warships patrolling around," he said.
If the last sentence is true, then CTF-151 has successfully eliminated 5 pirates by apparently scaring them to death. The MV Sirius Star $3 million ransom was one of the largest to date. It is unlikely the survivors were able to bring much to shore.

:(:rolleyes: DFO

astraltrader

11-01-2009, 00:07

Perhaps it was the Pirates idea of having a float??

battlestar

11-01-2009, 13:16

G'Day All

Perhaps it was the Pirates idea of having a float??

Very funny Terry!:D But I had this sinking feeling the pirates would fail anyway hahahaha! Hell, it ended up like the movie 'Treasure of the Seirra Madre' when greed cost everyone involved and noboby got nothin'! But then, this could be the next Hollywood flick...

Battlestar

designeraccd

25-01-2009, 16:01

(Unclass) The lull in piracy continues with no new incidents confirmed in the past week. The last recorded piracy incident was the approach of MT DAYLAM on 14 Jan.
It is believed that a combination of inclement weather conditions and recent successes by the substantial coalition and international naval forces have resulted in the present inactivity.
Negotiations are believed to be well advanced for BISCAGLIA and she may be released soon. 10 vessels remain hijacked
Japan and South Korea have agreed in principle to send naval anti piracy forces to the region in the near future.

Imagine denying those fine folks their ill gotten gains....oh the shame...........DFO :eek::rolleyes:

John Odom

25-01-2009, 17:43

The Japanese newspapers report it will be almost a year before they are actually deployed. There needs to be legislation passed permitting it. Crews need special training, and the rules of engagement need to be fixed. Also fleet oilers need to be provided. There is not great enthusiasm for the job in Japan.

designeraccd

29-01-2009, 12:46

French Foil Attack on 150,000 DWT Oil Tanker
On Tuesday Somali pirates attempted to hijack the 150,000+ DWT crude oil tanker African Ruby. Unfortunately for the pirates, the French were in the neighborhood.

The French navy on Tuesday foiled an attack on a cargo ship in the pirate-infested waters off Somalia and arrested nine men allegedly trying to board the vessel, the military said here.

The French frigate Le Floreal received a distress call from the African Ruby and dispatched a helicopter which spotted two high-speed skiffs with armed men on board, a military spokesman said.

The chopper fired warning shots and the nine men on the skiffs were later detained, he said, adding that the interception took place in international waters off Puntland, a semi-autonomous region of northeast Somalia.
This marks the seventh action taken by the French against piracy since the French raid that arrested pirates last April.

GOOD for the French Navy! DFO:D

mik43

29-01-2009, 15:49

regretably the pirates have been successful in taking a German, I think, LPG carrier.
Mik

John Odom

11-02-2009, 11:56

From Today"s Japan Times:

Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009

Destroyers hold drill ahead of Somali detail
HIROSHIMA (Kyodo) Two destroyers left Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, on Tuesday to hold their first antipiracy exercise as Japan gears up to join international efforts off Somalia.

Ready for duty: The Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer Sazanami is docked at Kure port in Hiroshima Prefecture on Tuesday. The vessel is expected to be among those dispatched to waters off Somalia within months. KYODO PHOTO

The live-fire exercises, which will take place in the Bungo Channel between Shikoku and Kyushu, involve the 4,650-ton Sazanami and 4,550-ton Samidare, according to the Kure District Headquarters of the Maritime Self-Defense Force.

The warships will fire at targets disguised as pirate boats with machineguns and other rapid-fire weapons. Their helicopters will also engage in target practice, MSDF officers said.

About 370 service members, including elements of the MSDF's elite Special Boarding Unit, will take part in the exercise, they said.

The vessels will return to port Friday.

Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said Tuesday that the destroyers will probably be dispatched to Somalia in early to mid-March at the latest.

He said the order will be given once the government submits the antipiracy bill to the Diet early next month.

The primary purpose of the bill is to ease restrictions on weapons use, but the ships can be deployed with or without the bill.

The deployment would take place under a maritime police action provision in the Self-Defense Forces Law, which restricts the MSDF's use of force in antipiracy operations to self-defense.

But Hamada said that arrangement should only be temporary, and it will eventually be underpinned by a new law that authorizes the SDF to be deployed specifically for overseas antipiracy missions.

Hamada has suggested the new law should make it easier to use weapons when engaging pirates.

It is unclear, however, if that will happen given the opposition expected in the Diet and the potential for conflict with the war-renouncing Constitution.

We welcome your opinions. Click to send a message to the editor.

The Japan Times
(C) All rights reservedArticle 5 of 9 in National news

designeraccd

20-02-2009, 00:37

Egypt's SECRET WEAPONS..................

Thursday, February 19, 2009
Egypt's Ultra Secret Anti-Pirate Weapon
Ah, nothing like a Weekly World News story. This time its not space aliens mating with Big Foot, but rather details on a secret weapon allegedly employed by the Egyptians (who are probably wondering how WWN broke the news before Senator Feinstein) all as set out in "Whales Take Down Somali Pirates":

Somali privateers operating in the Indian Ocean have been robbing trade ships in the region and taking hostages, sometimes with political overtones. Egypt has responded with an elite fighting force of ramming whales trained to neutralize the vessels through headlong collisions.

So far, the unit of whales—code-named Moby Hit—has successfully engaged Somali pirate ships on at least four occasions, although some information surrounding their operations remains classified. But it seems clear enough that the whales are unstoppable commandos of the deep.

“They’re not human!” wailed a captured Somali pirate, after an engagement that left his ship a wreck and his crew prisoners. “I mean, I know they’re not human, but like…I mean it in the superlative sense, like they’re not bound by human limitations.”

“It’s an expression,” the man intoned dully as he was led away by Egyptian authorities.

The whale trainers, a best-and-brightest team culled from marine parks all over the world, are as rigorous in their standards as they are unwavering in their pride.
Photo shows a killer whale practicing its pirate nabbing technique on some sealions.

designeraccd

20-02-2009, 18:34

By Kate Wiltrout
The Virginian-Pilot
© February 19, 2009
It was about 3:30 a.m. on a quiet, moonlit night in the Gulf of Aden when the radio on the bridge of the Norfolk-based destroyer Mahan crackled to life.

Ensign Ian Townsend, standing watch as officer of the deck, heard the distress call from a nearby merchant ship.

“Coalition warship, this is Premdivya,” the shaken voice said. The mariner reported gunshots from an approaching boat and requested help fending off a pirate attack.

After months of patrolling the busy shipping lanes that crisscross the region, and weeks of hunting for pirates aiming to hijack merchant ships for ransom, the crew of the Mahan knew this was no exercise.

“You can hear it in their voice,” Townsend said.

He ordered the ship to speed up to 30 knots and head south for the Premdivya, an Indian-flagged ship.

A few miles away, an alert awakened the crew of an SH-60 Seahawk helicopter aboard the guided missile cruiser Vella Gulf.

Lt. Cmdr. Matt Bradshaw scrambled into the pilot’s seat. Once aloft, Bradshaw and his team went looking for the 35-foot skiff that had threatened the Premdivya.

Using radar and night vision goggles, they spotted it.

The motorboat, not 50 or 60 miles out to sea, looked like one you might see back in Virginia Beach, pulling up to Chick’s Oyster Bar, said Lt. j.g. Rich Laraway.

“Normally, any fishing vessel will stop if they see a helo doing aerial maneuvers,” Bradshaw said. But the Seahawk didn’t spook the men in the boat. Instead, the skiff started making S-turns, trying to “outflank the helicopter,” Bradshaw said.

The helo crew got approval to fire warning shots; still, the boat didn’t slow. A second round landed closer to the skiff and ended the chase.

Meanwhile, the small-boat boarding teams assigned to the Mahan and Vella Gulf prepared to pick up the suspects and their cargo.

Laraway was in charge of the Vella Gulf’s 21-foot inflatable boat. As it approached the skiff, he handed a megaphone to a translator who told the nine men, in Somali, to put their hands up.

The skiff was full of firepower – AK-47s, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, ammunition – but only one of the men was armed when taken into custody, Laraway said, and he never pointed his gun at the U.S. sailors and Coast Guard members.

As Laraway’s boat shuttled the suspects back to the Vella Gulf in pairs, Townsend and the Mahan’s team catalogued the contents of the skiff: spent shell casings from the earlier gunshots, ammunition, weapons, cell phones, a global positioning system.

The items may be used as evidence if the suspects face trial in Kenya, where the U.S. and coalition nations are working to set up a piracy court.

Another source of evidence may be the videos and photographs captured by an unmanned aerial vehicle the Mahan launched after the Premdivya’s distress call.

Cmdr. Steve Murphy, the skipper of the Mahan, said the drone provided video and photos of the anti-piracy operation that he watched as it unfolded on a flat-screen monitor on the bridge. The files can be shared electronically with foreign navy ships also working to deter piracy.

Though the U.S. Navy captured 16 suspected pirates last week, it isn’t working alone. The Danes and Brits are part of Combined Task Force 151, which was established last month specifically to fight piracy. A Russian navy ship apprehended 10 other suspected pirates, and China, Turkey and South Korea all have ships patrolling the area.

What will become of the men picked up by the Mahan and the Vella Gulf is unclear. The suspects are currently being held aboard the Norfolk-based supply ship Lewis and Clark, which typically delivers cargo and ammunition to Navy ships while under way. A contingent of Marines is guarding them.

The Somali men are compliant, said the officer in charge of their care, a Marine captain who asked that his name not be used for security reasons.

They’re held in a warehouse-like cargo hold aboard the Lewis & Clark. They get access to fresh air and sunlight, three meals a day, a shower, and freshly laundered clothes. They play cards. And every afternoon, the captain said, they have tea with a translator, a Navy criminal investigator and a Marine intelligence specialist.

CGRET

20-02-2009, 19:49

The use of marine animals is not new..The US Navy use's there's for anti-mine and anti-personel.

Good for the JSDF!

Regards
Charles

designeraccd

13-03-2009, 17:38

from a Naval Blog.........

Navies Combat Somali Pirates With Choppers, Internet Chat Room

By Gregory Viscusi

March 13 (Bloomberg) -- When nine Somali pirates attacked a German-operated cargo freighter in the Gulf of Aden last week, they were in for a high-tech surprise.

An international force of three vessels and two helicopters responded, using sophisticated communications methods that included GPS navigation and even an Internet chat room. Less than three hours later, the buccaneers were in the brig.

The successful operation by U.S. and European Union anti- pirate forces showed how progress is being made in freeing the Indian Ocean of pirates.

“It’s a huge zone and no matter how many ships we had, we could never totally control it,” said Commodore Antonios Papaioannou, force commander of Atalanta, a five-ship EU fleet, on the Greek frigate HS Psara. “But my sense is that we have successfully deterred pirates and brought down the number of attacks.”

Somali pirates assaulted 165 ships last year, seizing 43 of them for ransom. About three-quarters were in the Gulf of Aden, an unavoidable route for any ship taking the Suez Canal, which handles one-tenth of world trade and one-third of Europe’s crude oil supply.

This year, pirates have attacked 30 ships and seized four, according to the French Navy. And the rate of takeovers has fallen: In February, 11 boats were hit and one was taken. In their record month in November, pirates took 10 of the 37 ships they assaulted. Pirates haven’t seized any ships this month.

Tracking Pirates

The high-tech communication is designed to mesh differing missions and agendas. While Atalanta’s goals are geared toward ship escort, the U.S.-led Task Force 151, with U.S., British and Danish warships, tracks pirates. On March 11, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization said it would send a seven-vessel fleet to Somali waters, reviving a mission ended last December when the EU fleet was created.

“When I arrived here in December we exchanged a daily intention message with the Americans, but that was about it,” said Papaioannou, 51. “Then one day we had two helicopters patrolling the same area, which is a waste. I sent three of my officers to the U.S. command ship and we worked it out.”

In the command room of the Psara, German, Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Greek officers watched a computer screen updating the positions of 17 warships. Another computer showed the location of 300 merchant ships, potential prey spread over 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers).

The tracking is done with a mix of Global Positioning System navigation and Centrix, a military-communication system developed by NATO, as well as a Web site specially developed for the mission on which commercial ships enter their positions.

Web Chat

Since late January, Papaioannou also has had a new tool: a third computer in the command room carries an Internet chat channel. On a recent visit, sailors from the Psara, two U.S. warships and the Spanish frigate SPS Victoria were exchanging instant messages in English about their positions and about unconfirmed reports of a fire on board a boat in Somalia’s Mogadishu harbor.

In a corner of the room, which bristled with radar and radio equipment, hung a Jolly Roger flag. Black-and-white photos of suspected pirate ships were tacked to the wall.

The EU formed the Atalanta mission after Somali pirates in September seized a Ukrainian ship carrying tanks and, in November, a Saudi tanker carrying fuel. Task Force 151 will grow to six this month with the arrival of frigates from Singapore and Turkey.

The coordination paid off on March 3, when the freighter MV Courier, operated by German shipping company Gebrueder Winter, sent a distress signal at 10:12 a.m. local time as it came under grenade fire from a skiff.

Warning Shots

The closest naval vessel, German frigate Rheinland-Pfalz, was 50 miles away, too far to help. A helicopter from the cruiser USS Monterey, patrolling nearby, fired warning shots at the Somalis, who turned toward Yemeni territorial waters.

The Rheinland-Pfalz rushed toward the zone and its chopper relieved the U.S. helicopter, which was running low on fuel.

Fire from the German helicopter forced the pirates to stop their skiff. Two-and-a-half hours after the initial signal, German marines arrested the nine pirates. They have been turned over to Kenya for prosecution.

“It’s like zone defense in sports, you know where you have to go to fill the gaps,” Lieutenant Nate Christensen, a U.S. Navy spokesman, said in a telephone interview from Bahrain.

Chinese and other independent ships are increasingly joining the chat room, Papaioannou said. By escorting up to 12 ships at a time, they reduce the load for the multinational fleets. As many as 70 commercial ships a day transit the gulf.

Bigger Boats

Somalia has lacked a central government since 1991. Initially, pirates extorted small sums from coastal trade vessels. As they reinvested their earnings into speedboats and weapons last year, they started seizing merchant ships hundreds of miles from shore.

Pirates still hold six ships and 160 seamen. At the peak last year, they held 15 boats and 380 sailors. A ransom was paid for all the released boats, according to the U.S. Navy. Except for one rescue of a French yacht by French commandos in September, foreign forces don’t storm hijacked boats, to avoid risking the crews’ lives.

The naval firepower hasn’t cut insurance rates. The Joint War Committee at Lloyd’s of London, the world’s largest insurance market, has the Gulf of Aden on its war-zone list.

“As far as underwriters are concerned, it’s still a high- risk area,“ said Neil Roberts, technical executive at Lloyd’s Market Association. It supports Lloyd’s underwriters, who have an underwriting capacity of 16 billion pounds ($22 billion).

Italy’s ITS Comandante Bettica just replaced Britain’s HMS Northumberland in Atalanta. The fleet’s fifth frigate is France’s Le Floreal, placed further south to protect food shipments to impoverished Mogadishu. In March, Sweden will send two corvettes and a supply ship.

“With the others, we’ll have something like 22 ships,” Papaioannou said. “But no naval force will ever be large enough to totally secure these waters until there is peace and stability in Somalia.”

astraltrader

13-03-2009, 19:48

A good report Dennis. It seems that at last countries are finally working together to help rid the area of these scum. Every country whose merchant ships use this busy shipping area and who also have suitable warships should contribute.

nigelweysom

13-03-2009, 21:24

i have just read on the BBC web site that the Japanese navy are to send 2 ships to defend Japanese ships or ships carrying Japanese cargo
Nigel

John Odom

14-03-2009, 21:10

From today's Japan Times:

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Steam for Somalia, MSDF told

By JUN HONGO
Staff writer
Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada issued the order Friday to send two Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers on a patrol for pirates off Somalia.

The flotilla will depart from Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, on Saturday.

The mission will be the first overseas under the maritime police-action provision of the Self-Defense Forces Law.

"It is our duty to protect the lives of Japanese nationals and their property. We will take the wisest measures in doing so," Hamada told reporters, adding, "An SDF dispatch always comes with danger, and we will handle this mission with caution."

The Defense Ministry said the destroyers deployed will be the 4,650-ton Sazanami and 4,550-ton Samidare. Each has a 200-strong crew, two helicopters and small high-speed boats. Four Japan Coast Guard officers with the authority to make arrests will also be aboard each ship.

The trip to the Gulf of Aden will take two to three weeks, and the Foreign Ministry will set up an office in Djibouti to coordinate their arrival.

In the meantime, the Cabinet approved a bill Friday to create a new permanent law that would authorize the MSDF to protect ships of any nationality against pirates. The Diet will deliberate on the bill in the coming months.

The current SDF law is restrictive in that it only allows the MSDF to protect ships registered as Japanese or those carrying Japanese nationals and goods. Even under the maritime police-action provision, the MSDF can only protect ships that are either Japanese or managed by Japanese companies, or vessels carrying Japanese crew or cargo for Japan.

The guideline also limits the use of weapons to emergency evacuations and self-defense.

Regarding concerns that the provision may tie the hands of MSDF, Hamada told reporters it is the government's responsibility to execute the mission regardless of the conditions. But he also expressed hope that the new bill, which will give the forces more leeway in the use of arms and allow them to protect multinational ships, will be enacted promptly.

Under the newly proposed antipiracy law, precautionary use of weapons would be allowed against approaching pirates.

The Japan Times
(C) All rights reservedArticle 7 of 15 in National news

designeraccd

31-03-2009, 10:41

YESTERDAY.............

Monday, March 30, 2009
Somali Pirates Attack German Navy
I think this is funny, talk about getting your identification chart wrong. This is like trying to pick pocket a police officer outside the police station.

Seven pirates opened fire on a German naval supply ship in the Gulf of Aden but were chased down and captured by an international anti-piracy task force, the U.S. Navy and European officials said Monday.

Meanwhile, Yemen reported that pirates killed a Yemeni fisherman and wounded two others in an attack on a fishing boat Saturday, also in the Gulf of Aden.

The expanse between Somalia and Yemen is one of the world's busiest waterways and the thousands of ships passing through each year have been plagued by pirate attacks.

In the attack on the German ship, pirates apparently mistook German FGS Spessart supply vessel for a commercial ship when they opened fire on it on Sunday afternoon, U.S. Navy 5th Fleet spokesman Lt. Nate Christensen said.

The German sailors returned fire and pursued the skiff while also calling in for support. Several naval ships — including a Greek and a Dutch frigate, a Spanish warship and the USS Boxer — sped to the area while a Spanish marine aircraft and two U.S. Marine Cobra helicopters joined the pursuit.

Five hours later, Greek sailors reached the pirate skiff, boarded it and seized the seven suspects and their weapons, including assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, the Greek navy said. The suspects were disarmed and transferred for questioning to the German frigate Rheinland-Pfalz where they remain Monday, pending a decision on whether they will be legally prosecuted, Christensen said.That last sentence is troubling. Imagine a world where a boat can open fire on a German warship, and they have to actually stop and ponder whether or not there will be a legal prosecution of the incident.

Good grief and "we" wonder why this is a GROWING problem???? DFO:rolleyes:

Commodore Armiger

31-03-2009, 11:00

Hasn't the obvious answer been accidentally revealed to the Admiralties and Foreign Ministries of the world? Q Ships! Clearly the pirates steer well clear of warships, or pretend to be fishing until they have gone on their way (except this latest lot, who couldn't distinguish between a naval supply vessel and a tanker!). But Q ships sent to hot-spots might reap a good harvest, and confuse the remaining pirates who could not be sure which vessel might be a soft touch and which a trap.

Or would that be considered "entrapment" by some court of law somewhere?

designeraccd

31-03-2009, 11:17

UNFORTUNATELY....I'd bet you just answered your own question...after all we MUST be PC and observe the RIGHTS of those thugs! Give me a break! They have the RIGHT to 1 7.62mm round between their individual "running lights" (eyes), IMhO! DFO :rolleyes::mad:

designeraccd

31-03-2009, 13:34

MORE.........

Pirate Tactics Evolve Off Somalia
EagleOne has an interesting map noting how the pirate attacks appear to be shifting to the south and east, although there is still plenty of evidence that attacks are occurring frequently in the north as well. IMB has seen the pattern developing as well, and is calling for the coalition to extend its coverage area.

A maritime watchdog Tuesday urged an international naval coalition patrolling the waters off northern Somalia to extend its watch to the country's eastern and southern coasts.

The warning came amid a spike in attacks in the area. The latest attack occurred late Monday, when pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns at a South Korean bulk carrier off eastern Somalia. The vessel managed to escape after carrying out evasive maneuvers, the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center said.

Since March 22, pirates have attacked 10 ships off eastern and southern Somalia, hijacking two of them, said Noel Choong of the piracy center in Kuala Lumpur. In contrast, he said, there was only one reported attack in the Gulf of Aden, to the north of Somalia, because of the international anti-piracy task force protecting those waters.
The problem is, there are no more ships. The international community has been able to limit the number of hijackings by creating transit lanes for convoys and organizing the shipping community.

This problem will only be solved on land.

metallian666

31-03-2009, 14:58

The Norwegian-owned tanker currently held by somalian pirtaes are reported to be still in open seas, moving north among the somali coast.

Commodore Armiger

31-03-2009, 15:34

"The solution lies on land." How true.

Rajah Brooke when combatting the pirates on the coasts of Borneo in the 1840s used boat parties to penetrate the river systems and attack the pirates in their lairs. Of course today that would be considered an illegal assault on peaceful villagers, their wives and children. Stopped the Borneo piracy dead in its tracks though - had quite an effect on their cannibalistic habits too. The former pirates and their offspring became decent law-abiding citizens and have been no threat to anyone (except Indonesian insurgents in the 60s) ever since.

Maritime Michael Ian

31-03-2009, 21:16

I thought there was a UN Mandate... dating back years.... that Piracy was an illegal act and therefore whatever action was needed to rid an area of such activity was deemed legal and covered by international law, and especially the law of the sea! Is this not the case???

There is no doubt that the only way to defeat pirates is to eliminate their modus operandi.... or words to that effect!

Ian

John Odom

05-04-2009, 11:42

The Japanese MSDF group saw first action off Somalia. No weapons were fired.
See Today's Japan Times:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090405a5.html

John Odom

09-04-2009, 09:43

New rules of engagement for Japanese force:

From April 9, Japan times:

Top MSDF official OKs force against pirates attacking non-Japan related vessels
A top defense official said the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) can use force if its vessels engaged in anti-pirate activities off Somalia are attacked while defending ships not connected to Japan.

MSDF Chief of Staff Keiji Akahoshi admitted during a press conference on Tuesday that the MSDF will be allowed to use force for justifiable defense or to avert imminent danger if its vessels were attacked while responding to rescue requests from foreign vessels that have no Japanese connection.

Akahoshi's remarks go beyond the scope of seaborne policing actions covered under the Self-Defense Forces Law, on which the dispatch of MSDF vessels to the region is based. Under the decree, use of force is only allowed for justifiable defense or averting imminent danger, with vessels to be protected limited to Japanese vessels or foreign ships with Japanese cargo.

On April 3 (local time), an MSDF destroyer drove away suspicious ships off Somalia after a Singaporean tanker asked for help via radio.

During Wednesday's press meeting, Akahoshi said the latest MSDF actions were based on a provision under the Mariners Law regarding the rescue of vessels in distress, and was not based on seaborne policing provisions.

"If the MSDF vessels come under fire while closing in on a ship that is asking for help, it will fall within the scope of justifiable defense or averting imminent danger," Akahoshi said, suggesting that the MSDF troops will be entitled to respond with arms under certain conditions.

designeraccd

09-04-2009, 13:02

Gee...that sounds way TOO LOGICAL..re: JMSDF ROEs!

Meanwhile from USNI:

How to Beat the Somali Pirates
April 2009
What follows was originally posted on my home site on 6 April 09:

It’s been noted here (see here) and other places that the Somalia pirates have shifted some of their operations to a sea lane about 400 - 500 nautical miles off the east coast of Somalia. They are able to find ships in that area because despite the vast size of the Indian Ocean, most ships follow time tested routes that save time and fuel and carry them to ports. These routes are logical and well known.

Take a look at the nearby maps. At the top is an older map (Map 1) showing the dhow routes that have been sailed since ancient times. There’s a pattern to the flow of dhows. ***

The second map (Map 2) is my own presentation of modern sea lanes along the coast of east Africa - the red lines are the sea lanes. In the modern sea faring world ships, in theory, may have the freedom to choose their routes and the freedom of the open sea, etc, etc, but the practical reality is that merchant ships are driven by the cruel masters of time and money. For the owners of merchant ships time is money and any ship’s master who decides to wander all over the ocean instead of taking the shortest, fastest route from one port to another will quickly be out of a job. Since there can only be one “shortest, fastest, safest route between two ports” that route becomes a sea lane. The seemingly chaotic world of ocean shipping is in many ways quite predictable. It is this predictability that the Somali pirates now rely on.

Map 3 superimposes on those sea lanes the most recent ships attacks and hijackings. While the maps I used don’t mesh exactly (and I am too lazy to make them fit) the point I am making is clear. The pirate attacks happen along the sea lanes. Why? Because, to paraphrase Willie Sutton, “that’s where the ships are.”

Map 4 shows that the east African shipping route area is sprinkled with islands that must be avoided - again ensuring that the routes to be taken by merchant ships, yachts and fishing trawlers are predictable, and well known to crews of boats native to the area. Shipping transiting the area does not have unlimited sea room in which to maneuver.

Given all of the above, Somali pirates and their confederates may lie in wait along these predictable routes and wait for ships to come to them - as they inevitably will.

How do you thwart these pirates at sea? One possibility, in use in the Gulf of Aden, is to flood the sea lanes with sea policemen or naval forces who serve to deter or stops assaults on shipping in their beat area. Another possibility, especially when you have limited naval assets, and which is also in use in the Gulf of Aden, is to provide escorts to single or multiple ships as they transit the risk areas during periods when the pirates are likely to be active (low winds, day light hours or during periods of a bright moon) or escort ships that have proven to be at risk (low freeboard ships, slow transit speeds).

Put helicopters and UAVs in the air and learn the local fishing patterns to find the “fishing boats” that don’t acty like the others. Use the helicopters to scout routes ahead of merchant ships.

For the long transit down the eastern coast of Somalia, I propose a small variation on the convoy system. Points A, B and C on Map 5 become Ocean Convoy Collection Points (OCCPs) where ships desiring to transit piracy risk areas can gather for convoying to the other points.

Now, I know very well that what I said before about time and money are negative motivators for merchant ships to wait for convoys to be formed. And, after all, the odds of being nabbed by pirates are pretty slim. However, there are some risk adverse ship owners who will accept the convoys, especially if their insurance carrier will lower premiums for convoy participants.

I said it before and I’ll say it again - given a chance - convoys work.

And, if you aren’t going to invade Somalia to take out pirate havens, you don’t really have a lot of other options.

Unfortunately the maps don't show.......DFO

designeraccd

09-04-2009, 13:07

More...........

Rules frustrate anti-piracy efforts

By Paul Reynolds
World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

Food aid ships headed for Mogadishu need guarding
The international effort to stop piracy off Somalia has not worked and the effort clearly needs to be stepped up into a higher gear.

The response so far has been twofold: first, to assemble naval forces to try to stop the pirates on the high seas; second, to encourage a political settlement within the fractured state of Somalia to enable law and order to be established.

The naval forces are growing all the time. There is already a small flotilla of warships in the region from the US, UK, Canada, France, Turkey, Germany, Russia and India, among others.

This shows how the world's trading powers regard the piracy as a joint threat.

There has been some success. The warships have established a safe shipping lane and escort food aid ships into Somalia. The Royal Navy recently shot and killed two pirates and captured others. The French staged a daring capture of pirates who had taken over a yacht. The Indian navy has thwarted two attempted hijacks, though the pirates in both cases got away. (Update 19 November: The Indian Navy reports that it has sunk a pirate ship which refused to stop. Further update 26 November: it is now reported that the 'pirate' ship was in fact a Thai fishing boat.)

And the European Union is about to launch its first naval action. It has approved Operation Atalanta, in which about eight ships will add their weight to the international effort.

It is under the control of Commodore Antonius Papaioannou of Greece and Rear Admiral Philip Jones of the UK, whose command will be based at Northwood, outside London.

It offers a chance, perhaps, for some dashing naval commander to make his name in the style of some of the great anti-pirate commanders of the past.

Changing times

The problem these days, however, is that the operation is hemmed in by rules and regulations.

In 1815 the American Cmdr Stephen Decatur, sent to stop the Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean, simply captured the flagship of the Algerian Dey and forced a capitulation. When the Dey later repudiated the agreement, the British and Dutch bombarded Algiers.

The authorities these days have a real problem because of international law... As in the days of the Caribbean pirates, everything is on the pirates' side

Dr David Cordingly
Maritime writer

From cutlass to AK-47
These days, there is no question of a bombardment of the port of Eyl, the main pirate base on the Somali coast. That might be the most effective response but it would require a UN Security Council resolution.

There is a resolution (1838, passed in October) which authorises the use of "necessary means", meaning force if need be, to stop piracy in international waters. There is also another resolution (1816) which allows anti-pirate operations within Somali waters, but only with the agreement of the Somali transitional government.

But even all these operations have to be conducted within international law, defined in this case as the provisions of the UN Law of the Sea Convention.

There has also been a legal opinion by the Foreign Office in London that captured pirates cannot necessarily be sent back to whatever authorities can be found in Somalia, in case they are subject to harsh treatment. That would contravene the British Human Rights Act. The pirates captured in the Royal Navy action have now been handed over not to Somalia, but Kenya.

The Law of the Sea Convention places limitations on daring action. Under Article 110 of the convention a warship has first to send an officer-led party to board a suspected pirate ship to verify any suspicions.

The warship cannot just open fire. Any inspection has to be carried out "with all possible consideration". That sounds rather tentative.

(Update: I have heard from the Nautical Institute, an international professional body for mariners based in London that it has started a petition to the British prime minister urging tougher measures. Other readers have suggested various 'solutions', including having marines or private security guards on board ships or in escort vessels and declaring war in order to bombard pirate ports. I have also heard from someone who used to advise British forces in the region and he says you cannot under international law convert a commercial ship into a kind of warship. He also thinks the issue of who will put pirates in trial is a legal minefield and yet to be resolved.)

Historical measures

Maritime writer Dr David Cordingly, author of "Life among the Pirates", says that, historically, firm measures were taken against pirates.

"There would often be a show trial in London, Jamaica, Boston or Charleston," he said.

International forces often try to intercept pirate vessels
"That was followed by a public hanging and the bodies would be left swinging on the gallows at the entrance to harbours. Sailors would draw the conclusion that piracy was not a good career option.

"The authorities these days have a real problem because of international law. There are measures ship owners can take like having fire hoses to aim at the pirates, acoustic devices to hurt their hearing or electric fences but, as in the days of the Caribbean pirates, everything is on the pirates' side.

"Modern pirates use very similar methods to the old. They shadow and then board their victims. They usually outnumber the small crew on board the ship.

"The difference is in what they do next. They used to remove the valuables and maybe abandon or kill the ship's crew. The pirates of the Caribbean did not seek ransom though the Barbary pirates did, as the Somali pirates do.

"But the old ways of dealing with them are no longer possible."

Diplomatic effort

As for the diplomatic effort on land, that is going even more slowly. Somalia is basically split into three.

The capital, Mogadishu, is nominally under the control of a transitional government set up after an Ethiopian-led intervention that removed the Union of Islamic Courts.

Between the lack of decisive naval operations and the chaos on land, the pirates have thrived

Somali pirates living the high life

Since then, a breakaway Islamist group known as al-Shabab has gained control of much of the south and centre of the country. An African Union peacekeeping force has been ineffective. There have been some calls for a larger UN force. Large parts of population survive on food aid.

The pirates, however, are based further north, in Puntland, a semi-autonomous region, where the port of Eyl is the main pirate base.

There is a president but he has either no power or no interest in stopping a lucrative form of income.

It is believed that the money gained from ransom is more than the income of the local government of Puntland.

Further round the coast again is Somaliland, which would like international recognition of its independence. The chances of there being a united, peaceful Somalia in the foreseeable future are close to nil.

Between the lack of decisive naval operations and the chaos on land, the pirates have thrived.

NO KIDDING! DFO:eek:

designeraccd

09-04-2009, 15:06

More from another blog........

Somali Pirates: Navy Destroyer on Scene of Hostage Event
In the on-going tale of the Somali pirates who took and lost a U.S. flagged container ship (see here, here) but have kept its captain as a hostage, the latest event is the arrival of a U.S. destroyer on scene, as reported here:

Second mate Ken Quinn earlier told broadcaster CNN that the crew was in touch with the captain, who had a ship radio.

The USS Bainbridge, part of a coalition naval force sent to combat piracy in the region, arrived early Thursday morning to assist the crew.

The crew of the USS Bainbridge was believed to be negotiating with the pirates, although the US Navy Fifth Fleet refused to comment.

Speers said the navy was 'in control of the situation.'

US Navy forces are reluctant to storm ships to free crew members being held hostage, instead concentrating on preventative measures.
The captain is being held on one of the ship's boats, near the container ship, as set out here:
The destroyer USS Bainbridge, one of a half-dozen warships that headed for the area, arrived at the scene this morning a few hours before dawn, said Kevin Speers, a spokesman for the company that owns the Maersk Alabama. He said the boat with the pirates was floating near the ship, the first with an American crew to be taken by pirates off the Horn of Africa.

Speers said officials were waiting to see what happens when the sun comes up. Crew members had been negotiating with the pirates Wednesday for the return of the captain.

The crew of the Alabama managed to disable the ship at about the time the pirates came aboard, according to a senior U.S. military official.

A family member said Capt. Richard Phillips surrendered himself to the pirates to secure the safety of the crew.

"What I understand is that he offered himself as the hostage," said Gina Coggio, 29, half sister of Phillips' wife. "That is what he would do. It's just who he is and his responsibility as a captain."
UPDATE: Some interesting points here by Canadian journalist Daniel Sekulich, including a rap on the knuckles for some reporters who appear to be in "defeatist" mode:
I'd like to comment on a piece posted on the Foreign Affairs website by blogger Elizabeth Dickinson. Entitled "Pirates on a spree", it sums up what a number of people are feeling, especially in light of the hijacking of at least five vessels in the last two days. However, in my estimation she only gets things about half right.

Dickinson wonders,"How are a bunch of former fisherman (sic) defeating the world's navies?", which is wholly incorrect. Somali pirates are by no means defeating navies, for they go out of their way to avoid encounters with warships patrolling the region's seas. Indeed, pirates there are not 'defeating' anyone - they are threatening and attacking mariners in a manner intended to maintain the inflow of money to the various gangs and warlords who control these criminal ventures. Unlike, for instance, terrorist groups, pirates do not wish to defeat or vanquish an enemy; they wish to exploit a resource - ships and seafarers - on an ongoing basis.
It's time to force some changes in the pirates business model.

Of course in this PC driven world, the question is how? My answer would not be considered PC by all the fine bleeding heart liberals out there....DFO :eek:

mik43

09-04-2009, 15:56

I gather from the France24 website that the FBI are now involved in the negotiations to release the US captain.
Regarding your unpublished comment DFO, agree entirely!!!!!!!!!
Mik

designeraccd

10-04-2009, 12:34

some actual THOUGHTS on piracy.........

Observing the Obama Administration Somali Piracy Policy
I had the day off Thursday, so I watched some TV and listened to the radio as the topic of piracy continued to come up. I think I would have killed fewer brain cells if I was to down a keg of Shock Top solo. I am convinced that this blue guy is smarter on the Somalia issue than most of the experts I've heard on talk radio over the last 24 hours. TV producers should do their show a favor and interview real experts like David Axe.

As I am following the discussions regarding Somali piracy, what bothers me right now is the shortage of real intellectual inputs that explains the current policy, never mind a conversation about piracy that promotes a realistic policy.

President Bush essentially punted the Somali piracy problem to Barack Obama. The only action related to Somalia piracy implemented under the Bush administration was the standing up of Combined Task Force 151 less than a week before Obama's Inauguration Day. It is unclear if the establishment of this organizational framework for the Navy was directed by the Bush Administration, or simply an effort by the Navy in preparation for the Obama administration policy.

The Obama administration implemented the first policy relating to Somali piracy with the announcement in late January that Kenya and the United States had signed a memorandum of understanding that will allow pirates captured in the region to be tried in Kenyan courts. This legal framework is the rule set the Obama administration developed the law enforcement centric policy for dealing with Somali pirates. This policy instructs the United States Navy to capture pirates and deliver them, and the associated collected evidence, to Kenya for legal prosecution. Since that policy went into effect, when evidence was collected pirates have been turned over to Kenyan authorities. When there was not enough evidence to link armed Somali's matching the description of pirates reported to be attacking commercial ships off the coast of Somalia, those detained would be released.

The current policy for addressing Somali piracy was the first major foreign policy decision implemented by the Obama administration and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after Obama became president. As a new policy, it is fluid and must be assessed at each step. I contend that when a US flagged ship is hijacked by pirates for the first time in 200 years while our naval forces are struggling under the law enforcement policy to produce successful prosecutions, thus deterrence, the Obama pirate policy is not working.

The current Obama policy is not aligned well with the US Navy's capabilities at sea. The Obama administration maritime law enforcement policy forces the great United States Navy to operate like an inept United Nations coast guard against Somali pirates. Tough choices will need to be made to align the Obama administrations law enforcement policy with our national capabilities at sea, and these choices are a lot tougher than the political rhetoric on the piracy issue is articulating.

John Kerry has called for hearings in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to address the growing problem of Somali piracy. He is correct that a rigorous policy debate "is long overdue."

"When Americans, including at least one from Massachusetts, are endangered, you’ve got a complicated and dangerous international situation brewing, and that includes questions about a hot pursuit policy on Somalia’s coastline."
I only hope that Senator Kerry is thinking clearly regarding the type of experts to invite for the discussion. Somali piracy is a very complex issue. The Senate needs new ideas to promote a better policy, because the Navy needs a better policy framework in order to develop a more effective strategy. Somali piracy is not a serious strategic threat to the United States, although it can become one if it continues at the current rate. Something does not have to be a strategic threat to represent a very serious issue that can have unintended consequences of grave strategic concern to our nation.

It is my observation that as the issues get more complex, the political rhetoric informing the public becomes less informed through the forwarding of simplistic perspectives. The right side of politics in America has been discussing piracy akin to terrorism, as if political motivated violence and economically motivated criminal activity is the same thing. The left side of politics continues to embrace the idea that every Somali pirate is a victim of western exploitation, which would make sense if the commercial ships being hijacked were part of the 800 or so fishing vessels annually illegally fishing yellowfin tuna, shark, and other rare fish off Somalia. The conditions that led to the growth of piracy in Somalia are no longer the conditions driving piracy today. Hopefully John Kerry can successfully move the piracy discussion down the political football field with his hearing.

The Obama administration wouldn't be the first president who enters office with a domestic political agenda focus and becomes dogged by foreign policy issues. The political risk the Obama administration is facing with the choices ahead for Somalia are not insignificant. The maritime shipping industry touches $7.8 trillion in global commerce annually. When Barack Obama refused to answer the question about the current incident, I got the impression he hasn't been briefed on the first and second effects of Somalia piracy, never mind the 3rd and 4th effects that trickle down as a result from the activity of the last week where 6 ships were hijacked. Essentially, I was left with the impression he doesn't think piracy is important.

The current approach taken by the worlds Navy's, due primarily to a highly restrictive Rules of Engagement driven by a law enforcement political policy, has been to use limited available naval resources to consolidate the area to protect as a safe shipping lane and utilize convoy systems when available. This is an effective approach with limited resources, but the problem with this approach is that it doesn't change the security conditions, so the strategy does not have a real goal or achievement to work towards. Understanding the ultimate solution is solved on land, it is also important for the Navy to recognize that long term maritime security means there is work that needs to also be done at sea. The Navy needs to be prepared to discuss options.

Is it time to make pirates walk the plank? Mackubin Thomas Owens, a Professor at the Naval War College, suggests it is. Guided by history he makes his case.

We need to return to an important distinction first made by the Romans and subsequently incorporated into international law by way of medieval and early modern European jurisprudence, e.g. Grotius and Vattel. The Romans distinguished between bellum, war against legitimus hostis, a legitimate enemy, and guerra, war against latrunculi — pirates, robbers, brigands, and outlaws — "the common enemies of mankind."

The former, bellum, became the standard for interstate conflict, and it is here that the Geneva Conventions and other legal protections were meant to apply. They do not apply to the latter, guerra — indeed, punishment for latrunculi traditionally has been summary execution. Until recently, no international code has extended legal protection to pirates.

So first, we should revive that distinction. When they are caught, they should be hanged. Second, I'm not the first to suggest that we should use force to wipe out the pirate lairs. Under the old understanding of international law, a sovereign state has the right to strike the territory of another if that state is not able to curtail the activities of latrunculi.
Leveraging history, he goes on to note that the founding fathers understood this. The problem is, this approach is a clear escalation of violence, and the risks are not trivial. The escalation of lethal action against pirates may change the behavior of pirates, and they may escalate the level of violence on commercial ships and begin killing merchant mariners as a response. While there is no question merchant mariners face many serious dangers under current conditions, if escalation with lethal violence results in the death of civilian mariners consistently, the United States will be forced into a situation where we must escalate stability efforts, which tends to become a nation building exercise. If we break it, we will own it.

Ultimately, while this approach may well be aligned with history, it comes with significant risks for blow back and unintended consequences, and without the political will and support from the larger international community, the United States will find ourselves bogged down in a third war front trying to promote security conditions back to the point they are today.

The only way that plan works is if we can sink every boat pirates use on the entire Somali coast. Unfortunately, that would almost certainly result in the elimination of the existing fishing fleet current feeding many, many thousands in a failed state where the people are starving to death. I do not have any confidence in Professor Owners solution, and oppose the call for unilateral escalation to use lethal force on ground.

Nikolas K. Gvosdev, a professor of national-security studies at the U.S. Naval War College, agrees with me that the status quo is no longer tenable, and also believes it is time to start thinking about more proactive measures. I think we need more innovative ideas like this.

One would be to shift the mission of the naval forces currently on station off the Somali coast. Instead of patrolling shipping lanes, the flotillas could enforce an exclusion zone around Somalia, attempting to blockade the main ports and pirate centers to make it much more difficult for ships to leave, or for captured vessels to be brought back to sanctuaries such as Eyl. Given the length of the coastline, no blockade would be foolproof, but it would certainly raise costs for the pirates.

Another [idea] is to examine whether the “sons of Iraq” model might be applicable to Somalia. Piracy flourishes because it is successful in bringing in income. Pirates perform a Somali version of trickle-down economics because ransoms that are paid for hijacked ships provide an income stream not only in terms of donations to clans and religious leaders, but also supporting the entire infrastructure for piracy, down to paying the families of those who guard, feed and house captured sailors. If clans, however, could be paid (in cash and services) for serving as “coast guard auxiliaries”—with a clear understanding that payments would continue only if there was a corresponding drop in the number of pirate attacks—this might help to undermine the economic rationale for piracy.
I don't endorse either idea automatically, but I appreciate that both are moving in the direction of new ideas short of a unilateral escalation of violence. Both of these ideas carry economic costs and long term commitments though, so they are not easy choices. The first idea sounds very similar to an Operation Market Time type of commitment with international naval forces.

The second idea is a broader policy question that I believe needs to be asked and answered at the Senate hearing John Kerry will hold. The global coast guard generally sucks where it exists in the 3rd world, and in the case of Somalia it doesn't exist. One question that the Obama administration needs to ask is whether the United States, with the international community, will spend money and help stand up a regional Coast Guard in those seas to fight Somali piracy. This means building capacity and committing to a long term partnership providing cooperative training and equipment for Kenya, Yemen, Djibouti, and potentially even the government of Somalia, or even to the level of the autonomous regions of Somalia.

The policy question whether to commit to developing a Coast Guard for regional maritime security would need to be answered before how such a Coast Guard would be created. Professor Gvosdev's idea would be one such option, essentially a "Sons of Somalia" model that in a way, sounds a lot like a 21st century version of a letter of marque, except instead of hiring western private contractors, indigenous security forces would be hired instead. Clearly to be effective a cooperative training role would exist, and potentially the necessity to provide some technologies to help integrate any indigenous Somali Coast Guard into the broader international coalition efforts.

Regardless of how the Maersk Alabama incident turns out, if the naval power fighting Somali piracy does not respond positively to the activity of the last week, maritime insurance rates are going to go up, likely way up. For an industry currently struggling due to global economic conditions, the trickle down effect can have consequences ranging from increasing consumer prices to determining what type of ships China is building in their shipyards next year should orders for commercial vessels slow down due to rising costs of trade at sea.

For its part, the US Navy cannot wait for the politics to change the current policy, the necessity to improve the current pirate fighting strategy exists now. The shipping companies only have the option for escort through the Gulf of Aden, there are no options around the east or southeast of Somalia. Expanding the convoy system to include the southern shipping lanes looks to be an important step that needs immediate attention.
[I]
from a Naval Blog.........DFO

designeraccd

10-04-2009, 18:20

Obviously Mr Keegan is still not properly PC...he simply makes too much logical SENSE! DFO :eek:

Pirates must be hunted down and their vessels sunk on sight
The sooner we tackle this menace, the sooner our seas will be safe again, argues John Keegan.

By John Keegan

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum, raise the Jolly Roger and all that. The thought of pirates brings a smile to the lips – but in reality there is nothing jolly about pirates, as this week's hijacking of the Maersk Alabama off the coast of Somalia, should remind us.

On Wednesday, Somali gunmen briefly hijacked the colossal freighter, only to be driven off by the crew. Retaining the captain as a hostage, they fled to a lifeboat, where they were yesterday engaged in a David-and-Goliath standoff with the might of the US Navy.

Although such areas have been pirates' main area of activity over the years, they were once far more widely spread. Our own country was once a nest of pirates, including some of our national heroes, such as Sir Francis Drake. By around the 17th century, however, it was no longer in the rich nations' interest to tolerate the practice, so they combined to stamp it out. One of the reasons why the attack on the Maersk was the first to involve American sailors in around 200 years is encapsulated in a well-known line of the US marines' anthem: "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli". This refers to the occasion, in the early 1800s, when the young republic sent a naval expedition to the north-western coast of Africa, den of the Barbary pirates, to deter attacks on their shipping.

Like other countries, America had paid bribes and ransoms, but the pirates' promises were never kept. Military action, in the form of two expeditions separated by a decade, was far more successful, especially when consolidated by the French occupation of Algeria in 1830. Admittedly, piracy did persist in the South China Sea and East Indian Sea, but with the rise of the European empires – and especially of the Royal Navy – it was eventually wiped out. One of the triumphs of Victorian Britain was to rule waves on which piracy had been extinguished.

Now, however, it is on the rise again – in precisely the areas where it should most be expected. Yet this time, there are even more pressing reasons to tackle the problem. The Gulf of Aden is the southern exit of the Suez Canal, and the ships on which the pirates are preying are not small sailing vessels, but huge container ships, carrying the cargoes upon which the world's prosperity depends.

The rich nations are already taking steps to protect their shipping – the US 5th Fleet has five to 10 ships in the area; there is also an EU force, and a Nato fleet. A host of countries, including Britain, China, Russia, India, Saudi Arabia, Denmark and Malaysia, have either sent warships or are reportedly considering doing so.

Such ships must act promptly and ruthlessly, as piracy will spread unless it is stamped out. The Gulf of Aden is an exit from the Mediterranean, one of the world's most important seas, crossed annually by thousands of ships. So our campaign must be ruthless and pitiless: pirate ships must be sunk on sight and the crews left to swim to safety, if it can be reached.

Many would complain about such tactics but, in my opinion, pirates have no rights – indeed, it will be vital to exclude human rights lawyers from the anti-piracy campaign. To bring any captives to Europe or America for trial would probably be to grant them their dearest wish, which is to secure entry to a new life in the First World.

This intensified anti-piracy campaign will require real re-equipment. Although the European navies likely to bear the lion's share of the burden – ourselves, the French, the Spanish and the Italians – are all efficient, they lack the right sort of ships. The Royal Navy's potential anti-piracy ships are anti-submarine or air-defence frigates.

But the Royal Navy has been here before. In 1939, at the start of the Battle of Atlantic, its anti-submarine fleet was largely composed of large fleet destroyers that needed to refuel too often to be suitable for the long operations with convoys. The navy had to try a new sort of ship – the frigate – and a new small destroyer, the Hunt model, in order to cope.

It is vital to begin re-equipping sooner, rather than later. Like the IRA, the pirates will not go away. Nor can they be negotiated out of the system. They needed to be hunted to extinction – and the time to start the hunt is now.

designeraccd

10-04-2009, 22:23

The FRENCH reply to these criminals.....GOOD for the French!

French Conduct Hostage Rescue Off Somalia - Updated
The AP is reporting the French Navy has raided a French yacht hijacked earlier this week, resulting in the death of one French hostage who was being held by pirates off the coast of Somalia.

President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said two pirates were also killed in the operation in the Gulf of Aden, while three others were taken prisoner.

The boat, the Tanit, was seized by pirates last Saturday with four adults and a child on board.
There are dangers involved with hostage rescues. One thing is certain, anytime a ship with a French flag gets hijacked by pirates, the French military responds every time.

Updated: The blog covering the journey of the French yacht Tanit is here. Florent Lemaçon, the owner of the yacht, was killed in the rescue attempt. Whether he was executed or killed in the crossfire remains unclear.

His wife, 3 year old son, and 2 friends on the yacht have been rescued. Pictures of all on the blog, last updated March 20. If you read through the blog (in French), you will not how they did not take the piracy situation seriously, joked about piracy actually as if they were regular writers at the Huffington Post, ultimately ignoring the warnings they did not understand nor believe in.

DFO

designeraccd

11-04-2009, 06:24

Interesting: the Bainbridge is equipped to carry TWO helicopters, but per reports...has none on board....while she sits watching 4 thugs and a hostage. Saving $$$ are we, for more important "social programs"...or what? DFO :eek::(

Sort of ironic that a DDG named Bainbridge is there, given what her namesake did with his ship all those years ago, vis a vis the Barbery pirates...........grounded it so it was captured. USMC to the "rescue", back then which finally resulted in the end of that piracy episode; now does anyone in authority have enough FORTITUDE to do that...again??

John Odom

12-04-2009, 23:05

It Seems That Finally, The USN Did What It Is Supposed To Do! The Captain Is Free!

CGRET

12-04-2009, 23:48

Yes, in deed the captain is free. Apparently one the pirates was on the USN ship trying to cut a deal when the Captain was again in the water swinging away from the lifeboat. The story goes that the pirates in the lifeboat pointed there weapons at him, when the seals opened up the pirates in the lifeboat. 1 pirate who was trying to cut a deal is still on the bainbridge under arrest.

Regards
Charles

designeraccd

13-04-2009, 00:08

Latest word is the SEALS were parachuted, along with gear and small boats in one night; then made their way-under cover of darkness-to Bainbridge. Boarded and "set up shop"...talk about PROS! While range of their shots was "close"...doing that on two moving, bobbing ships....training, training and more training! DFO ;):D:D

designeraccd

13-04-2009, 10:55

From USNI blog......

It Begins
April 2009
“Abdullahi Lami, one of the pirates holding the Greek ship anchored in the Somali town of Gaan, said: ‘Every country will be treated the way it treats us. In the future, America will be the one mourning and crying,’ he told The Associated Press. ‘We will retaliate (for) the killings of our men.’”
Taken from here. This is an interesting quotation to me as it relays the pirate’s sense of entitlement. For some reason, he thinks that they have a right to seize property and detain foreign citizens. The man quoted above seems to be as sure of his right to rob as we are sure of our right to freedom on the high seas. I wonder what led him to think this? Perhaps they’ve been conditioned to consider it a right given that payment of ransom is the standard procedure of dealing with pirates.

Anyway, we seem to be dealing with an ideology and not just a criminal enterprise. They truly think they have a right to rob, and it will take force to convince them that it is not in their interests to keep pursuing this “right.”

Yup...they have their RIGHT to steal and kidnap and murder....uh-huh. When will we ALL wake up? DFO :mad:

designeraccd

13-04-2009, 21:11

more.......

Time to Plan and Weigh Options

The pirates were all heavily armed but untrained and antsy youths, said Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

"Untrained teenagers with heavy weapons," Gates said in a speech at the Marine Corps War College. "Everybody in the room knows the consequences of that."

He said the Obama administration would "end up spending a fair amount of time" on the piracy problem.

"I am confident we will be spending a lot of time in the situation room over the next few weeks trying to figure out what in the world to do about this problem," Gates said.
Nothing happens on this issue without Presidential leadership. The Navy could soon find themselves engaged in an asymmetrical war. We have changed tactics with the latest incident, expect the pirates to change tactics next.

What is promising is that it appears Obama knows he has been forced into acting regarding a tough situation, and he is preparing to deal with it.

One can but HOPE! DFO :eek:

designeraccd

14-04-2009, 10:54

QUESTIONS.............

Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Millions for Tribute but not One Cent for Defense?
With the rescue of Captain Phillips many people are ready to move on to the business of killing pirates already, or at least do something. Clearly we have arrived at a moment where policy has changed, but before we start down that road, perhaps we should ask why policy has changed?
It is my understanding that the standard US Navy practice in maritime kidnapping situations like the Maersk Alabama incident has been to stand aside while ransom negotiations take place between the pirates and the ship owner/operator. The pirates sometimes contact the Navy, but the Navy's practice in such instances has been to provide them with the telephone number of the ship owner/operator, so that the pirates can negotiate directly with the firm.

I have a few questions. Why didn't that happen in this case? Why did the Navy (with the FBI) in this instance apparently engage in direct hostage (i.e., non-ransom) negotiations with the pirates, instead of letting Maersk negotiate with the pirates for a ransom? Was it because the ship originally hijacked was a US-flag ship? Because the kidnapped person was a US national? Because the situation was logistically different in terms of the kidnapped person being on a lifeboat and the hijacked ship no longer being in the possession of the pirates? Some combination of these factors?

If so, why should any of these things make a difference? If not, then what was the reason? I think it is important that the Obama administration and the Navy explains why this situation wasn't handled like others, in which the Navy stands aside and the pirates and the ship owner/operator work out a ransom agreement. The response by the BAINBRIDGE represented a major policy shift, but no explanation has been given why the shift occurred. Was the policy shift dictated by conditions, or directed by leadership?

As acknowledged by Admiral Gortney toward the end of his telephone call with news reporters, the killing of the three pirates by the Navy SEAL snipers creates a risk of elevating the overall level of violence in future ship hijackings, which can increase the risks faced by the mariners on these cargo ships. If that's the case, and if there aren't enough naval ships from various countries to fully patrol the area, as the Navy repeatedly acknowledges, then how successful was this operation? Will people still be celebrating this operation if the pirates adapt and begin employing highly lethal forms of violence when attempting to seize control of ships? It will be interesting to see whether the international community blames the pirates, or us, if the pirates make a violent tactical adjustment in response to the events of Easter Sunday.

The Navy states that it believed the ship master's life was in imminent danger. I don't doubt the Navy's judgment on this, but it gets back to the first question: Would the situation have come to this if the Navy had treated this as a ransom negotiation situation to be worked out in talks between the pirates and Maersk?

I believe it is absolutely fair to compare these maritime insurance policies that protect shipping from pirates to a modern form of tribute. With that said, military forces are either unwilling (due to cost) or unable (due to resources or political will) to secure the seas from Somalia piracy, and the insurance as a form of tribute model does have an extremely high success rate in protecting the lives of mariners.

So I do wonder if at the end of the day, the American spirit of liberty over oppression played a role in how this scenario played out. I wonder if that spirit came from the Navy, the administration, both, or was it spawned in the Navy and administration when Captain Phillips demonstrated that spirit himself?

I might be wrong, but it appears to me that somewhere in the decision process a patriotic emotion rooted in either an obligation or loyalty to protect our citizen became the National Policy guiding the American response that freed Captain Phillips, thus fundamentally changing the existing American policy regarding Somali piracy in that moment. I celebrate the rescue of Captain Phillips, but I think there are several important questions that have not been answered in this incident.

From a Naval Blog..........DFO

designeraccd

14-04-2009, 11:03

and from the UK.......

Pirates must be hunted down and their vessels sunk on sight
The sooner we tackle this menace, the sooner our seas will be safe again, argues John Keegan.

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum, raise the Jolly Roger and all that. The thought of pirates brings a smile to the lips – but in reality there is nothing jolly about pirates, as this week's hijacking of the Maersk Alabama off the coast of Somalia, should remind us.

On Wednesday, Somali gunmen briefly hijacked the colossal freighter, only to be driven off by the crew. Retaining the captain as a hostage, they fled to a lifeboat, where they were yesterday engaged in a David-and-Goliath standoff with the might of the US Navy.

Last year, more than 130 such attacks were reported, centred on the Gulf of Aden. Approximately 50 were successful, with millions of pounds being extracted in ransom money, most notoriously for a Saudi supertanker carrying £70 million in oil, and a Ukrainian ship transporting 33 tanks. The civilised world long believed that piracy was part of history, long ago stamped out by the navies of the industrialised nations. Instead, at the chokepoints of sea lanes, off the shore of weak – or completely failed – states, piracy is flourishing.

Although such areas have been pirates' main area of activity over the years, they were once far more widely spread. Our own country was once a nest of pirates, including some of our national heroes, such as Sir Francis Drake. By around the 17th century, however, it was no longer in the rich nations' interest to tolerate the practice, so they combined to stamp it out. One of the reasons why the attack on the Maersk was the first to involve American sailors in around 200 years is encapsulated in a well-known line of the US marines' anthem: "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli". This refers to the occasion, in the early 1800s, when the young republic sent a naval expedition to the north-western coast of Africa, den of the Barbary pirates, to deter attacks on their shipping.

Like other countries, America had paid bribes and ransoms, but the pirates' promises were never kept. Military action, in the form of two expeditions separated by a decade, was far more successful, especially when consolidated by the French occupation of Algeria in 1830. Admittedly, piracy did persist in the South China Sea and East Indian Sea, but with the rise of the European empires – and especially of the Royal Navy – it was eventually wiped out. One of the triumphs of Victorian Britain was to rule waves on which piracy had been extinguished.

Now, however, it is on the rise again – in precisely the areas where it should most be expected. Yet this time, there are even more pressing reasons to tackle the problem. The Gulf of Aden is the southern exit of the Suez Canal, and the ships on which the pirates are preying are not small sailing vessels, but huge container ships, carrying the cargoes upon which the world's prosperity depends.

The rich nations are already taking steps to protect their shipping – the US 5th Fleet has five to 10 ships in the area; there is also an EU force, and a Nato fleet. A host of countries, including Britain, China, Russia, India, Saudi Arabia, Denmark and Malaysia, have either sent warships or are reportedly considering doing so.

Such ships must act promptly and ruthlessly, as piracy will spread unless it is stamped out. The Gulf of Aden is an exit from the Mediterranean, one of the world's most important seas, crossed annually by thousands of ships. So our campaign must be ruthless and pitiless: pirate ships must be sunk on sight and the crews left to swim to safety, if it can be reached.

Many would complain about such tactics but, in my opinion, pirates have no rights – indeed, it will be vital to exclude human rights lawyers from the anti-piracy campaign. To bring any captives to Europe or America for trial would probably be to grant them their dearest wish, which is to secure entry to a new life in the First World.

This intensified anti-piracy campaign will require real re-equipment. Although the European navies likely to bear the lion's share of the burden – ourselves, the French, the Spanish and the Italians – are all efficient, they lack the right sort of ships. The Royal Navy's potential anti-piracy ships are anti-submarine or air-defence frigates.

But the Royal Navy has been here before. In 1939, at the start of the Battle of Atlantic, its anti-submarine fleet was largely composed of large fleet destroyers that needed to refuel too often to be suitable for the long operations with convoys. The navy had to try a new sort of ship – the frigate – and a new small destroyer, the Hunt model, in order to cope.

It is vital to begin re-equipping sooner, rather than later. Like the IRA, the pirates will not go away. Nor can they be negotiated out of the system. They needed to be hunted to extinction – and the time to start the hunt is now.

SUMS it up now doesn't it, but the ? is...HOW??? DFO

designeraccd

17-04-2009, 13:22

CBS Casually Blogged Today...
I was reading this CBS World News blog article discussing a new audiotape from the senior Al Qaeda operative Sa'id Ali Jabir Al Khathim Al Shihri (aka Abu Sufian al-Azdi), who you may have heard about considering he was a 6 year resident of Guantanamo Bay before being released to Saudi Arabia last year.

After serving his time in Gitmo, being released in Saudi Arabia, and participating in a repatriation and rehabilitation program, Shihri has popped up in Yemen calling on Somali jihadists to attack "crusader" forces at sea in the Gulf of Aden. The audiotape appears to be a response to the US and French actions against piracy last week. The article discusses the typical Al Qaeda rhetoric then states:

Al Qaeda does have links to Islamic extremist groups operating in Somalia but, thus far, piracy and al Qaeda's brand of terrorism have remained largely separate. The pirates in the Gulf of Aden have always sought ransom payments or loot — they have not been motivated by Islamic fundamentalism.
That is exactly how I have come to understand the relationship between the Al Qaeda terrorism and pirates in Somalia. However, I had never seen what was reported in the very next paragraph.

A maritime intelligence source tells CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar that interaction between pirate groups and Somalia's al Qaeda-linked groups was first noticed about nine months ago, and has been on the rise.

The source said it was now "inconceivable" to Western intelligence agencies that al Qaeda would not be getting some financial reward from the successful hijackings. The question, says the intelligence source, is whether that cut will remain sufficient to keep the Islamic extremist group satisfied as piracy gains public attention, and bigger ransoms.
For at least the past 18 months I have been trying to find a hard news article, not a political opinion website, but a hard new report that offers some detail on a link between pirate groups and Al Qaeda-linked groups, and I have never previously found a news report like this. We know they both operate in the same black market space in Somalia, but this 'interaction' that began 'nine months ago' is new information. It is also very interesting, because if this relationship began 9 months ago, around August of 2008, that would be very significant.

Lets examine piracy in 2008:

January - 1 hijacking
February - 1 hijacking, 1 attack
March - 2 attacks
April - 2 hijackings, 4 attacks
May - 3 hijackings, 4 attacks
June - 1 hijacking, 1 attack
July - 1 hijacking, 1 attack

**** Interaction between Pirate groups and Somalia's al Qaeda-linked groups reportedly begins ****

August - 7 hijackings, 1 attacks
September -9 hijackings, 9 attacks
October - 5 hijackings, 7 attacks
November 9 hijackings, 12 attacks
December 2 hijackings 11 attacks

So far between January and April 16th, 2009 there have been 19 hijackings and 80 attacks, clearly an enormous increase over last year around the same time.

Are we sure we fully understand the relationship between al Qaeda-linked groups and pirate groups, because I find it difficult to believe it is just a coincidence that the two groups just happened to form a link at the exact same time Somali piracy exploded in that region. I also think the timing is interesting in that just 4 months prior, in April of 2008, Al Qaeda called for naval terror cells to be established around the Arabian Peninsula.

On April 26, 2008, the Islamist website Al-Ikhlas posted an article from Jihad Press, an e-journal reportedly linked to Al-Qaeda, which urges the mujahideen to establish naval terror cells. The article argues that gaining control over the seas and sea passages – especially around the Arabian Peninsula – is a vital step towards renewing the global Islamic caliphate...

Finally, the article stresses that the seas off the coast of Yemen, namely the Gulf of Aden, the Bab Al-Mandeb strait and the Red Sea are of supreme strategic importance in the campaign to expel the enemy from key locations. If the enemy loses these key areas, it explains, "he will not be able to defend himself on land and [to protect] his naval bases from the mujahideens' attack."

Hmm. If you click the image above, it will take you to the IMB Live Piracy Map. Does anyone else see that big cluster of pirate activity off the coast of Yemen, in the Gulf of Aden, the Bab Al-Mandeb strait, and the Red Sea where most of the piracy has been concentrated since August of 2008?

That is what I’d call a very strange coincidence. Does CBS even realize that one implication of this information, if accurate, is that the al Qaeda-linked groups in Somalia are potentially the primary reason for increased piracy off Somalia?

I think that would be important information.

Meanwhile, over here, the leftist liberals are CROWING about their "victory" in getting Obama Administration to release info on "torture" yesterday...right. DFO:rolleyes:

designeraccd

18-04-2009, 12:14

South Korea to the RESCUE!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

South Korean Warship and Helicopter Stops Pirate Atack A Republic of Korea destroyer, ROKS Munmu the Great (DDH-976), dispatched its helicopter to scare off some pirates getting ready to board a small zig-zagging Danish freighter about 70 miles off Yemen, as reported here:

The Munmu the Great destroyer, carrying a crew of 300, received a distress call from the ship which reported it was being chased by a pirate boat, said Army Colonel Lee Hyoung-Kook, a JCS official who oversees the deployment.

The 2,500-ton ship Puma -- carrying a generator from Singapore to Germany with a crew of three Danes, four Filipinos and five British security guards -- was about 55 kilometres from the South Korean destroyer.

"The crew of the Puma, upon seeing Friday six pirates in an outboard motor boat approaching at full speed, began to zig-zag to keep them from boarding, and fired a distress flare in their direction," said Shipcraft director Per Nykjaer Jensen.

That gave them just enough time for the Puma to call for help from international naval forces in the area, he told AFP.

The South Korean destroyer dispatched its Lynx anti-submarine helicopter, which arrived at the scene in just over 20 minutes, Lee said.

"The pirates gave up (their) attempt to board the ship and turned away when the helicopter threatened to fire," he said.

Jensen agreed that the helicopter's arrival saved the Puma from being seized, but he added: "We are really frustrated by these intolerable conditions whereby the pirates more often than not get away with impunity."

WHY only THREATEN to fire? DFO

designeraccd

19-04-2009, 12:37

More PC................

NATO Snatches Defeat From the Grip of Victory
NATO has found a way to waste an excellent operation conducted by the Dutch Navy. First, lets cover what has happened.

Dutch commandos freed 20 Yemeni hostages on Saturday and briefly detained seven pirates who had forced the Yemenis to sail a "mother ship" attacking vessels in the Gulf of Aden, NATO officials said.

In a separate incident, gunmen from Somalia seized a Belgian-registered ship and its 10 crew, including seven Europeans, further south in the Indian Ocean.

"The Pompei is heading slowly towards the Somali coast," Peter Mertens, a spokesman for a Belgian government crisis centre, said. "We have had visual contact from a helicopter of a Spanish navy ship."
Sounds like the Dutch should be celebrating, and this is nothing short of outstanding in my opinion, but this is what has the government a tad pissed off.

He said the hostages had been held since last week. The commandos briefly detained and questioned the seven gunmen, he told Reuters, but had no legal power to arrest them.

"NATO does not have a detainment policy. The warship must follow its national law," he said.
Let me get this straight. The Dutch collect evidence from an attack on a Greek ship, then perform a rescue of a Yemen fishing boat, freeing 20 hostages, while collecting evidence, which constitutes a tremendously successful operation against pirates.

Then NATO comes along and orders the release of the pirates? This smells like a diplomatic incident in the making. Already it is starting to look like the Dutch government is very unhappy with NATO.

Between CTF-151, Atalanta, and NATO we have three chain of commands with no international framework that scales to everyone for prosecuting pirates. The west looks incapable of upholding international law. 3 groups with 3 distinct chain of commands. What a mess.
Well done to the Dutch Navy, too bad NATO found a way to waste the excellence of the Dutch Navy.

designeraccd

21-04-2009, 23:30

POOR BABY............per the MSM.......

Somali Pirate Gets Full Media Sympathy Treatment
He might have been a Boy Scout or a Key Club member. In fact given the glow of this AP piece, he might go traight to sainthood

Muse grew up poor in a one-room home, the eldest child of a divorced mother, in one of the most impoverished, violent countries in the world. A nation of around 8 million people, Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991. A quarter of Somali children die before age 5 and nearly every public institution has collapsed.

Muse's mother sells milk at a small market every day, saving around $6 every month for school fees for her oldest son. She pays 15 dollars a month in rent.

"I cried when I saw the picture of him," Hassan said, referring to the photo of her son being led in handcuffs in New York. "Relatives brought a copy of the picture to me. Surely he is telling himself now, 'My mother's heart is broken.'"

She said the last time she saw her son in person, she was pushing him out the door so he would not be late for school.

Since that day weeks ago, he simply disappeared. Asked why she believed he left, Hassan was at a loss.
Well, I can tell you why he left. Al the cool kids are out capturing ships for ransom, holding crew hostage at gun point while robbing them of their personal belongings, shooting at ships with AK-47s and RPGs, and driving big cars. And getting all the pretty girls.

Sorry about your poverty, ma'am, but that hardly makes your family unique in this world or provides an excuse for piracy - which, as we keep hearing, is really all about being like being the Coast Guard for Somalia, which is how Muse ended up being involved in an attack on a large ship several hundred miles off the coast of Somalia -way beyond where coast guards work.

But we saw this coming, didn't we?

You gotta understand,
It's just our bringin' up-ke
That gets us out of hand.

I think I feel a tear coming on...right. DFO :mad:

designeraccd

22-04-2009, 12:16

Worth thinking about, from a naval blog........

Not Your Forefather’s War on Piracy

by Mike Burleson The US and Western navies are seeking their identity in a new century with new threats looming to challenge their historical hold on the sealanes. From the Boston Globe and an article titled “The (smaller, faster, cheaper) future of sea power“:

When most of us think about irregular warfare, the images we have are Fallujah, or eastern Afghanistan, or perhaps Vietnam. But as the recent standoff with three Somali pirates highlighted, asymmetric battles aren’t just limited to land. And though the Maersk Alabama incident ended unequivocally in the favor of the US Navy, the image of a 9,200-ton guided-missile destroyer called into action against a lifeboat only drove home the sense that this isn’t really what today’s US Navy was built to do.

While the US Navy typically focuses on China as a possible naval rival in some obscure conventional conflict of the future, currently off the coast of Somalia we see the stirrings of a more immediate and less conventional rival to our sea dominance. While some mock the outbreak of piracy in the region as something familiar which can easily be handled with an internationally mandated land campaign or costly nation building program, it coincides ominously with the rise of Islamic nationalism and terrorism, which we already know poses a world-wide threat to security.

The worry is that, despite its unquestioned preeminence on the high seas, the American Navy may not be equipped to protect us from some of the smaller scale but still lethal maritime threats we face. Piracy is one of them, but it’s hardly the most dangerous: seaborne terrorism, nuclear proliferation, drug smuggling, and human trafficking are others. Almost all of them have taken on a new urgency as the seas grow more crowded, and at a time when military planners have to worry as much about stateless threats as more traditional opponents. And in a climate in which the Pentagon budget the Obama administration proposed two weeks ago seeks to shift billions of dollars from the development of big-ticket weapons systems to the unmanned drones, special-forces teams, and other measures vital to counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the pressure on the Navy to change is only likely to grow.

What a stark contrast it was seeing one of America’s mightiest battleships, the aptly named USS Bainbridge, at 10,000 tons and loading 100 missiles in a standoff with 4 pirates in a lifeboat. Thankfully the issue was decided favorably by 2 SEAL snipers and the safe rescue of hostage Capt. Richard Phillips,but it goes to show what a distraction of international proportions these modern buccaneers can create if left to their own devises for very long.

The Littoral Combat Ship may be smaller and cheaper than a destroyer, but it’s still a large and very expensive ship - too big to be maneuverable in a truly littoral (i.e. near-shore) environment and probably too expensive for the Navy to be able to afford more than a few dozen. A better solution, argues Milan Vego, a professor of operations at the Naval War College, would be to take that money and spend it on a larger fleet of smaller, simpler ships - lightweight corvette warships, for example, and patrol boats that are updated versions of the Swift Boats that plied the rivers and deltas of Vietnam. That way the Navy could be in more places at any one time, which makes sense in a world in which many threats are diffuse and individually weak rather than concentrated and powerful. “We have too few ships, and the ships are too big,” Vego says.

The aversion to fighting piracy and the ongoing threat it poses to shipping in the region, sounds suspiciously like the “wars we want to fight” attitude prevailing in much of the Pentagon, as opposed to those unexpected ones we most often get. Such conflicts are usually long attritional struggles mostly unpopular with the public. But Secretary Gates warned us recently, “we ignore such threats to our peril“.

Others worry that an undue focus on asymmetric threats could obscure other increasingly symmetrical threats. “I also think we’ve got to keep focus on the big picture,” says Ron Christenson, a retired rear admiral who’s now an executive at Lockheed Martin. And the big picture, he and others argue, is China.

The Greeks and Romans once mocked the uncouth and uncivilized German barbarians whose very name symbolized the richer nations’ contempt for their manner of speech (bar-bar). Yet during periods of political weakness, the same scorned people whose armies scarcely numbered in the tens of thousands and usually less, easily swarmed over the vaunted Legions, forcing their own culture upon their former tormentors. Some like the Vandals also took to the sea,which the Romans once arrogantly described as Mare Nostrum, “Our Sea”. These barbarian pirates looted and pillaged at their leisure, eventually sacking Rome itself, before they too settled down in Carthage, to become civilized themselves. About 100 years later a belatedly vengeful Eastern Empire led by the fabled general Belisarius destroyed their short-lived pirate kingdom.

In the years since, other fighting forces have helped perfect the art of asymmetric naval warfare. While the Tamil Tigers are today near defeat, for years they inflicted heavy losses on the Sri Lankan navy with a fleet of fishing trawlers and freighters, and speedboats used in suicide attacks. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, has wreaked havoc on the Nigerian oil industry with a ragtag flotilla of small craft, crippling offshore oil platforms, blowing up pipelines, and kidnapping and killing oil company employees and Nigerian soldiers. The Iranian navy has built much of its fleet around what naval strategists call “swarming tactics,” employing loose packs of light, fast boats that quickly converge on larger ships in sneak attacks.

While one could argue endlessly over the similarities or lack thereof between piracy and terrorism, the fact remains that each have become an outlet for rising tensions in the Third World, and particularly within Islam. Perceived or real grievances, greed, a chance for fame, fortune, or immortality (speaking religiously), for whatever reason there can be little doubt of the resurgence of the Arab world. After laying dormant for centuries, the pirate/terrorist has returned to the sea, now unchecked because of the weakness or apathy of Western navies. We leave you this this warning from William Lind:

Piracy is only the barometer; the storm will be something else. That storm is coming, and soon, as Brave New World’s promise of unending material wealth in return for acceptance of an administered life proves a lie. By the time the storm is over, the elites that fear to hang pirates will be hanging from lampposts themselves.

designeraccd

22-04-2009, 14:07

Well isn't this nice? THEY (the thugs) are simply being PATRIOTIC! DFO :rolleyes:

Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Somali Pirates: Why do we do it? Because it's better than our other options
Why are there Somali pirates? For the same reason there are bank robbers and drug dealers. It's relatively easy money and some people only have poor career options, or anyway, that's how I read this somewhat sympathetic report:

A group of our villagers, mainly fishermen I knew, were arming themselves.

One of them told me that they wanted to hijack ships, which he said were looting our sea resources.

He told me it was a national service with a lot of money in the end. Then I took my gun and joined them.

Who knew that World Food Program ships were looting Somali sea resources. Or oil tankers. Or cargo ships. Or yachts. Or tug boats. Or wood carriers. Or ...

I have said many times that Somali fishing waters ought to be protected. Attacking ship that have nothing to do with fishing or pollution 300 miles at sea is not protecting Somali waters and points out what a flimsy excuse this innocent "coast guard" lie is.

from a Naval Blog.......:mad:

designeraccd

28-04-2009, 00:48

YEMENI Navy to the RESCUE..........

Somali Pirates: Yemen Nabs the Crowd that Grabbed the Yememi Tanker Qana

An email report from GOAGT.org:

Hot off the press, Yemen Navy deployed several of the Austal 37.5 mtr fast patrol boats that we use for escorts and surrounded the Qana just north of the IRTC, there was a stand off for 1 hour then 11 pirates put their hands up and gave up – The Yemen Navy made it very clear – release or we are storming the ship and you will all die – they gave them 10 minutes to decide.This is a huge Victory for the Yemen Navy and a positive signal that they will not allow this to happen in their back yard...
This a follow-on to the report of the capture of the Qana contained in this.

News report:
Yemeni special forces Monday freed a Yemeni oil tanker seized by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, killing three pirates and capturing at least nine on board, a government official said.
The ship, named Qana, was seized by Somali pirates off Yemen's coast Sunday but was empty of oil cargo. The deaths Monday took to five the number of pirates killed as Yemeni forces battled for two days to take back the vessel.

They were escorting the tanker to the Yemeni port of Aden on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.

POSITIVE action........DFO :D:D

designeraccd

30-04-2009, 11:56

More ............

Latest Anti-Piracy Efforts
The weather must be pretty good out in the Indian Ocean off the African east coast, because the daily reports streaming in are beginning to suggest the activity of both sides is very high.

Are you reading these stories? Most of them are frustrating, for example, the Indian Navy has captured 9 pirates who attempted to hijack the cruise ship Melody. That's the good news, but check out the events that proceeded the pickup.

The European Union's Maritime Security Centre (MSC) said the pirates were intercepted by a Spanish warship, the Numancia. The suspects, who were "in poor health," were released as a result of lack of evidence, but the Seychelles coastguard then picked them up.

"The capture operation was conducted in co-operation with a... French maritime patrol aircraft and a warship from the Indian Navy which also discovered an abandoned skiff not far from the scene," the MSC said.
In other words, first the Spanish caught the pirates, then the Spanish released the pirates. Then the Seychelles coast guard caught the pirates, and now the Indians have taken them into custody. There is a Vince Lombardi quote waiting to be shouted with these stories.

Pirates attacked a tanker on Monday, but news reports tell the story of the Russian crew fighting off the pirates with fire hoses. The Russian Navy destroyer Admiral Panteleyev went hunting for the pirate attackers and ended up picking up 29 pirates. The equipment found is noteworthy.

"Seven Kalashnikov rifles, various pistols and an aluminum ladder were discovered during a search of the ship," RIA Novosti quoted the source as saying. Satellite navigation equipment and a large amount of ammunition was also seized.

"This allows us to assume that this group of pirates undertook two unsuccessful attempts to seize the TF Commander tanker with a Russian crew that was traveling through this region yesterday," RIA quoted the source as saying.

Depends on the court, but if the pirates are sent to a court in Russia these pirate dudes are done. In Kenya, the Russians may be assuming too much.

38 pirates captured, but unfortunately, there are questions whether any of them will be charged. Still, it is good to see both Russia and India in the fight

What a pathetic joke-on all of us-NO PAIN, lots of gain...for the thugs....DFO

designeraccd

04-05-2009, 13:20

More BRILLIANCE...........

Sunday, May 3, 2009
Fighting Pirates, The Easy Way
Apparently, this pirate bunch mistook FS Nivose (F 732) for a commercial ship. The French were not unprepared.

Two pirate assault boats approached the Nivose "at great speed," Capt. Christophe Prazuck said, but a French helicopter intervened before the attackers had time to fire at the French Navy ship.

The helicopter fired warning shots, he said.

The pirates, who had a mother ship as well as the two assault boats, are being held for questioning on the Nivose, Prazuck said. The vessels were carrying AK-47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, but the pirates did not fire, he said.

The incident took place about 1,000 km (620 miles) east of Mombasa, Kenya, at 8:30 a.m. local time (0430 GMT) he added.

This is an interesting case. he French took 11 prisoners, and it will be interesting if the proactive action by the French Navy to stop the pirate attack before it started will give the French enough to prosecute.

It could be this bunch gets set free, meaning because we stopped the pirates from attacking before they were able to shoot bullets at people, no crime. Under that law, you have to get shot at before you can shoot back, which could also mean any offensive action against pirates would be seen unlawful.

That is simply rediculous....and all to PC believable! DFO

designeraccd

21-05-2009, 12:53

A new possibility, per a blog........

Warning Signs of a Coming Threat Off Somalia
The monsoon season begins in just a few weeks off the coast of Somalia, so expect piracy to drop off during that period even as both NATO and the EU may be preparing to increase operations.

It is unclear what the US Navy intends to do with the adjustment period that will most likely result in the pirates changing tactics, but this report suggests what some of the new pirate tactics might be, and what the South Koreans are worried about.

I was struck by reading last night that the South Korean navy wants to equip its Lynx helicopters with a missile protection system (flares and radar warning system) and is prepared to make the necessary modifications immediately, according to a South Korean defense ministry quoted by the Korea Times. The move comes after it received warning from the National Intelligence Service and the Defense Security Command that Somali pirates seem to have acquired Stinger anti-air missiles from Al-Qaida.
The article goes on to note the South Koreans may install the defense system to their helicopters in Djibouti, suggesting the threat is near term, not long term.

Any tactical evolution towards offensive weapons against naval forces will fundamentally change everything about Somalia piracy. One incident, particularly against a US ship or helicopter, is going to raise all kinds of questions regarding the littoral strategy of naval forces operating off Somalia.

And should Sailors be killed, it will unfortunately reveal in bloody detail why littoral operations in populated spaces against threats that conceal well in the maritime environment are manpower intensive operations requiring a physical level of tactical scouting with enough credible firepower and survivability to take a hit and dish out overwhelming firepower while under direct fire at very close range.

Exactly what the LCS is not. Even if either of those 2 hi priced tubs were "combat" ready.....DFO

designeraccd

21-05-2009, 12:59

More from another blog..............

Pirates and Stingers

The popular conception of Stinger missiles are Soviet helicopters during the 1980s Afghan occupation crashing to earth due the effective use by the Mujahdeen of the advanced portable SAMs. Could the world-wide fleet of ships patrolling Somali waters now be at risk from the same lethal weapons? From the Korea Times:

According to an informed military source, the U.S.-led Combined Forces Command (CFC) in Seoul delivered a memo to the defense ministry’s information bureau on April 5. Carrying a picture of the U.S. Stinger missile system, the memo said intelligence was collected that Somalia’s pirates were presumed to have obtained the shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missile from al-Qaeda, so South Korea’s military should be on alert and come up with proper countermeasures, the source said.

The information was subsequently distributed to the Cheonghae unit operating off the coast of Somalia and other related naval units here, he said. The source added the information is believed to have been gathered either from the U.S. Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain or the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) in Tampa, Florida.

The Stinger missile is a personal portable infrared homing surface-to-air missile developed in the United States for service in 1981. The shoulder-launched weapon has to date been responsible for downing 270 aircraft. The missile can hit targets flying as high as 3,500 meters at a speed of Mach 2. It has a range of 8 kilometers.

During the Gulf Wars, Western navies used Lynx helicopters armed with Sea Skua missiles to destroy large portions of Saddam’s small boat fleet. Britain also used them to good effect earlier in the Falklands. The Koreans deploy the Lynx on its warships patrolling the Gulf of Aden. The larger warships still expect to defend themselves with helos against asymmetrical threats such as small craft armed with explosives, suicide boats, although this new menace will call for some drastic countermeasures.

Cheonghae’s Lynx helicopter is known to be vulnerable to any anti-aircraft guided missile attacks since it has no missile countermeasure devices and sensors, including flare dispensers and radar warning receivers.

Can some one now say there is a link between terrorism and piracy, just like we finally admitted Al Qaeda was aiding and abetting the Iraq Insurgency? The West is in serious denial and this is in no way helping the war effort.

In a related story, we hear that the former USSR may have trained some of the Somali pirates. From Fairplay shipping via USNI blog:

Sergey Bliznyuk told the Ukrainian newspaper Gazeta Po-Kievskiy that he had personally come across some men he now believes are behind many hijackings. “There are many former military men among the Somalis who have perfected the tactics of sea combat,” he said. “The majority of these 40-50-year-olds were trained in the former Soviet Union.

“I myself taught at one point at a school in Baku [Azerbaijan], where we had 70-80 Somalis a year studying.”

Bliznyuk told the newspaper that Soviet officers had trained naval personnel from the government of President Siad Barre, who ruled Somalia in 1969-91 after a military coup. Further, Bliznyuk told the newspaper: “The USSR taught not only Somali natives but also those of Yemen, Ethiopia and others. Who would have assumed then that they would turn against us?”

Seems the pirates are doing what the Red Navy in all its might could not do, humble the mighty navies of the West!

BECA@CLEAR.NET.NZ

31-05-2009, 00:48

designeraccd

18-07-2009, 12:38

Thoughts about armed thugs versus UNarmed merchant sailors, from USNI blog......

Armed Merchant Ship Crews Will Not Escalate The Pirate Problem
July 2009
News not too long ago of a merchant sailor found shot dead on a ship released by Somali pirates is just one more example of how dangerous modern-day pirates are:
Somali pirates have released a Dutch ship they had hijacked last month in the Gulf of Aden and one crew member was found dead aboard the boat, the Dutch defence ministry told AFP.

“The pirates let the ship, in which a crew member was found dead, leave,” ministry spokesman Marcel Pullen said. “He was shot dead.”

The victim had died the day of the MV Marathon’s capture on May 7, he added. – Yahoo News(Found via EagleSpeak)

Merchant ships are being picked on by pirates simply because it is a safe bet that the merchant ships are unarmed and easy targets.

Looking at the threat, the United Nation’s International Maritime Organization, in a move certain to protect the safety of pirates only, has decided to flatly reject any suggestion of arming merchant seamen:

The MSC agreed that flag States should strongly discourage the carrying and use of firearms by seafarers for personal protection or for the protection of a ship.

Seafarers, it was agreed, are civilians and the use of firearms requires special training and aptitudes and the risk of accidents with firearms carried on board ship is great.Carriage of arms on board ship may encourage attackers to carry firearms or even more dangerous weapons, thereby escalating an already dangerous situation. Any firearm on board may itself become an attractive target for an attacker.

Carriage of firearms may pose an even greater danger if the ship is carrying flammable cargo or similar types of dangerous goods. – IMO guidance statement via EagleSpeak

This ‘professional’ guidance is a joke.

For starters, pirates are already attacking ships with fully-automatic weapons and RPGs. What is more dangerous, rounds going outbound from a ship or explosive RPG rounds coming inbound…. Crazier is the IMO suggesting that seafarers are not skilled enough to use firearms because their use requires special training. This the same group that has absolutely no hesitation in sticking seafarers in school to drill them on everything right down to how to properly wash your hands as part of ‘Personal Safety and Social Responsibility’. To this point nothing has been deemed beyond the training ability of a seafarer, so why now? I can’t think of any reason other than a desire to remove guns from the equation. Too bad for the IMO, that they have no control in removing the weapons causing the problems.

Another argument against arming merchant ships is the ‘threat of escalation’. The first question concerning that threat is with what are they are going to escalate with?

The most realistic option I can think of is that they just use more boats and RPGs. Attacks with larger numbers of boats being involved has already been seen. I can’t think of any more-powerful weapon that they could easily deploy. More advanced weapons are probably much harder to come by, and when available much more expensive, given competing interests. So even if pirates get their hands on something more advanced/powerful, they are probably not going to be so quick to use it, unless they are sure that it will result in a capture. They might as easily destroy the ship in the process. Now, they might be able to arm themselves with a cannon, but they would need a larger/sturdier boat if they wanted to use it. Acquiring a larger vessel might be more of a problem than acquiring more-powerful weapons.

Current attacks have involved small fast boats. Larger craft would probably not be able to go as fast. This will reduce the number of available targets at it becomes easier for faster ships to get away.

A bigger pirate boat, while allowing pirates a more stable platform and give the ability to field more powerful weapons, would also provide defending merchant seamen with bigger targets. Still, pirate boats are less stable platforms to shoot from than merchant ships which are large stable platforms that are not effected to any significant degree except in the harshest weather.

This brings the question, what should merchant mariners be aiming at. There are only two targets, the pirates and the boat that they are riding in. I think that it be best that if any attempt is made to arm merchant ships, then the arming should include the ability to disable pirate boats. If there is to be escalation, then it should be our side that does the escalating.

One weapon that should be considered is a 40mm grenade launcher.

The MGL (Multiple Grenade Launcher) is a lightweight 40 mm semi-automatic, 6-shot grenade launcher developed and manufactured in South Africa by the Milkor company (renamed Rippel Effect in 2007). The MGL was demonstrated as a concept to the South African Defence Force in 1981. The operating principle was immediately accepted and subjected to a stringent qualification program. The MGL was then officially accepted into service with the SADF as the Y2. After its introduction in 1983, the MGL was gradually adopted by the armed forces and law enforcement organizations of over 30 countries; it has since proven its effectiveness in harsh environments ranging from rain forests to deserts. Total production since 1983 has been more than 18,000 units.

The MGL is multiple-shot weapon, intended to significantly increase a small squad’s firepower when compared to traditional single-shot grenade launchers like the M203. The MGL is designed to be simple, rugged and reliable. It uses the well-proven revolver principle to achieve a high rate of accurate fire which can be rapidly brought to bear on a target. A variety of rounds such as HE, HEAT, anti-riot baton, irritant or pyrotechnic can be loaded and fired at a rate of one per second; the cylinder can be loaded or unloaded rapidly to maintain a high rate of fire. Although intended primarily for offensive/defensive use with high-explosive rounds, with appropriate ammunition the launcher is suitable for anti-riot and other security operations. – Wikipedia

Even a ‘miss’ will still have pirates thinking twice about continuing an attack against an armed vessel, probably thinking it better to search for an easier target, especially if their vessel is put at risk. And it need not be the merchant sailors that operate these weapons, but armed military teams embarked on the ships that are targeted by pirates.

There are valid reasons not to arm merchant ships against pirates, but the threat of escalation and a claimed lack of training on behalf of the crew are not. (And anyway, just where are the pirates getting their firearms training?)

So what am I missing? It seems that the threat of escalation is one that should be most risked by the pirates, not the sailors they threaten.