PenguinSix » pirates

Somali pirates, in a fit of stupidity, attack HNLMS Tromp, a Dutch warship.

Andrew — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:59:01 +0000

So a few months back I was walking through Baltimore and came across what you see in the photo below. Although I was never in the Navy and have been known to make some mistakes, I was pretty certain that what I was looking at was a warship, a fact confirmed after I walked to the bow and saw the large deck gun that you can see in the second photo below.

Now the reason I mention all this is because what was obvious to me and my 3 year old son, namely that this was a warship, is apparently beyond the capabilities of a Somali pirate, a few of whom decided to launch a raid on the HNLMS Tromp, a Dutch frigate on anti-piracy patrols off of Somalia.

Why are there so many idiots around the world.

This is not a cargo vessel

This is not a cargo vessel from this view either.

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Sink the tank ship

Andrew — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:13:33 +0000

The Ukranian freighter loaded with T-72 tanks has been surrounded by a number of US and other naval vessels off the coast of Somalia. The pirates have responded by lowering their demand from $35 million to $20 million for the cargo, that some say is destined to be delivered to Kenya.

That’s a load of crap.

These T-72s are going to the Sudan despite an international ban on arms sales to that rogue country. Kenya does not use Russian made tanks, and it is pretty clear to many they are just the middlemen for this lucrative deal to the Sudanese government. It’s clear we need to act, and we have the opportunity to do so.

We should sink the ship.

Give the crew a chance to jump overboard, and maybe the pirates as well, but I don’t think anyone would shed a tear if this cargo went to the bottom of the sea. It would send a great message to pirates and to suppliers of the Sudanese regime that the embargo on their country has teeth.

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Somali pirates now have tanks

Andrew — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:58:32 +0000

File this in the ‘not good’ category. A boatload of 30 T-72 tanks was intercepted off the coast of Somalia but the Somali pirates, who will likely be adding these weapons. Just what Africa needs more of–tanks and ammunition.

Hopefully they’ll be dumb enough to put one of the tanks on a small boat and try to attack someone with it.

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French frogmen rescue hostages held by hostile pirates

Andrew — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:50:48 +0000

French commandos launched a raid on a sailboat off the coast of pirate-controlled Somalia tonight, freeing a 60-year-old couple and killing one pirate and capturing six others.

The frogmen from the Commando Hubert, modelled on Britain’s Special Boat Service, were sent into action by President Sarkozy from the Élysée Palace in Paris, 5,000 miles away. It was after midnight, southeast of Somalia, when the helicopter began ferrying commandos from le Courbet, a frigate that had been shadowing the Carré d’As for the past ten days. A maritime reconnaissance aircraft monitored the operation from over the horizon.

The men were dropped by parachute some distance from the stationary yacht and swam towards her with night-vision goggles and undetectable breathing systems, according to military sources. They clambered aboard silently with ropes and light grappling hooks, taking the pirates by surprise.

The West should really just blow up all these pirates. It’s at sea, and it is unlikely our ships will suffer a single casualty in engaging these pirates. Throughout Africa we’re mocked as being unable to control this rabble, and given the drastic disparity in firepower, a few destroyers could put an end to piracy in Somalia in a matter of weeks.

But alas, we don’t do it other than a few times a year, more or less. Would be far more effective to destroy all the pirates ships and their ports and then see how they fare.

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