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YouTube Footage of Pirate Attack off Nigeria Coast

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Silver_Meteor
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04 Oct 2008, 8:22 pm

Why I cannot understand is why we just don't arm all of the crew.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXE7Ayc0 ... re=related


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pakled
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04 Oct 2008, 8:42 pm

some do. The US Merchant Marine (even back in the 70s) had heavy machine guns on their ships, along with M16s, etc. It's just hard to patrol every inch of the seas.



Ishmael
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04 Oct 2008, 10:37 pm

Poor nations tend to have weak naval defenses, after all. Oddly enough, they seem to have plenty of resources to divide into factions, arm themselves with AK-47's and RPG-7's and blow each other to pieces in ceaceless civil warfare, but, whatever.
Indonesia is like that with pirates - rotten with them, but with nothing close to resembling a navy to protect civilian vessels!
They pretty much depend on foreign aid, even though they'd just as soon turn around and invade whatever nation that help comes from. The ADF Navy is constantly patrolling Australias coast, a lot of Asian pirates and smugglers try to get in.


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Dox47
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04 Oct 2008, 10:50 pm

I've heard that the idea of decoy ships has been floated, military vessels disguised as freighters randomly mixed in with the normal shipping traffic. I think that could be pretty effective if they were ruthless enough with it, take the profit out of it and turn it into a risky business. Sea based helicopters would be another option, if they had some sort of pirate-watch network to alert the choppers to pirate activities they are fast and nimble enough to swoop in and sink speedboats. This might be a good fence mending opportunity for us with the Russians, nothing helps global superpowers bond quite like killing Somalis... :wink:


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05 Oct 2008, 9:03 am

Dox47 wrote:
I've heard that the idea of decoy ships has been floated, military vessels disguised as freighters randomly mixed in with the normal shipping traffic. I think that could be pretty effective if they were ruthless enough with it, take the profit out of it and turn it into a risky business. Sea based helicopters would be another option, if they had some sort of pirate-watch network to alert the choppers to pirate activities they are fast and nimble enough to swoop in and sink speedboats. This might be a good fence mending opportunity for us with the Russians, nothing helps global superpowers bond quite like killing Somalis... :wink:


Q-ships. Its an old idea, and one that does work surprisingly well.

Sad fact is, these f*****s operate in places that other nations have a tough time operating. Nigeria does in fact have a navy.. and these guys are it. They virtually ARE the fishing industry, and a major link in their economy. If they operate within coastal waters, then chasing them with other nations military causes all manner of issues. Private contractors are the way to go here, as they can operate without "offending" national prides.


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