How to end piracy
posted at 11:50 am on November 19, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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An Indian naval vessel sank a suspected pirate “mother ship” in the Gulf of Aden and chased two attack boats into the night, officials said Wednesday, yet more violence in the lawless seas where brigands are becoming bolder and more violent.
Separate bands of pirates also seized a Thai ship with 16 crew members and an Iranian cargo vessel with a crew of 25 in the Gulf of Aden, where Somalia-based pirates appear to be attacking ships at will, said Noel Choong of the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center in Malaysia.
“It’s getting out of control,” Choong said.
A multicoalition naval force has increased patrols in the region, and scored a rare success Tuesday when the Indian warship, operating off the coast of Oman, stopped a ship similar to a pirate vessel mentioned in numerous piracy bulletins. The Indian navy said the pirates fired on the INS Tabar after the officers asked it to stop to be searched.
“Pirates were seen roaming on the upper deck of this vessel with guns and rocket propelled grenade launchers,” said a statement from the Indian navy. Indian forces fired back, sparking fires and a series of onboard blasts — possibly due to exploding ammunition — and destroying the ship.
“Yet more violence”? The AP in that first paragraph appears to equate piracy with enforcement, which is part of the reason why piracy has begun to flourish again. Sinking pirate ships may in the strictest sense be “more violence”, but so is a raid on a terrorist compound, a crackhouse, or a militia headquarters.
Navies in the region have to start blowing pirates out of the water when intercepted. At present, the risk/reward ratio has become distorted — which is why piracy has gotten out of control. The pirates see little risk and accrue great rewards, mostly through hostaging the crews of the boats they seize.
India had the right idea, and that isn’t “more violence” — it’s putting an end to violence and lawlessness on the seas. If we want to protect global trade, that’s the only rational policy to follow.
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There was a good novel about the use of special littoral ships to control this terrorism. It is not piracy. It is a tactic in a war.
rlwo2008 on November 19, 2008 at 1:58 PM
I said this on the last piracy thread but it bears repeating:
The problem with the U.S. Navy getting involved in these incidents is it sends the wrong message to the ship’s owners. The vast majority of these ships are flagged in Liberia or Panama simply because those nations have the lowest flagging fees and least amount of regulations.
If the owners of these ships paid the extra money to have their ships flagged in the U.S. or another nation with a capable navy they could expect that navy to come to their aid.
But why should they have it both ways? Why let them pay next to nothing to flag their ships in third-world countries and then still come to their aid when they run into trouble.
Owners need to man up and either hire security teams or fork over the extra cash to flag their ships in nations capable of protecting them.
That’s not to say we shouldn’t sink the pirate’s ships when we see them in open water, but bailing out a hijacked ship is exactly that–a bailout.
They took the cheap, irresponsible way out by flagging their ship in Liberia, which is all fine and good while things are good and happy–but when things go bad they expect the U.S. to come in and bail them out….sound familiar?
JaHerer22 on November 19, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Liberal reporters are so cute, they just can’t help spilling their blinkered biases all over their work. These are the same ‘journalists’ who write about the puzzling contradiction of falling crime rates while the prisons are filling up.
Socratease on November 19, 2008 at 2:03 PM
Time to go back to whats old is new again,the
ole’armed merchant marine trickery that some
ships employed back in WW2!
I would love to see the Terrorists facial
expression’s, when they scope out a freighter,
and try to pull along side,and in horror,say
twenty sailors are scrambling to remove the
tarps off their weapons!Haha.
Pirates last words,”Oh Sh#t”!
canopfor on November 19, 2008 at 2:07 PM
Maybe our Navy ought to require the standard 10% salvage fee from the owners of foreign-flagged vessels if they are rescued from pirates. No fee, no boat or cargo, the Navy auctions it off to support their patrols.
Socratease on November 19, 2008 at 2:07 PM
To make the message plainer: the cost of thirty years of putting the vessel under the US flag. That will have to be estimated, since it involves the cost of compliance with regulations, but it would make the point clear.
njcommuter on November 19, 2008 at 2:14 PM
A pirate ship does not fly a Jolly Rodger flag. So you cannot tell who is who in the Zoo. There are 25K sq miles of ocean in the Gulf of Aden alone. The number of ships, dhows and just wave tops that are in the area would blow your mind. The task would require a very large flotilla a naval vessels to really shut them down. They key is shutting down the ports they use as home base but that is a whole ball of wax that we do not want to get involved with. But the high profile ships taken lately might just raise the stakes enough to help find the resources.
dako on November 19, 2008 at 2:14 PM
Ed, I completely agree here. But I don’t see how your opposition to the death penalty is that far from any other contemporary moral equivalencing of the victim with the criminal.
thuja on November 19, 2008 at 2:25 PM
I’m betting the pirates are kicking themselves in the ass that they stole the oil now instead of a few months ago when the price was sitting at $150 bucks a barrel.
Scorched_Earth on November 19, 2008 at 2:27 PM
That’s not a bad idea at all.
And it’s not like we haven’t done anything. NATO set up a narrow protected corridor through the Gulf of Eden and recommended all merchant ships travel through it. They also recommended they hire armed security teams while traveling through these waters. I think something like 10 out of the last 15 ships hijacked by pirates were outside the corridor and had taken no defensive precautions.
These ship’s owners are partly culpable. They don’t want to sail through the corridor because it takes more time and they don’t want to hire security teams because it costs money. They’re basically gambling increased profit margins at the cost of the safety of their ship and crew.
But I’m not saying we shouldn’t hunt down and kill these pirates. That sounds like a fun, productive, and relatively risk-free training exercise for our Navy and is a completely separate issue.
JaHerer22 on November 19, 2008 at 2:28 PM
I’m sure that Hopey McChange will effectively deal with this problem and soon we will be back to peace and love with unicorns farting rainbows.
Meanwhile, I still wait for my mortgage to be paid and for my free gas.
Scorched_Earth on November 19, 2008 at 2:30 PM
Personally, I love the thought of a team of US Navy seals laying waste to the pirates on the Serious Star.
Snapiron on November 19, 2008 at 12:08 PM
I think you would see that, IF we thought the Saudi’s would not reduce oil production. They have been total dicks the last few years, I say why risk our men for these assholes? They have insurance. Let Allah look after them.
Kemp
Kempermanx on November 19, 2008 at 2:33 PM
What ever happened to the ship with the Russian Tanks and the mysterious cargo (people were dying remember) that got hijacked a month or so ago?
HawaiiLwyr on November 19, 2008 at 12:57 PM
You have two different ships in this thread. The “radioactive ship” was total Bull. It has left the area and is docked in Amsterdam, inspected and had no “Radioactive” cargo. The other ship, with the tanks, sits at sea watched by our guys.
Kemp
Kempermanx on November 19, 2008 at 2:37 PM
Good job India! Live fire target practice!
One day, perhaps a thousand years from now, archaeologists will be unearthing these ‘pirate’ ships in what will by then be dry land.
“As you canb see by these exit holes, the navy that destroyed these boats were still using primitive ‘projectile’ weaponry …”
Tony737 on November 19, 2008 at 2:43 PM
back in the 80’s our Navy had the Pegasus class hydrofoil fast attack patrol boats(6). They were all scrapped under the Clinton Administration military cutbacks. They would come in handy about now.
Currently we have The Tarawa clas LHA (landing helicopter assult) which are currently being phased out. I dunno but maybe some sea based attack Helos would be a good idea. Or are all the Marine Corps Attack Helicopters being used in Iraq and Afganistan. Im just spitballin here.
Dragoonchris on November 19, 2008 at 2:58 PM
How about escorted convoys circa WW2
Dragoonchris on November 19, 2008 at 2:59 PM
THE best name I’ve seen yet for BHO. Request permission to adopt it.
As to a piracy solution, I refer back to Ann Coulter’s recommendation for the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks.
TugboatPhil on November 19, 2008 at 3:11 PM
awesome
SlimyBill on November 19, 2008 at 3:23 PM
Simple: turn the area into a special ops (Delta,SBS,SAS) free training zone. Have them pre deployed in the area onboard a large vessel, similar to those that are being attacked. If the bad guys don’t come to you go to them.
moxie_neanderthal on November 19, 2008 at 3:27 PM
Let’s go to the good old days and equip all of our ships lacking one with a stout yarddam. That way, we can hang them on the spot ala John Paul Jones.
Let everyone know about our newest additions to the superstructure.
Sit back and watch.
El Coqui on November 19, 2008 at 3:31 PM
I’m wishing good luck to the Liberians as they work to protect their ships on the high seas. Go guys. Why are you looking at us? Oh, you don’t have an effective navy and thats why there are pirates in the first place? Hmmmm. Maybe the Saudis should pay money to protect their vessels so the world won’t hate us so much for be arrogant about projecting our power around the globe. Just saying…
littleguy on November 19, 2008 at 3:41 PM
Build a razor wire tent city south west of Mogadishu then run a dirt berm, concrete barrier cordon guarded by armor around the entire most lawless city in the world and tell the inhabitants to drop their weapons at the edge of the cordon and they can enter the tent city.
Let them know with loud speakers and air drop leaflets that they will be killed if they stay, after 48 hours start on the north west of the city and carpet bomb in 1/4 by 1/2 mile over lapping patterns until all of Mogadishu is so much dust in the wind.
Rinse and repeat for each and every warlord.
Its called squeeze the rat, its very effective but doesn’t do the tourist business much good.
Speakup on November 19, 2008 at 4:07 PM
GREAT IDEA speakup on nov19! only problem is we might lose one MARINE in the process. not worth that risk. might be my MARINE! KILL them ALL,let allah sort em out!!!
nukeemnow on November 19, 2008 at 4:33 PM
The US and it’s allies should create a “No Float” zone somewhere in international waters and start sinking any vessel that isn’t clearly shipping traffic. That would put a stop to this rather quickly.
TrickyDick on November 19, 2008 at 4:37 PM
I think that we should protect our assets and interests in the swiftest and most effective (as in fire for effect) manner possible. Those who have chosen to register their ships under the Lybian flag can call them for help. “Hello, Lybia 911. For English press one, for Russian press two, all others please hold for the next available representative …”
Dukehoopsfan on November 19, 2008 at 4:48 PM
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How about a submarine patrolling off the coast of Somalia.
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When a pirate mother ship leaves port, it mysteriously sinks about 20 miles off shore.
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“We will take what we want and then decide if we will blow your ship from the water”
Wolf Kahler in Raiders of the Lost Ark
esblowfeld on November 19, 2008 at 5:36 PM
Send in Pompey!
Tzetzes on November 19, 2008 at 8:01 PM
I like that one about farting unicorns, etc. Seems to fit the whole ridiculous situation perfectly. It’s not our fire to put out….
DigginDeep on November 20, 2008 at 12:07 AM
It is and it isn’t. Disruption of the free flow of oil from this area is in the interest of all the oil users in the world. I like the Indian Navvy solution. If more pirates end up dead, there will be fewer pirates.
SC.Charlie on November 20, 2008 at 6:22 AM
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