Cruise ship fends off pirate attack with gunfire

[Atomic Rooster]

Cruise ship fends off pirate attack with gunfire

ROME – An Italian cruise ship with 1,500 people on board fended off a pirate attack far off the coast of Somalia when its Israeli private security forces exchanged fire with the bandits.

Six men in a small, white Zodiac-type boat approached the Msc Melody at about 1730 GMT Saturday and opened fire with automatic weapons, Msc Cruises director Domenico Pellegrino said. They retreated after the security officers returned fire and sprayed them with water hoses. The ship continued its journey with its windows darkened.

"It felt like we were in war," the ships commander, Ciro Pinto, told Italian state radio.

Pellegrino said all Msc cruise ships around the world are staffed with Israeli security agents because they are the best trained.

You don't mess with the Israeli security forces. Them guys are bad ass.

[Black*Dragon]

Cruise ship fends off pirate attack with gunfire



You don't mess with the Israeli security forces. Them guys are bad ass.

I am highly disappointed in this outcome. Now if they had sunk that boat or killed at least half of the pirates, then I would call it a victory. This was just a stalemate. Good job does go to the forces though.

[surreal]

I just don't understand why that wouldn't be an easy task...
Some random unexpected pirate sinkings would stop this nonsense.

[cyphen]

Where is our giant space-laser??? If we had one of those, it would be over!!

[Toadman]

Realistically an RPG or TOW missile would end this high-seas nonsense real quick.
Cowardly pirates only prey on the weak.

[cyphen]

Be that as it may, a giant space laser would be cooler - surely you wouldn't argue THAT!!

They should be hunted down and blown out of the water, and/or trailed back to land bases and obliterated.

[surreal]

Be that as it may, a giant space laser would be cooler - surely you wouldn't argue THAT!!

They should be hunted down and blown out of the water, and/or trailed back to land bases and obliterated.

And why just blow them out of the water if we can space laser them out of the water?

Now that could be some real shock and awe huh?
Oh! Especially if we denied doing it and claimed it was Jesus!

[ShyguyXPC]

I just don't understand why that wouldn't be an easy task...
Some random unexpected pirate sinkings would stop this nonsense.

It'd be more interesting if the US Navy (or other navy's) could train its dolphins to provide escort duties for the ships, or on patrols in the region, capsize some of those boats and watch the pirates helpless as they try to swim to safety. all while the dolphins "play" with them in the water (swat them with their tails, bump them at high speed with nose, swim under them pick them up & flick them to another, etc LOL)... especially if those are shark infested waters

or even just as creative, work with navy seals launched from a sub below surface, mount some explosive charges on their noses to be attached to the pirates boats, then have the dolphins provide a distraction aways from the baddies (far enough away not to be affected by the compression waves in the water), then after a few moments BOOM, pirate boats go up in fireball, or big hole in hull, sinking into water VERY fast.

or even something like this:

Where is our giant space-laser??? If we had one of those, it would be over!!

Be that as it may, a giant space laser would be cooler - surely you wouldn't argue THAT!!

They should be hunted down and blown out of the water, and/or trailed back to land bases and obliterated.

And why just blow them out of the water if we can space laser them out of the water?

Now that could be some real shock and awe huh?
Oh! Especially if we denied doing it and claimed it was Jesus!

though I agree the "Giant Laser" would be cool, minus the horny midget of course

[MTAtech]

I think it's pretty screwed up that we hire private security companies, like Blackwater, to fight in Iraq and use the armed forces to protect private ships.

We should use our armed forces in wars and let the private shipping companies hire private security.

[GroundZero3]

Right now they are testing different weapons that are used for riot control in Iraq by using sound. When this has been fully tested, it will be pretty simple to install these on a ship and use them as needed.

[MTAtech]

Right now they are testing different weapons that are used for riot control in Iraq by using sound. When this has been fully tested, it will be pretty simple to install these on a ship and use them as needed.

They should keep that weapon near the buffets.

[no1_vern]

Say, WAIT A SEC!!

Where are all of the "no one should have guns" crowd?? Have they disappeared from our midst?

[Creatures]

no civilians

Creatures

[sharder8]

I think it's pretty screwed up that we hire private security companies, like Blackwater, to fight in Iraq and use the armed forces to protect private ships.

We should use our armed forces in wars and let the private shipping companies hire private security.

Good point MTA . . . let me give some clarification for you . . .


It seems that after VN, our military strength and budget was slashed to the bone, especially under Carter. Under Reagan, funding for weapons and weapons research jumped, but the authorised strengths of our military really didn't increase much. Then Under Bush SR., Clinton, and Bush JR, it roller-coastered a bit on strength, while weapons continued to get most of the attention.

Don't forget, during all this time, there were changes in mission . . . which justified some of the reductions in personnel, so it's not entirely the fault of either party. The problem continues to emphisize weapons over personnel numbers have led to the Active Components being capable of the initial combat mission, while the Guard and Reserve have picked up the support of the sustained mission, as well as the Combat Support, and Support missions. This worked well until the Afganistan war, closely followed by the Iraq war. While there wasn't much problem with just the Afganistan war, it was kind of put on a back burner in order to fight the Iraq war. Now the problems started to show up. If the Iraq war had started and the primary role of the military was over within the first few months . . . it wouldn't have been so much a problem. Instead, based on the stated mission of the Active, Guard, and Reserve components, the rotation of units began to sustain the war effort in Iraq. That quickly led to a shortage of actual combat troops and required the re-look at how to continue the mission with the available troops.

Now we get to the crux of the problem. Due to the limited numbers of available combat troops, certain tasks, normally preformed by the military, were contracted out to civilian companies. Blackwater is but one of the many companies and their mission was to provided armed security to initially diplomats, then to the military bases, in order to provide enough combat troops to continue the mission. In the beginning, it seemed to work extremely well, so contracts were awarded to civilian companies to provide transportation of supplies, fuel, food and housing, electricity, water, etc. This left the combat mission to the troops and some of the Combat Support and much of the Support missions to the Civilian companies.

Because of no prior experience and very little guidance in this type of situation, we ran into problems with the civilian companies walking all over their controllers and basically allowwing theft of services, funds, and the unexcuseable killing of civilians by BW. We are slowly working to correct those problems, yet at the same time, find ourselves getting more involved with Afganistan. Oh and by the way, the U.S. Government is looking to hire a bunch of Civilian companies to run the war in Afganistan the same way as Iraq.

While the U.S. military complex is huge in many respects, we've spread what little personnel resources extremely thin as it is. Now, you ask why aren't U.S. military forces being stationed on all the shipping in the areas with pirate problems??? There are 2 main reasons.

1. I addressed above
2. Very little of the shipping in those areas are U.S. flagged ships.

While we're at it, maybe you'd like to explain why the U.S. merchant fleet is so small or why very few merchant vessels are American flagged. Then, maybe you would like to explain why U.S. military should be stationed on ships from every country that move through those area's with pirate problems. Let's not forget, that there are military forces from many of the countries who have had ships attacked and/or captured by the pirates . . . and they aren't putting their troops on their merchant vessels either.


Now you should have a little understanding of why we are contracting out some of the mission tasks to civilian companies and why the civilian merchant shipping companies are having to hire civilian security companies to protect their ships.


Harder

[Whir]

no civilians

Creatures

Good luck with that one little buddy. My guns aren't going anywhere.



I can't fully imagine that if any advanced government wanted these pirates gone, they'd be gone, plain and simple. Not trying to push some crazy conspiracy theory, I guess it's just not a big enough deal for them to look up from their pork.

[sharder8]

I can't fully imagine that if any advanced government wanted these pirates gone, they'd be gone, plain and simple. Not trying to push some crazy conspiracy theory, I guess it's just not a big enough deal for them to look up from their pork.

Read my post above Whir and you'll have a little understanding why the U.S. isn't putting troops on the various merchant vessels.


Harder

[pickel]

I am highly disappointed in this outcome. Now if they had sunk that boat or killed at least half of the pirates, then I would call it a victory. This was just a stalemate. Good job does go to the forces though.

Capture these wormy bastards and let me WaterBoard them and post on YTube . Just let me find my Captain Hook outfit.

[no1_vern]

SNIP

I can't fully imagine that if any advanced government wanted these pirates gone, they'd be gone, plain and simple. Not trying to push some crazy conspiracy theory, I guess it's just not a big enough deal for them to look up from their pork.

Did you read my thread about why they are pirates?
Also:What About European Pirates In Somalia’s Waters


And your quite right, NO advanced nation wants the responsibility, legal issues, and high expense of handling the pirate problem.

Also, a lot of people keep saying why dont we just kill them all. Just policing our own area of this planet is taxing our resources. For us to accept the responsibility of policing an additional 100,000 square miles of coast line and open sea is not realistic.

[Whir]

I realize that I'm not in military intelligence or anything, but I know we have satellites covering the entire planet and I'm willing to bet they can see the blades of grass in my yard. I can't imagine that a few hours of scanning the areas they pirate wouldn't turn something up.

If it were honestly considered a problem, it would be taken care of. That's how the world works.

And I'm not saying put people on merchant vessels. I'm saying fly a B2 over and make a few statements. Best solution? No, probably not. I don't know what would be. That's why I'm not in military intelligence.

[no1_vern]

Ok, I have 77 ships in a 100 mile radius. How many are pirates? 1? 2? 50? The huge majority will be civilian fishing/transport/etc shipping.

Finding ships/boats isnt the problem. Telling the difference between civilians and pirates is the problem.