We Win One!!!!!!!!

[starfish62]

Sounds like the bad guys picked on the wrong boat! I like the typical British understatement of describing the subsequent boarding of the dhow as "compliant."

Link: Royal Navy in firefight with Somali pirates - Times Online

[GordMay]

Yea us!

Significantly:

"... Yesterday’s battle signaled a new policy of maximum robustness for the Royal Navy on the high seas. Captain Mike Davis-Marks, a senior spokesman for the Navy, said: “This is bound to have an impact on pirates who for the last two years have been getting away with seizing vessels and receiving large ransoms. Now suddenly there’s the threat of death and this may force them to think again, but they are determined people, so we’ll have to see ...”

[David M]

We need more of this. It would be nice to eradicate all pirates.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by David M

We need more of this. It would be nice to eradicate all pirates.

And smallpox to - wait, we did that in 1977 ...

[starfish62]

In another article they tied the response back to when the bad guys grabbed the freighter with all of the tanks onboard.

Somali pirates made a big mistake in hijacking the Faina - Times Online

[David M]

I wonder what it would take to have the navies of the world rotate and sit off the coasts of known countries that have pirates? Probably not much in terms of what it costs to support a navy. Most of the navies might even be able to make it a training exercise with live fire.

[Runner]

A bunch of 20 year old SEALs sitting on post hoping the pirates come out to play today would make their whole world crumble around them as far as the piracy thing! Wire guided heat seeking top diver missles like those used against modern armored tanks fired from slappers would keep them well outside the pirates range, be absolutely devastating on anything that I have seen mentioned or pictured as a pirate vessel, cheap, and there are hundreds of commandos sitting looking for exercises like this to polish their skills. Heck, they would compete for chance to win the honor to stand against these creeps. Pointed anywhere near a boat under power sitting on a huge expanse of water at the same temp, the heat seekers would be hard to miss with. Laser targeted missles from the command ship using commandos to paint specific targets could be used to disable vessels if anyone is really worried that any of the pirates get hurt!
Sorry captain! I thought you said HE!

[44'cruisingcat]

Good to see.

This remark surprised me though - "It was the first time the Royal Navy had been engaged in a fatal shoot-out on the high seas in living memory."

WW2? The Falklands?

[harryrezz]

Hey, 44'cc - maybe they have a very young reporter?!?!

[Christian Van H]

I am very glad to see this! I don't own a gun, don't stow one when I cruise, and feel terrible that those gutless creeps shot that yachtie while he was trying to help them. It's a miracle that there are ANY remaining pirates left on that dhow. Those marines had every right to cut that boat in half. The OLD Royal Navy would have sent her and all hands to the bottom!

[delmarrey]

A wish come true, almost.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...-out-2711.html

[Stillraining]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

A wish come true, almost.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...-out-2711.html

Hmmm..That thread you started is 3 years old....dosent seem like they did a very good job training did it.

[sestina]

Well done the Royal Navy!

Navy kills three pirates off Somali coast - Telegraph

[Runner]

The personnel has to be tasked with stopping them before anything will improve. So far it seems that no one cares enough to send assets to stop the problem.

[starfish62]

It would rock to have a multi national force out there with expanded charter. There's already a naval escort presence due to the tankers, but why not have a multi-national (including Yemen, Somalia, Eritrea, and maybe the Saudis) agreement expanding the charter and encouraging anti pirate policy? I would love to feel safe going around the Horn of Africa and maybe to places like Zanzibar, but with my wife on board there is no way in hell I would risk it at the present time.