Private Navy To Protect In Red Sea and Gulf

[carstenb]

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Dad



Dad’s navy: Retired sea dogs to protect shipping from Somali pirates
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Published: 06 January, 2013, 22:33
TAGS:
Arms, Conflict, Military, Africa, UK, Piracy

Photo made on January 7, 2010 shows an armed Somali pirate (AFP Photo/Mohamed Dahir)

The UK's first private navy in almost 200 years has been set up by a group of pioneering businessmen, former marines and retired captains and soldiers to defend shipping off the coast of east Africa from the threat of pirates.
They are frustrated at the inability of the Royal Navy, NATO, the European Union Naval Task Force and other navies to guarantee security for shipping in an area of ocean the size of North America.
“They can’t do the job because they haven’t got the budget and deploying a billion-pound warship against six guys [pirates] with $500 of kit is not a very good use of the asset,” Anthony Sharp, chief executive of Typhon, the company behind the venture, told the Times.
Typhon is chaired by Simon Murray a millionaire business man with a colorful past including a spell in the French Foreign Legion as a teenager and walking unsupported to the South Pole aged 63.
Other Typhon directors include Admiral Henry Ulrich, former commander of US Naval Force’s Europe, General Sir Jack Deverell, former commander in chief Allied Forces Northern Europe and Lord Dannatt Britain’s former chief of the general staff.
The navy will include a 10,000 ton mother ship and high speed armored patrol boats and will be led by a former Royal Navy commodore and 240 former marines and other sailors. The marines will be armed with close quarter weapons such as the M4 carbine and sniper rifles with a range of 2 km.
It will escort its first convoy of oil tankers, bulk carriers and the occasional yacht along the east coast of Africa in late March or early April. They will aim to deter pirates rather than engage in firefights.
They will sail under a British flag, which would give them the legal right to carry their weapons into harbor rather than keep them on platforms in international waters.
The navy will be funded by shipping firms in much the same way as the cargo ships sailing under Russian, Chinese and Indian flags hire private convoys.
The Russian navy as well the navies of China, India and other countries also patrol the coast off east Africa.
They are part a multinational coalition task force, called Combined Task Force 150, which took on the role of fighting piracy off of the coast of Somalia by establishing a Maritime Security Patrol Area (MSPA) within the Gulf of Aden.
But despite such a large international presence in the area, piracy still remains a problem although the pirates are now on the back foot.
According to the International Maritime Bureau, pirate attacks had by October 2012 dropped to a six-year low, with only 1 ship attacked in the third quarter compared to 36 during the same period in 2011. As of 31st December 2012, the pirates were holding four large ships and an estimated 114 hostages.


Maybe it will become safe to sail again

[GordMay]

We'll see.

Typhon certainly has an informative website - not.
➥ Typhon Marine convoy Protection

Jardine Lloyd Thompson’s CEP private navy also made a lot of promotional announcements, but hasn’t gotten off the ground.

➥ Escort Plans | Maritime Security Review

➥ The Convoy Escort Program Will Be Patrolling The Gulf Of Aden - Business Insider

➥ Convoy Escort Programme Limited (CEP)

[atoll]

their flag ship is currently parked behind my boat in cornwall,not too many pirates in these parts,will be surprised if it ever gets off the ground,though it would be good if it did as they are blocking up the river

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by GordMay

We'll see.

Exactly. But in any case, "we" won't see because the going rate to have protection like that offered is far to high for single yachts or sail boat convoys.
Sail boats can't join the ship convoys as the slowest one is 10 knots.
Finally, it would never be able to cover transit across the whole Indian Ocean, only the IRTC.

As the pirates have less chance of getting a ship they will be even more watchful for I defended, or lightly defended yachts.

[goboatingnow]

Again mine is an armchair opinion. I don't beleive that lack of ship opportunities will bring focus on yachts.

Firstly very few yachts are now transiting the area. So to target yachts pirates would have to sweep very large areas of sea to find them

Secondly they have not proven to be useful targets. Ships carry big insurance and the cargo is valued in mega millions. Yachts ate peanuts and the occupants in essence worthless. Not to mention the armed response from nations when say women and children are taken .

The region is also slowly coming under greater control. It might be early but my prediction is we've passed the peak.

Dave

[capngeo]

Originally Posted by atoll

their flag ship is currently parked behind my boat in cornwall,not too many pirates in these parts,will be surprised if it ever gets off the ground,though it would be good if it did as they are blocking up the river

Is the ship aground at low tide? Lot of mud showing!

[goboatingnow]

She looks like she's still carry her forward gun, that's unusual isnt it.


Dave

[Wavewacker]

I served with CW4 Michael Durant, the Super Six Four pilot shot down by Samali's RPG (basis for blackhawk down) and I'd volunteer for that cruise. I know, I'm too old. I was not on that mission, but it's never too late.

If a few yachts would go through armed to the hilt and some aviation assets were deployed from nearby I'd like to hear about it!

But I also would have to say I'm not for turning such tasks over to private corporate contractors, before you know it private mercs will be working for corporate entities (they already do) enforcing what ever laws they like, I just believe it needs to be governmental forces.

If navy types would go out in private vessels instead of warships, the pirates might be lured out to thier demise.

[mcarling]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Sail boats can't join the ship convoys as the slowest one is 10 knots.

A lot of trimarans could keep up with a 10 knot convoy if they're willing to burn some fuel once in while.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by mcarling

A lot of trimarans could keep up with a 10 knot convoy if they're willing to burn some fuel once in while.

Go for it. But calculate the distances first. It's a 1,000 nm motor. No wind.

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Firstly very few yachts are now transiting the area. So to target yachts pirates would have to sweep very large areas of sea to find them

Dave

They don't have to sweep anywhere. Those skiffs are out there doing their "normal" stuff of people smuggling, Al Queda stuff etc, and combine piracy when they have time, or the opportunity arises.
In other words they will take the people off a yacht if they see or find them

There's no yachts going through there now, but in the next year as the stats look better people will start again. That's when they will get taken.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by capngeo

Is the ship aground at low tide? Lot of mud showing!

we have 15 ft tides here so the "defender" dries out twice a day in deep mud.
dave yes she still has her fwd gun but i would think the breach has been removed,and possably the barrel drilled,i will ask the next time i see the skipper.
last year the plan was to head down to saudi and work out of jeddah but that hasn't happened yet,so looks like we are stuck with the "Penryn navy" for the moment...........

[atoll]

Originally Posted by mcarling

A lot of trimarans could keep up with a 10 knot convoy if they're willing to burn some fuel once in while.

last time i went through the gulf of aden in 2006 we stuck to the shipping lane,motoring at 5 knots and the ships were passing us at 15-20 knots,the skiffs(yemeni fishing boats/pirates/smugglers) were doing 25-30knots 100 miles offshore