Piracy on the Somali Coast

[GavinC]

An interesting outlook taken from Facebook



The face of modern warfare and tactical needs

When I write on the ol' Facebook page I often talk lightheartedly about trivial subjects for the most part in my usual joking manner. I stay away from some issues, assuming that appropriate steps are being taken by the entities responsible for such things. Everytime I see a new article about the piracy issue off the Somalian coast I wince in disgust though, wondering quite frankly, "WTF!???". The Straits of Malaga is the other hot spot where every criminal element armed with a few box-cutters, an AK and a skiff can take over an entire container vessel or tanker without much of a problem. Maritime law in past history has limited the actions and resources of Merchant vessels making this lucrative pastime a piece of cake for every small band of idiots armed with a few small arms and RPG's. The standard practice and drill to repel boarders was to blast firehoses on them as they were attempting to scale up the side (and do it as you are taking small arms fire). Sometimes it works... sometimes it doesn't. Ransom for a Capt. and Chief engineer score the highest; Those are the two that they like to ask the most for.

What prompts me to write this? There I was today at the post office. An old guy that I have seen there before and also down by the marina was in line with me, we started talking, idle chit chat and I mentioned something about "Give them another few years and they'll dream up a Wind Tax for sailboaters like me since I don't buy enough diesel to appease them." His response went into the possibilites of not HAVING a civilized western world in a few years since we have "crazies" out there the likes of which we have never seen or dealt with before. This is saying a lot coming from an old guy that has seen a lot in his time, to include the Korean War "up close and personal". I said to him,"These forces you speak of, terrorists and piracy threats to international shipping have limited capabilites and we have the technological upper hand; Even with their fanatical terrorist tactics and guerilla war tactics they are no match for our technology." He looked over his official "ancient old dude" glasses on his nose, looked me right in the eye and said,"That's all well and good but you need the BALLS to USE the technology! Brass balls wins over technology any day of the week!"

That made me think and he was right. Our political leaders have made some really truly stupid mistakes with a complete lack of understanding of third world mentality, too numerous to go into here at length but what it boils down to is a lack of ingenuity in making the most effective use of our technology and thinking that "enough boots on the ground" are going to solve anything. They see Western compassion as a weakness... they see our desire to be humane and follow due process as something to be exploited, allowing them to thrive. They know that as Westerners, we see using the same guerilla warfare on them that they use on us as barbaric. I have been there, I have talked to these people and hung out with them... apparently some people have not (politicians with bleeding heart ideals) because they don't understand this "third world mentality" and have put restraints on forces combating various situations! You see a group of Somali pirates humanely arrested and going off to court in Yemen or wherever... they spend some time there... they get "sprung" by the warlords in charge of the piracy group maybe... they are back in business! They have little or no fear of getting caught; There is no incentive for them to stop. The understanding is that they will in all likelihood get away with it all, ransom off crewmembers for millions and gee whiz if they get caught they will be given "three hots and a cot" by those stupid westerners who opt to arrest them, treat them humanely seeing to their every need and then turn them over to people that will give them the opportunity to be free in nothing flat with enough cash to buy their way out! Hmmm.... not a bad deal!

Guess what, kiddies... it's time to grow a set of balls and I can answer the piracy problem with one acronym!---- CIWS!!!! hahaha I have always marveled at the amazing firepower of the Close-in Weapons System aka CIWS. To see this thing in action is nothing short of amazing! Only one little thing, it's primary use is on air contact threats to Naval vessels. It is essentially a "gatlin gun" that saturates a potential target with armor-piercing rounds.

If I had a spare 857 million or so and I wanted to stop piracy in it's tracks off the Somalian coast? I would by a few 37M assault boats from Wright Int'l., outfit them with a slightly modified version of CIWS or it's equivalent that could be utilized in a surface to surface role, position them in International waters just as close as is feasible to the Somali coast to monitor everything leaving their shoreline and cut loose as soon as it is identified as a feasible target. No arrests, no humane ********... just swiss cheese... smithereens, leaving whatever is left in the water and moving on to the next one. Piracy would stop almost instantaneously because it wouldn't take long for potential pirates to be afraid to leave their coastline with so much as a f*cking BB gun onboard for fear of being identified as pirates! The hull of the assault boat offered by Wright Int'l. is somewhat flawed though; I have drawn out and designed an idea for a hull completely impervious to small arms fire based on ballistics technology. It is a honeycombed and layered hull design that is foam-filled rendering the vessel virtually unsinkable also.

The technology is there but this current threat to International shipping is being carried out by people that know we don't have the brass balls to use it in any sort of effective manner. Footing the bill? Allow shipping companies to foot the bill as following through with this will be cost-effective for them in the long haul, rather than paying a never ending stream of ransoms, lives, material property loss and inflated insurance premiums!
Capt. Gavin Charles Gist USMMO BM1(SW)(DV) (ret.)

[atoll]

good article with good points made and an effective but a very expensive solution.
the only thing is how do you know who the bad guys are,or do you adopt an "apocalypse now" scenario?
"how do ya know the bad guys...bang bang bang,they are the ones running"

[rebel heart]

I'd never trust a BM1 to offer me advice on anything except how to shine a door knob or tie a knot. CIWS is hilariously unreliable; you're better off with a potato gun. The only times CIWS has been used in combat it missed one time and shot down a friendly fighter jet by accident.

And by the way: CIWS doesn't work *at all* for seaborne attacks. It's entirely designed for missiles, and evidence over two decades shows it can't even do that properly.

But hey who wants to deal with the reality of weapon systems when talking about strapping them to cargo vessels?

[GavinC]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

But hey who wants to deal with the reality of weapon systems when talking about strapping them to cargo vessels?

Who said anything about strapping it onto a cargo vessel?

[Butler]

A pair of brass balls would jam up some good F%#&ing.
Not for me friend...

[frank_f]

Wouldn't the bad guys be the ones racing towards your (apparently) defenseless boat firing the AK's in the air?

What a shocker when a mini gun gets flipped over the gunwale and fires back.

[atoll]

yes they were the ones who mistakenly tried to board a russian warship in the dark.......

[frank_f]

Originally Posted by atoll

yes they were the ones who mistakenly tried to board a russian warship in the dark.......

You're kidding! ROTFLMAO

[atoll]

no true story ,not 100% if it was russian,might have been a french warship!!!!!!!!!

[frank_f]

Originally Posted by atoll

no true story ,not 100% if it was russian,might have been a french warship!!!!!!!!!

That's just too funny.

It's like a plot out of a movie where the bank robber holds up a bank where all the customers are off duty cops (with guns of course).

[atoll]

i wonder who had the last laugh

[Jon Hacking]

Actually, I think there's some useful info in there - but not about the guns. We have a HUGE multinational fleet out there - I've seen bits of it 2x in the Seychelles. We also have a Predator team in the Seychelles (radio controlled aircraft).

Instead of just trying to protect shipping under way, we should use that fleet to also BLOCKADE SOMALIA. Any boats trying to get off their coast would be boarded & searched for weapons, like the Israelies do for boats coming in. I'd also prefer a change in ROE (Rules of Engagement) to provide a real deterrent for the pirates but the author's right that we lack the balls.

But if we stop the weapons, we also stop the piracy. As a cruiser out on the sharp & pointy end in the Indian Ocean, this is the main issue for me.

BTW, there are some errors in the article. The Malaysian Navy cleaned up the Malaysian side of the Malacca Straits some years ago, although the Sumatra side is still a problem. See ICC Commercial Crime Services for a map of pirate attacks. Also, the warlords don't care a hoot for their people. I'm told they're just fishermen who are offered $1,000 each if they bring in a boat.

[ozskipper]

Quote
But if we stop the weapons, we also stop the piracy. As a cruiser out on the sharp & pointy end in the Indian Ocean, this is the main issue for me.

end Quote

But that not going to happen, the Cold War made sure there were plenty of AK47's and M16s for everyone. Getting the guns out of Africa would be as impossible as getting the guns out of the USA. Sadly for everyone, its just not going to happen.

Cheers
Oz

[Jon Hacking]

Originally Posted by ozskipper

The Cold War made sure there were plenty of AK47's and M16s for everyone. Getting the guns out of Africa would be as impossible as getting the guns out of the USA. Sadly for everyone, its just not going to happen. Oz

Oz, I agree that Africa's swimming in weapons. $50 will by an AK47 & lots of ammo in Mozambique. That's why taking the guns away from the pirates & then letting them go is so silly. The pirates certainly don't care about losing a few weapons.

But I DO think we can prevent those weapons from leaving the Somali coast in a fishing/pirate boat. Somalia's a poor country. There aren't that many boats over 50'. I'd think that stopping & searching any boats over, say, 50' that are trying to go further than 50(?) miles offshore of Somalia wouldn't be too hard. OK, I'm an optimist, but I think it's worth a try. It would also provide a line that the pirates would have to cross when coming back with a boat.

Have you got a better solution?

[Jon Hacking]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Firstly it is the mark of civilised societies that we deal with crime in a controlled and legal way ... Somalis are people too and we afford then all the rights and privileges irrespective that a small group are doing great harm. This includes the assumption of innocence, the right to trial ,etc... Perhaps you might read and learn about the causes, what's feeding the problem etc rather then the "send in the marines" nonsense. Dave

You may be confusing me with someone else. I agree that the root causes of Somalia's problems are NOT piracy. And those problems need to be addressed. Probably with aid $$ - it's the American way But I don't think that's what this thread is about.

I think the issue of Piracy & Kidnapping is important enough that it needs attention as well. Right now, there's no dis-incentive for these people. We (the civilized countries) need to provide that dis-incentive in real terms, to let the Somalis know that piracy is not acceptable behavior & will not be tolerated. We haven't been very effective at that up to now.

Taking weapons off boats as they leave Somalia isn't violating anyone's rights, AFAIK. If Somalia can't police it's own people, I don't have a problem with the rest of the world doing it to those boats that leave their waters. And it's better if the military does it, rather than arming folks on freighters. But until the (world) military does something concrete, the shipping companies have NO OPTION except to pay the ransoms. I don't think it's something that the private sector can solve.

What the military has been doing up to now has been ineffectual - it doesn't provide a dis-incentive & it doesn't protect those of us sailing those waters. It's easy to criticize. But it's much better to come up with alternatives & potential solutions. Blockade may be a bit expensive, but it's reasonably humane - certainly more so than kidnapping. And as you pointed out, the Coast Guard already does that all over the world, as part of its War on Drugs (legally, though some might object).