U.S. Navy Increasing Presence - Nothern Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden

[DennisNAlison]

I'm not familiar with the source but it looks like the US Navy and NATO are adding more resources to patrol the waters from the Seychelles to the Gulf of Aden. They are folding the Solmali Pirates in to the war on terror and I hope that this story is acurate.
U.S., NATO Expand Afghan War To Horn Of Africa And Indian Ocean

[delmarrey]

This looks like chum for another political thread.

[scook1]

It is hard to keep up with the updates. I am just glad that I don't have to make decisions. As always, I am thankful for the U.S. Navy and their sacrifice.
Spencer

[David M]

It sounds like good target practice to me.

[SabreKai]

Until the UN comes up with a standard policy to handle these pirates, why bother? The worst that can happen to them depends not on the navy capturing them, but on the country of the vessel they are attacking at the time, and most of them won't do squat. If caught the worst that happens is they loose a few weapons, which are easily replaced, and by next week the same group of guys is back at it again.

Once it becomes policy for the capturing navy to have a court and then hang them from the yard arm on international television, only then will it perhaps persuade the pirates to find another job.

Sabre

[John A]

Private contractors are now providing training as well as escort services thru these waters.

[David M]

That sounds like the sanest idea I have heard, for the shipping companies to pool their money and provide their own armed, non-military escorts. The weapons would not need to be carried on the merchant ships and the taxpayers would not have to pay for the protection. The shipping companies can then build the cost of the protection in to the cost of moving cargo through the Gulf of Aden.

[delmarrey]

Here are some recent photos of the LCS 2 (to be USS) Independence . She's at 43 knots here running at half power. NOTE the absence of a bow wave.

Turns tightly, also; allegedly this also was done at 43 knots

And then we have the massive helo deck big enough for a CH-53. The SURFPAC guys liked the LCS because of the huge storage capacity under that flight deck and the size of the flight deck.

Note that there is very little spreading wake. In fact, it does not look like a wake at all, just foamy water from the water jets. Somehow, at 40 knots, you'd think there'd be more wake.

But she has one drawback, she's strange looking but aerodynamically designed, is this beginning of a new design in ships?

[maxingout]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

Here are some recent photos of the LCS 2 (to be USS) Independence . She's at 43 knots here running at half power. NOTE the absence of a bow wave.

Turns tightly, also; allegedly this also was done at 43 knots

And then we have the massive helo deck big enough for a CH-53. The SURFPAC guys liked the LCS because of the huge storage capacity under that flight deck and the size of the flight deck.

Note that there is very little spreading wake. In fact, it does not look like a wake at all, just foamy water from the water jets. Somehow, at 40 knots, you'd think there'd be more wake.

But she has one drawback, she's strange looking but aerodynamically designed, is this beginning of a new design in ships?

I want one. It's the optimal real ocean cruiser of the 21st century. It looks something like Skip Dashew would design.

Finally we have a yacht that makes it safe to cruise Somalia!

[johnar]

cool looking ship

Dutch