An interesting twist on things.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...to-attack.html

Another update:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...efer=worldwide

I think that its fairly remarkable that these pirates are even able to get on a gigantic ship that is underway, let alone seize it.

It seems to me that this sort of thing should be relatively easy to prevent.

Unarmed, untrained and probably surprised... it took 16 minutes. :(

I picked up an interesting tidbit on NPR the other day. They blamed the problem on the lack of government but the state gun control aspect of this is interesting. The pirates could easily be repelled but crews can't carry weapons if they're going through certain territorial waters. So instead of handing out 20 sidearms on a ship, taxpayers will be paying for destroyers to patrol a million square miles of ocean.

I didn't understand the legality thing myself. Most large ships, including cruise ships have a small number of weapons on hand. I just don't see why they couldn't increase the number of weapons. There are now some ex-SBS guys who are going to offer their services in the form of a commercial organization to provide security to the shipping industry. I am sure it will be cheaper than the ransoms being paid, but costly never the less. As Iraq dries up there will be more private security available for lease.

I like that idea. Keep the Blackwaters of the world in other countries and out of ours.

I want to know, as Bullitt does, why no one has gone to China Station or anywhere else ex-Special Forces hang out and hired a few teams to repatriate their ship(s). SEALs are well-trained for this kind of thing and would have little trouble taking a bunch of untrained pirates. SAS and Spetznaz are in the same league.

Protecting the ships is easy, too. Stinger missiles, RPG-7 launchers and such are cheap, easily available and untraceable. As long as the weapons are not visible to inspectors (easy to hide), you're home free.

Were I the owner of a hijacked ship, that's what I'd do...arm the crew and salt a few Special Operators among them for good measure.

I'd load my ship up with herpetic, gonorrheic whores. Everyone knows a pirate cannot resist a whore. In a few weeks, they'd be begging for ointments, salves, unguents, cold-compresses, Darvocet and what-not. That's where the real money will be made: treating the STD's of the pirate caste.

I dunno, there's a good chance they already have AIDS. ;)

Second. I am sure we are not the first to think of it. It would be a great exercise for the SSN North Carolina or a similar boat to exercise the capability of delivering a SEAL team unseen.

Turns out the "mother ship" wasn't really a mother ship and was a Thai fishing trawler that the pirates had attacked just hours earlier and were still in the process of trying to take over. The fishermen on that trawler were resisting the pirates in one part of the trawler when the Indian Navy came up and blew them out of the water. Over a dozen Thai fishermen are missing because of that Indian Naval action. One survived the Navy attack and drifted at sea for days and has just told his tale.

I guess this is why fighting pirates is so hard. The collateral damage is hard to avoid.

Jesus, that's horrible.

Hmmm - good story if you are a pirate arrrgggghhh. What else can he say to get off?
That sux! Of course if that was the US we'd be getting badmouthed from everyone about it.

Oh and another got hijacked too.

Did your hypothetical feelings get hurt?