I can help but laugh my ass off at the pirate stories ...
But it reached new heights when this morning in the BBC I heard this ...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27766333/?GT1=43001

Laughed so hard I nearly ran off the road in my little shoebox car.

Yea right ... somali pirates ... apparently they have been attacking ships and taking them to somalian waters and asking for ransom ... They apparently had small ships and a huge ship and the indian navy as part of a international protection force nailed one of the little ones and the mother ship ...

Cool.
Buddha.

from the article..

Quote"Pirates were seen roaming on the upper deck of this vessel with guns and rocket propelled grenade launchers," said a statement from the Indian navy. Indian forces fired back, sparking fires and a series of onboard blasts — possibly due to exploding ammunition — and destroying the ship.

i get this mental image of a bunch of guys like Captain Hook's henchmen running around their little ship bumping into each other whilst firing rocket launches and saying 'arrrrggghh'

but seriously who would take on a destroyer with a cpl of rockets?  goooood Lord.

Quote from: LOUiE on November 19, 2008, 05:20:34 PM
but seriously who would take on a destroyer with a cpl of rockets?  goooood Lord.

John Rambo, using the bodies of dead VC tied together in a makeshift raft...........and he'd win too.

ya man, they finally hit a nerve when they hijacked an OIL TANKER ! WE DON'T PLAY THAT JAZZ MATEY !

in all seriousness, it's pretty scary to think that countries allow that type of activity to go on in their waters, ports, and cities. ouch.

Quote from: spc on November 19, 2008, 05:34:53 PM

Quote from: LOUiE on November 19, 2008, 05:20:34 PM
but seriously who would take on a destroyer with a cpl of rockets?  goooood Lord.

John Rambo, using the bodies of dead VC tied together in a makeshift raft...........and he'd win too.

NO it was chuck norris man 

the article says 'lawless seas'  does that mean no country takes control over those waters?

The pirates had a fairly large ship ... possibly somehting like a converted ocean liner.
Now from what I heard growing up, the Indian navy accompanies all cargo ships how many and how well armed they were ... and maybe they have ramped it up after the attacks.
I have not heard of an indian ship getting attacked yet, however I dunno. Nowadays any one can pile their cargo in any one's ship and have it run by anyone else ... so who knows.
Cool.
Buddha.

Indian navy footage

well, I know shipwrecking is easy over in india, they get LOTS of junk ships that just get pretty much sailed up near the coast, and anchor is dropped, then they sit there til they get chopped up, so I'd imagine pirates could very easily find a vessel they want, just grab it and sail the thing wherever they want. 

I'm glad the indian navy sunk one of the mofos toys.  seems as though if somalia has no functioning government to control anything, then some nation next door should just sweep right in, declare a military state and create such a government, to end the lawlessness while cracking down on pirates. 

hell, team rambo and chuck norris up, they'll handle the job and come out of it in a perfectly pressed tux ready to take each other to the ball.

 

Nah pirates are for the A team, leave rambo and norris to specialize, together they could take down North Korea.

The sad part is those pirates are bringing in more $$ from ransom than Somalia itself generates.

Quote from: Ry_Guy on November 21, 2008, 12:13:51 PM
The sad part is those pirates are bringing in more $$ from ransom than Somalia itself generates.

Not much longer. The recent development I believe is that a few cargo vessels have a full blown international force operated destroyer as an escort.
There are too many ships in that region to effectively have a protector for each cargo ship. But a dozen or 2 of the cargo vessels in international waters only need 1 or 2 destroyers. So I believe there is a little bunching up and the more $$ and sensitive cargo has more protection ... you're carrying tanks in a freighter ... you'd wait for a destroyer, and probably a few more cargo ships will do that and now we have a escorted convoy. BTW blackwater has outfitted a few destroyers to go and fight there ... so you know there is $$ to be made by organising.
Even piracy is big business.
Cool.
Buddha.

that wont last, the liberals HATE blackwater  ( said in jest btw)

it is a serious problem in the area.

More power to the Indian Navy. I hope they slaughter all those thieving bastards and the sooner the better.

Hell...two cargo boats ahead...two aft...destroyer in the middle with one 20mm cannon like the coast guard uses...that'd pretty well cure the issue.  If nothing can get within a mile and the cargo crews being armed (because, really, after this?  how many of you wouldn't find a gun or a stick with a nail in it?) it's going to be hard to take out many more ships.

Quote from: LOUiE on November 20, 2008, 10:04:47 AM
the article says 'lawless seas'  does that mean no country takes control over those waters?

although different countries have different "sovernty limits"  anything over 200 miles from shore is "international" waters.

Quote from: frankieG on November 23, 2008, 12:14:11 AM

Quote from: LOUiE on November 20, 2008, 10:04:47 AM
the article says 'lawless seas'  does that mean no country takes control over those waters?

although different countries have different "sovernty limits"  anything over 200 miles from shore is "international" waters.

yup

Quote from: The Buddha on November 21, 2008, 02:22:17 PM

Quote from: Ry_Guy on November 21, 2008, 12:13:51 PM
The sad part is those pirates are bringing in more $$ from ransom than Somalia itself generates.

Not much longer. The recent development I believe is that a few cargo vessels have a full blown international force operated destroyer as an escort.
There are too many ships in that region to effectively have a protector for each cargo ship. But a dozen or 2 of the cargo vessels in international waters only need 1 or 2 destroyers. So I believe there is a little bunching up and the more $$ and sensitive cargo has more protection ... you're carrying tanks in a freighter ... you'd wait for a destroyer, and probably a few more cargo ships will do that and now we have a escorted convoy. BTW blackwater has outfitted a few destroyers to go and fight there ... so you know there is $$ to be made by organising.
Even piracy is big business.
Cool.
Buddha.

Blackwater has a navy too?!?! wtf dont they have? a fighter squadron?