Arming Crew - Time to trade in the Needle Gun?

Candy Ass Non-Lethal Defense Force 80 Water Cannon Found at Coming Anarchy

The Real Deal - M2 Machine Gun, Browning .50 Caliber

Many people believe that arming crews is the simple and obvious answer to the problem of piracy. I don't agree. My previous posts ( Arming Senior Offices and Arming Crew)

My crew might get arms, so I need to start planning, here is what I've come up with so far

The Nav Team
The Nav Team is already on the bridge so these guys, the two with the gray hair, they will be manning the 50 caliber machine guns on the wings. You can see my helmsman is dressed for action.


The Engine Dept.


Here some of my engine room crew, They will be manning the two machine guns on the stern. If the gun jams, you know these guy will be able clear it.



The Cook The cook will have to run into the galley from time to time to stir the soup, so she will crew the midships guns.


Kennebec Captain (QM3) fires off a few rounds - M2 Browning .50 Caliber Machine Gun (photo 1977 Aleutian Islands)

And me of course, I'll be on the flying bridge for 360 degree defense, gloriously firing away - All you folks worried about harming innocent fisherman and whining about human rights violations - look out for those spent shells!

This is all meant tongue-in-cheek of course, seriously, the best defense for one ship might not work on another, I don't pretend to know the answers myself. I have sailed with lots of good, competent professional mariners whom I would not hesitate to arm. On the other hand I've had crew I wouldn't trust with a needle gun, much less a machine gun.

K.C.

Photo of Sirius Star from Astern

Tanker Sirius Star U.S. Navy Photo- found at Information Dissemination
When the tanker Sirius Star was hijacked some in the media expressed surprise that a supertanker could be boarded by pirates using open boats. This picture shows however the height to be scaled is not all that far. It looks difficult but not impossible. A ladder equipped hooks at the top may have been used. There are likely a good number of people in Somalia who would be willing to give it a try for a share of three million dollars.

K.C.

UPDATE: Sekulich , in comments points out that this photo is somewhat misleading, I agree. I intended to illustrate that the freeboard of a loaded tanker is less then what people may think. Not shown is, for one, the powerful wash that comes off the prop of a ship at full sea speed. It is much more difficult to board a tanker at full speed in the open sea then at anchor on a calm day which is what the photo shows

Ship's Crew repels boarders

Crewman from Zhenhua 4 prepares Molotov cocktails (CCTV) found at Modern Day Pirate Tales


From Modern Day Pirate Tales:

"Yesterday saw a dramatic incident in the Gulf of Aden, during which a Chinese vessel was boarded by at least seven pirates pirates. But rather than surrender to the attackers, the crew of the Zhenhua 4 barricaded themselves inside their vessel and used whatever they could find to fend off the pirates during the five-hour ordeal."

Read the rest here "Pirates and Peace Keepers"


Fred Fry had this covered at On Defending Unarmed Merchant Ships Against Pirates

K.C.

Is Piracy a problem?

If mariners ran the world we wouldn't be having this discussion: How serious is the problem of piracy?

Galrahn at Information Dissemination - at Piracy Exploits Our Strategic and Tactical Flaws writes:

"We are already fighting two wars and piracy is not a threat to our freedom of navigation in those seas, so there is no reason to either panic or rush into what will be a very difficult challenge."

This quote alone doesn't do the post justice - there are some good links and interesting comments as well.

Claude Berube at the CS Monitor, the other view has:Somalia's piracy problem is everyone's problem.

From the article:

The issue is not whether piracy is tied to terrorism, but rather how terrorists or others might employ piratical tactics. If nonstate actors find the tactic is sound and the defense against it untenable, then it will be used to conduct similar or more spectacular operations. How would nonstate actors or other future belligerents interpret any success by the pirates? Absent an effective response to lawlessness, Somali piracy may be a prism to view potential copycat killers

Commenter Sekulich writes:

I would suggest to anyone interested that they seek out a paper written by retired Army colonel Dr. Max Manwaring of the U.s. Army War College on the way that small gangs morph into entities with political clout and global strategic implications.

As a mariner, my sense is that we like things shipshape for a reason. Disorder can lead to unexpected problems.

K.C.

Whale Wars and the Definition of Piracy

Are the crew of the Sea Shepherd's Steve Irwin pirates?

They have been seen on television throwing acid onto the deck of a Japanese vessel and boarded the Japanese whaling vessel at sea. They also made plans to board a trawler with the intent of disabling the communication equipment.

I am a mariner not a lawyer but here is what I've come up with:

The definition of piracy according to international law is (Article 15 of the 1958 Convention on the High Seas):
"Piracy consists of any of the following acts:

1. any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed:
a. on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft;
b. against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any state;
2. any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft;
3. any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described in subparagraph (a) or (b)."

Again, I am no lawyer but it does seem that a good argument could be made that the crew of of the Steve Irwin are in fact pirates.

K.C.

Source:

Maritime Piracy: Defining the Problem

The (Unarmed) Defense of the Biscaglia

Bob Couttie has the details on the hijacking of the Biscaglia
Fourth Time Unlucky for Shipboard Security Team

"Reports remain confused however we believe that the embarked 3 man APMSS security team, comprising former British military servicemen, were able to mount sustained, non-lethal, resistance, denying the attacker’s access to the ship long enough for the ship’s operating crew to seek safety below decks and to summon assistance from coalition warships."

Sounds like this was a textbook response to an attack and yet the pirates were able to seize the vessel

I can anticipate what the armchair gunners response to this incident is going to be - the British guards should have been armed. A couple of weeks ago I would have agreed. Now I am not so sure.

A lot of people dismiss the argument that it is unwise to arm merchant ships and mariners, the argument being that doing so will simply raise the level of violence.

I think it would be wise to give some though as to whether or not we want to increase the volume, velocity and weight of flying projectiles around my ship and crew in hopes of mitigating the pirate problem.

K.C.

Pirates promise to catch ship "next time"

"we heard over the MMF/SSB Radio a call directed at our ship saying; “Bateau Canadian,Bateau Canadian, you were lucky this time sir, but not the next time,we promise you this."

The article is Captain Derek Kruger Experience while passing Somalia Coast - at Seafarerblog.com