Somali pirates hijack Greek supertanker, release South Korean fishing ship

[News_Editor]

Somali pirates hijack Greek supertanker, release South Korean fishing ship

2011-02-09 23:40:20 GMT+7 (ICT)

BREMEN, GERMANY (BNO NEWS) -- Somali pirates on Wednesday hijacked a Greek oil supertanker in the North Arabian Sea, the European Union Naval Force - Somalia (EUNAVFOR) confirmed. Meanwhile, pirates released a South Korean fishing vessel after four months.

EU Naval Force spokesman Paddy O'Kennedy said the oil tanker MV Irene SL was pirated approximately 350 nautical miles (648 kilometers) southeast of Muscat, the capital of Oman. He said the vessel has a dead weight of 319,247 tonnes and is both Greek flagged and Greek owned.

The vessel was on its way to the Egyptian seaport town of Suez from Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. It is carrying a crew of 25 whom consist of seven Greek, one Georgian, and seventeen Filipinos. "There is presently no communication with the vessel and no information regarding the condition of the crew," O'Kennedy said.

Meanwhile, Somali pirates released the South Korean fishing vessel Golden Wave after four months. The vessel, which is also known as the Keummi 305, was pirated off the Kenyan coast on October 9. The conditions of the 43 crew members on board, of which 39 are Kenyan, was not immediately known.

Currently, Somali pirates are holding at least 29 vessels with a total of more than 663 hostages, according to the European Union Naval Force - Somalia, which keeps a record of pirating incidents. Most hijackings usually end without casualties when a ransom has been paid. This, however, often takes many months.

In recent years, Somali pirates have hijacked hundreds of ships, taking in hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom. Ships are patrolling the shipping lanes near Somalia in an effort to reduce hijackings, but the anti-piracy force has warned that attacks are likely to continue.

According to a recent study, maritime piracy cost the global economy up to $12 billion last year, with Somalia-based pirates responsible for 95 percent of the costs.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-02-09

[LaoPo]

Currently, Somali pirates are holding at least 29 vessels with a total of more than 663 hostages, according to the European Union Naval Force - Somalia, which keeps a record of pirating incidents. Most hijackings usually end without casualties when a ransom has been paid. This, however, often takes many months.

It's unbelievable that the world has (almost) no answer to these pirates.

I wonder why they can't spray liquid glue or oil onto the small boats and pirates when they hit a large vessel...?

Anybody?

LaoPo

[chuckd]

Currently, Somali pirates are holding at least 29 vessels with a total of more than 663 hostages, according to the European Union Naval Force - Somalia, which keeps a record of pirating incidents. Most hijackings usually end without casualties when a ransom has been paid. This, however, often takes many months.

It's unbelievable that the world has (almost) no answer to these pirates.

I wonder why they can't spray liquid glue or oil onto the small boats and pirates when they hit a large vessel...?

Anybody?

LaoPo

Perhaps because an RPG will shoot farther and faster than one can spray glue?

Now being serious...what I fail to understand is why shipping lines don't have a couple of trained folks on board each ship, armed with Barrett M107 .50 caliber sniper rifles. These rifles are very deadly and have a kill range of nearly two miles, roughly double that of an RPG.

Simply take out the bad guys when you first pick them up on radar. Problem solved.

Amnesty International probably wouldn't support this idea though, so it might have to be the super glue solution.

[yankee99]

I wonder why we cant locate 29 vessels? Its not like these are dinghy's.

[chuckd]

I wonder why we cant locate 29 vessels? Its not like these are dinghy's.

I expect it is known where the ships are. The problem would be locating the 663 hostages and getting them out safely.

[Ulysses G.]

Simply take out the bad guys when you first pick them up on radar. Problem solved.

Have you taken into consideration how their mothers and dogs might feel about your violent solution?

[flying]

Now being serious...what I fail to understand is why shipping lines don't have a couple of trained folks on board each ship, armed with Barrett M107 .50 caliber sniper rifles. These rifles are very deadly and have a kill range of nearly two miles, roughly double that of an RPG.

That is not a bad idea

Though it might not be so easy to find a trained person capable of the task.

There must not be too many shots harder than one off of a ship/boat that is constantly changing elevation in the water.

Add to that the fact that the target is also moving up & down on the water & it makes it all the more impressive that the navy seals made those shots to rescue Captain Phillips back in 09

Friend of mine sold 2 Barretts right when Obama took office & there was a run on guns & prices in the US.

He feels silly now as the prices have continued to rise on these quite a bit more than he sold for.

Edited February 11, 2011 by flying

[koheesti]

Now being serious...what I fail to understand is why shipping lines don't have a couple of trained folks on board each ship, armed with Barrett M107 .50 caliber sniper rifles. These rifles are very deadly and have a kill range of nearly two miles, roughly double that of an RPG.

That is not a bad idea

Though it might not be so easy to find a trained person capable of the task.

There must not be too many shots harder than one off of a ship/boat that is constantly changing elevation in the water.

Add to that the fact that the target is also moving up & down on the water & it makes it all the more impressive that the navy seals made those shots to rescue Captain Phillips back in 09

Friend of mine sold 2 Barretts right when Obama took office & there was a run on guns & prices in the US.

He feels silly now as the prices have continued to rise on these quite a bit more than he sold for.

The prices are still increasing? I guess that's a sign that people don't think things are getting better.

I like the idea of pouring something onto to pirate boats as they try to board. But instead of glue, why not burning oil like the old castle-siege days? One or two ships might get hit by an RPG but the thought of death by having your skin ripped off of your body by the burning oil would be more than enough to make most pirates choose another profession.

[flying]

He feels silly now as the prices have continued to rise on these quite a bit more than he sold for.

The prices are still increasing? I guess that's a sign that people don't think things are getting better.

Well yes actually most do not SEE things getting better even though we HEAR it is getting better

Also key to what I said above is these particular rifles continue to go up in price.

Others like AR-15's have come back to earth some what in price since the run up

Edited February 11, 2011 by flying

[LaoPo]

Maybe they should start using flamethrowers.....targeting the pirates when they try to climb on board the ship.....if they're on fire, the water is near to take a dive but they won't try again and their buddies would think twice, trying to climb on board.....

To scare them off (before they climb on board) they can throw a large pack or some tires overboard and flame those first...

http://en.wikipedia....ki/Flamethrower

Maybe the ancient Greeks weren't so dumb ...........

LaoPo

Edited February 11, 2011 by LaoPo

[chuckd]

Now being serious...what I fail to understand is why shipping lines don't have a couple of trained folks on board each ship, armed with Barrett M107 .50 caliber sniper rifles. These rifles are very deadly and have a kill range of nearly two miles, roughly double that of an RPG.

That is not a bad idea

Though it might not be so easy to find a trained person capable of the task.

There must not be too many shots harder than one off of a ship/boat that is constantly changing elevation in the water.

Add to that the fact that the target is also moving up & down on the water & it makes it all the more impressive that the navy seals made those shots to rescue Captain Phillips back in 09

Friend of mine sold 2 Barretts right when Obama took office & there was a run on guns & prices in the US.

He feels silly now as the prices have continued to rise on these quite a bit more than he sold for.

A couple of thoughts are...

A hit from a .50 caliber can easily disable a small dinghy or inflatable. If you hit a pirate even better but put an armor piercing round in the breech and fire one at the dinghy for effect. It would likely get their attention at least.

The costs for hiring the trained snipers and arming the ship with a couple of Barretts would be irrelevant when comparing it to the cost of a hijacking.

[LaoPo]

This could be a fantastic solution: Converted Flamethrower using compressed water with TEARGAS:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Converted_Flamethrower_40

LaoPo

[chuckd]

Maybe they should start using flamethrowers.....targeting the pirates when they try to climb on board the ship.....if they're on fire, the water is near to take a dive but they won't try again and their buddies would think twice, trying to climb on board.....

To scare them off (before they climb on board) they can throw a large pack or some tires overboard and flame those first...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamethrower

LaoPo

Let's look at the latest hijacking and see if your flamethrower idea would work.

OK, a dinghy with 6-7 pirates nears your ship and you get your flamethrower ready to go. You then realize they have AK-47s and RPGs which can pierce the sides of your ship. You then remember you are sitting on top of up to half a million barrels of flammable liquids.

What's your next step?

I think your super glue idea was better, but not without flaws.

EDIT IN: I did not change Lao Po's post. He changed it while I was preparing my response.

Edited February 11, 2011 by chuckd

[chuckd]

This could be a fantastic solution: Converted Flamethrower using compressed water with TEARGAS:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Converted_Flamethrower_40

LaoPo

This is getting sillier by the minute. I've been tear gassed several times. I wiped my eyes and got on about my business.

What's wrong with just shooting them before they come inside RPG range?

One thing for sure, nobody will ever accuse you of being an ancient Greek.

[LaoPo]

This could be a fantastic solution: Converted Flamethrower using compressed water with TEARGAS:

http://en.wikipedia....Flamethrower_40

LaoPo

This is getting sillier by the minute. I've been tear gassed several times. I wiped my eyes and got on about my business.

What's wrong with just shooting them before they come inside RPG range?

One thing for sure, nobody will ever accuse you of being an ancient Greek.

OK, I surrender; I leave the solutions to you........shall we try teargas, mixed with super glue ?

LaoPo

[mark45y]

When I first came to SEA the piracy problem was in the South China sea. An Irishman operating out of Hong Kong had a fleet of small ships and sold insurance against attacks. I think his name was Kelly. I do remember he had a red beard. He had tramp steamers fitted out with high powered engines and WW II recoilless rifles and 50 cal machine guns. The recoilless rifle had a range of 6.4 kilometers. There were a lot of them available at the time as they were being phased out of the US inventory in the middle 60's. The French and Vietnamese both used them in the French Vietnam war (1948 1954) you could buy them in Saigon pretty cheap. Kelly would run ships in convoy with his Q ship among the freighters. I don't think the Brits at the time approved but Kelly didn't like the Brits much either. He used to recruit GI's who were on R&R in Hong Kong. I lot of guys were tired of the war and didn't want to go back. It didn't seem particularly dangerous to take a boat trip after being in the jungle for a while. I don't know what ever happened to him. I tried to research it, thinking it would make a good story but there is no information about it on line.

Yachtsmen back then were always armed. But now it seems the authorities are a bit more testy about searching vessels coming into port.

Cheoy Lee yachts were popular then built in Hong Kong. Big sailboats, you could buy one in Hong Kong for half what it would cost in the States if you sailed it back yourself. A lot of people did. M 79 grenade launcher is a little thing. You could hide it anywhere. It has a range of 350 meters with high explosive rounds. If you are a bird hunter with a shotgun you will be good with an M 79, it's the same principle. The pirates have AK-47's mostly and they have a range of 400 meters. But you wouldn't know if they were pirates at 400 meters so I would think most of the combat would take place at closer ranges. If you didn't hit them on the first shot it might cause cause difficulty but an M 79 would blow up a small boat, no problem. You can repair bullet holes in a fiberglass yacht at sea without much problem.

I don't know where one would buy this stuff now. I know you can shoot all these weapons for a price close by so I imagine they are also for sale. But it would be a bummer to go to jail for buying a weapon to defend against pirates. As for legal weapons a 12 gauge shotgun with slugs throws a lot of lead in a short period of time but its range is only about 50 meters.

It must be a difficult problem for ship owners.

Or you could take 10 bar girls on board for not much money and have them screw the pirates to death. This might me the most economic way of dealing with the problem. The girls go out to the ships all the time in small boats from the East coast now because the sailors don't have the papers to come ashore. The ladies get on south of Pattaya and off at Rayong. It is a niche market.

Issan pro against pirate? My money would be on the ladies.

[chuckd]

Mark:

Always ready to help out.

Barrett .50 caliber rifle:

http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/411534932

Grenade Launchers: http://www.autoweapons.com/products/destructivedevices.html

Now so Mr. Lao Po won't feel left out: http://flamethrowerexpert.com/broke.html

[mark45y]

Mark:

Always ready to help out.

Barrett .50 caliber rifle:

http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/411534932

Grenade Launchers: http://www.autoweapons.com/products/destructivedevices.html

Now so Mr. Lao Po won't feel left out: http://flamethrowerexpert.com/broke.html

The 50 cal is a good idea. The M40 recoilless rifle came with a .50 caliber spotting rifle M8C. You fired a ranging shot with the .50 cal (same ballistics as the M40) and then cut loose with an APERS (anti personnel, also called bee-hive) round containing 6 000 steel flechettes (darts) for striking enemy soldiers. This round converted the recoilless rifle in world's biggest shotgun. The 6000 steel darts made close good enough and the wave motion on the boat not a critical factor.

[chuckd]

Viola, the pirate problem solved.

[LaoPo]

Anti-Piracy Options:

http://www.britannic...piracy-options/

&

from:

http://davidszondy.b...cy-weapons.html

10 More Anti-Piracy Weapons For Use In Somalia

http://gcaptain.com/...in-somalia?5715

That will keep you guys busy for the weekend

LaoPo

[mark45y]

Anti-Piracy Options:

http://www.britannic...piracy-options/

&

from:

http://davidszondy.b...cy-weapons.html

10 More Anti-Piracy Weapons For Use In Somalia

http://gcaptain.com/...in-somalia?5715

That will keep you guys busy for the weekend

LaoPo

Those are almost all non lethal weapons. LP you are so humane. They are pirates, man, not litterers or pot growers.

There is no doubt of guilt when some guys are firing AK-47 at innocent civilians in a boat.

You can't hang them from the highest yardarm as in the picture because modern ships don't have yardarms.

Even modern sailboats don't have yardarms anymore because they are not square rigged. So what to do?

That recoilless rifle will put 120 little ice picks going 2000 fps in each pirate at about 100 meters.

If the pirates have a mother ship you switch to armor piercing rounds and blow that away too.

Now these things are cheap, war surplus from WW II, Korea and Vietnam. A couple of thousand bucks should buy the rifle and $100 per shell. Call up Viktor's wife, she will hook you up. I'm just looking out for the Dutch guys on the yacht, don't you know.

[chuckd]

The Russians know how to handle the pirate situation.

They recently captured a bunch of them and set their boat on fire. When last seen the pirates were still handcuffed on their boat.

[LaoPo]

The Russians know how to handle the pirate situation.

They recently captured a bunch of them and set their boat on fire. When last seen the pirates were still handcuffed on their boat.

And the South Koreans:

http://www.nytimes.c.../22pirates.html

And the Dutch:

http://opiniojuris.o...red-by-pirates/

And the French:

http://www.csmonitor...-the-buccaneers

And the Americans:

http://allafrica.com...0904090652.html

But, nevertheless many large ships are still attacked and held hostage and it seems that in most cases the countries, having naval ships in the -huge- area, can't prevent piracy.

The problem needs also to be targeted at the origin of the piracy: the ones on shore, organising and funding the pirats.

As long as the combined forces don't (or can't) do anything about it, piracy will continue.

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

........... I'm just looking out for the Dutch guys on the yacht, don't you know.

Yes, I know and I'm following the case; curious how that ends.

LaoPo

[mark45y]

The Russians know how to handle the pirate situation.

They recently captured a bunch of them and set their boat on fire. When last seen the pirates were still handcuffed on their boat.

And the South Koreans:

http://www.nytimes.c.../22pirates.html

And the Dutch:

http://opiniojuris.o...red-by-pirates/

And the French:

http://www.csmonitor...-the-buccaneers

And the Americans:

http://allafrica.com...0904090652.html

But, nevertheless many large ships are still attacked and held hostage and it seems that in most cases the countries, having naval ships in the -huge- area, can't prevent piracy.

The problem needs also to be targeted at the origin of the piracy: the ones on shore, organising and funding the pirats.

As long as the combined forces don't (or can't) do anything about it, piracy will continue.

LaoPo

The First Barbary War (1801–1805) The war stemmed from the Barbary pirates’ attacks upon American merchant shipping in an attempt to extort ransom for the lives of captured sailors, and ultimately tribute from the United States to avoid further attacks, much like their standard operating procedure with the various European states.

The turning point in the war came with the Battle of Derna (April–May 1805). Ex-consul William Eaton, who went by the rank of general, and US Marine First Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon led a mixed force of eight United States Marines and 500 Greek, Arab, and Berber mercenaries on a march across the desert from Alexandria, Egypt to assault and to capture the Tripolitan city of Derna. This was the first time in history that the United States flag was raised in victory on foreign soil. This action was memorialized in a line from the Marines' Hymn—"the shores of Tripoli."

It is not like this would be something new.

[LaoPo]

The First Barbary War (1801–1805) The war stemmed from the Barbary pirates' attacks upon American merchant shipping in an attempt to extort ransom for the lives of captured sailors, and ultimately tribute from the United States to avoid further attacks, much like their standard operating procedure with the various European states.

The turning point in the war came with the Battle of Derna (April–May 1805). Ex-consul William Eaton, who went by the rank of general, and US Marine First Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon led a mixed force of eight United States Marines and 500 Greek, Arab, and Berber mercenaries on a march across the desert from Alexandria, Egypt to assault and to capture the Tripolitan city of Derna. This was the first time in history that the United States flag was raised in victory on foreign soil. This action was memorialized in a line from the Marines' Hymn—"the shores of Tripoli."

It is not like this would be something new.

No, it isn't something new indeed.....piracy existed long before America...

LaoPo

[chuckd]

Perhaps the shipping lines could get a few clues on how to solve their problem if they attended one of these shows.

http://www.g4tv.com/assets/flash/videos/vplayerV6.swf?phoenixBase=http://www.g4tv.com/&videokey=26598&hdContent=false&size=large&displayPlaylist=n&playlistType=normal&maxPlaylistSize=10&autoplay=n&displaylogo=false&vertical=false&sideBarsOverlap=true&leftBarButtons=details,comment&rightBarButtons=link,email,codeℑ=http://files.g4tv.com/ImageDb3/88239_LGST/Alison-Haislip-goes-to-Oklahoma-and-discharges-the-heavy-artillery-from-the-Oklahoma-Full-Auto-Shoot-and-Trade-Show.jpg&preRoll=false&postRollClipCount=2&showRecommended=true&showComment=true&adServerURL=http://ad.doubleclick.net/pfadx/thepile.g4tv.dart/offsite;tile%3d1;sz%3d480x360&referrer=http://us.mc330.mail.yahoo.com/mc/welcome%3f.gx%3d1%26.tm%3d1297561134%26.rand%3d0j6mbpr6are60

The basic Phalanx CIWS is what they need, although that might be a tad expensive.

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/phalanx-ciws-the-last-defense-on-ship-and-ashore-02620/

[koheesti]

The First Barbary War (1801–1805) The war stemmed from the Barbary pirates' attacks upon American merchant shipping in an attempt to extort ransom for the lives of captured sailors, and ultimately tribute from the United States to avoid further attacks, much like their standard operating procedure with the various European states.

The turning point in the war came with the Battle of Derna (April–May 1805). Ex-consul William Eaton, who went by the rank of general, and US Marine First Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon led a mixed force of eight United States Marines and 500 Greek, Arab, and Berber mercenaries on a march across the desert from Alexandria, Egypt to assault and to capture the Tripolitan city of Derna. This was the first time in history that the United States flag was raised in victory on foreign soil. This action was memorialized in a line from the Marines' Hymn—"the shores of Tripoli."

It is not like this would be something new.

No, it isn't something new indeed.....piracy existed long before America...

LaoPo

True, but it took the Americans to do something about it. Until then, Europeans went along with their ships being seized and citizens enslaved. So Europpeasement has also been around long before America.

[mark45y]

The First Barbary War (1801–1805) The war stemmed from the Barbary pirates' attacks upon American merchant shipping in an attempt to extort ransom for the lives of captured sailors, and ultimately tribute from the United States to avoid further attacks, much like their standard operating procedure with the various European states.

The turning point in the war came with the Battle of Derna (April–May 1805). Ex-consul William Eaton, who went by the rank of general, and US Marine First Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon led a mixed force of eight United States Marines and 500 Greek, Arab, and Berber mercenaries on a march across the desert from Alexandria, Egypt to assault and to capture the Tripolitan city of Derna. This was the first time in history that the United States flag was raised in victory on foreign soil. This action was memorialized in a line from the Marines' Hymn—"the shores of Tripoli."

It is not like this would be something new.

No, it isn't something new indeed.....piracy existed long before America...

LaoPo

My point was the Marines are still in the service of the US and it would not be a new assignment for them. Hire some mercenaries assign 8 marines and take care of the problem. The US can surly come up with 8 Marines willing to go. 8 Marines and 500 mercenaries would probably be all it would take.

[koheesti]

. Hire some mercenaries assign 8 marines and take care of the problem. The US can surly come up with 8 Marines willing to go. 8 Marines and 500 mercenaries would probably be all it would take.

This ain't Tora Bora.

Sorry, thought I'd beat someone to it.