One suggestion that people are making to help commercial shipping avoid being hijacked by Somali Jihadis is that they begin traveling in convoys.
Thirty thousand ships a year, roughly 100 a day, 50 in each direction, transit the waters off the coast of Somalia. One convoy in each direction, each day, alternating between fast ships and slower ones, and each accompanied by four or five escort vessels, would do the job. There would then be only two targets a day in each area of coast for the pirates to find, instead of 100. When marauders approach a convoy, they could be warned off by the escorts or destroyed if they attack.
Good idea. Here’s another. Set up sting operations. The navy can command a commercial vessel with no civilians on board. When the Jihadis roll up to attack it, the military can unload on them (leaving a couple alive to tell the horrible tale).
It shouldn’t take too long for word to get out that some of those commercial ships represent a suicide mission.
The usual reason given for not traveling in convoys is economic- every day spent in port waiting for a convoy to be put together is time and money lost not sailing. (The same reason created the initial resistance to convoys in WW1 and 2, by the way.) Compared to the German submarine destruction, the current pirate threat is trivial. It could easily be handled by a couple of practiced riflemen on each ship, if the politics and international restrictions weren’t in the way. It is reported that the pirate infrastructure includes well paid informants providing them information about any defenses on board any targets of interest, even before the ships leave port.
One way to handle these circumstances would be for the naval forces to helicopter two or three man defense teams out to cargo ships, after they have been out to sea for a day or so. It would be an economical way to defend a large number of ships, and the pirates would not know which target was defended. You would have the modern equivalent of Q-ships, in a large enough proportion to be effective.
Forgot to mention- helicopters could also remove the naval guards just before the ships arrival at port, preventing any fuss about arms on merchant ships in foreign countries.
I think this was once known as Q-Ships? Armed merchantmen were used prior to WW2
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-ship
It worked then, why not now?
I am sure someone can invent a railing with a device impossible for these pirates to hook onto when they climb up..
I fully support arming crews. However, a pirate ship with one or three RPG’s standing off will trump anything the average ship will carry.
This is the second time I’ve heard the ‘Q-ship’ idea. Only problem is, like an undercover police car, it’s quickly ‘made’ and avoided.
Maybe Blackwater can train and supply four to eight man teams to shipping companies as security teams to repel pirates.
Once the pirates are on board, the teams can subdue them and the RPG teams will be unable to fire…and vulnerable to sniper fire.
Fire upon anyone that approaches the cargo ships, no exceptions. This problem can be easily solved, but it will require strength and conviction to do it.
Quick question,
Since we’re all into blasting the un-funded “ad-hoc coast guard” of somalia, what could we do to prevent foreign ships from overfishing the coastal waters? China has had an ever present fleet of factory fish trawlers and has practically wiped out the native fishing economy because of their presence.
Also, will we offer support to stop the illegal dumping of toxic waste in the somali waters? During the Tsunami of 12/26 hundreds of barrels filled with toxic waste were washed up on the shores of Somalia and thousands died.
This is why the piracy started.
Granted, these guys got too big for their britches, but what do you expect when your cousin can fish anymore and your aunt and sister die cause some european or asian power decided that you couldn’t do anything about them dumping crap off their shore.
just a thought.
It’s more complicated than just some guys boarding ships.
We can send a man to the moon, but all of the brightest minds in the security departments of the world cannot figure out what to do about ending piracy??? Why not go after the “Mother Ship”? Seems like sinking the leader of the pack would be a move in the right direction.