On Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:15:37 GMT, Steve wrote:




They're looking for easy targets. If you're a bunch of pirates in a
little speedboat coming up to a tanker the size of an aircraft carrier
and while you're thinking of having to climb up a hundred foot rope
ladder there are guys on deck a hundred feet above you manning a few
mounted armored .50's and raining rounds into your boat while you're
still a mile out, you're gonna turn around real quick.

They weren't carrying anything to counter that. RPGs don't have
enough range. The rocket dies after only around 500m and they are
designed to self explode after less than 1000m of flight. An M2 .50
cal machine gun has an effective range (good enough to disable or sink
the speedboat) of twice that and a max range (good enough to let the
pirates know they are under fire) of over 4 miles.

And a huge freighter/tanker makes a great stable gun platform. A fast
moving speedboat does not.

You might be right about the .50's.
Still, that's a lot of gunners and watchkeepers.
I suspect the ship operators will get the military to handle it.
Saw a clip of some captured pirates today on the news.
It's a mistake "capturing" these guys.
Take no prisoners.

--Vic