On 1/11/14, 11:36 AM, Poco Loco wrote:
On Sat, 11 Jan 2014 11:31:03 -0500, wrote:

On Fri, 10 Jan 2014 23:25:38 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:


The .50 cal machine gun can shoot a mile off. Being a machine gun, it can put a lot of rounds on target. Why they don't put one on every ship is beyond me.

===

It seems to work for the Coast Guard.

We had six M2s and a 5"/38. That will really reach out there and put a
50 pound projectile on target up to 10 miles away.
The 83 footers carried an 81mm
That will get your attention too.
I think they also started using the 20mm chain guns.

Chain guns or 5"ers may be a little expensive to mount on all those ships, but M2s or M85s should be
reasonably priced. They'd definitely keep the fishing boats out of RPG or AK-47 range.
--

Hope you're having a spectacular day!


Once again, you fellas are overestimating the crew sizes and
capabilities of the crews aboard those merchant vessels, and the ability
to see visually or via radar a small boat coming alongside at night for
a clandestine boarding. Most of these vessels have fewer than 20
officers and seamen aboard. There are many non-security duties aboard
ships, and a number of these duties require 24-7 attention, so the
number of crew available to stand watch in four six hour shifts is
minimal. How would you expect a merchant crew to stand extra watches and
also have the armament and training and time to ward off pirates,
especially at night?

On Sat, 11 Jan 2014 11:52:02 -0500, "F.O.A.D." wrote:

On 1/11/14, 11:36 AM, Poco Loco wrote:
On Sat, 11 Jan 2014 11:31:03 -0500, wrote:

On Fri, 10 Jan 2014 23:25:38 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:


The .50 cal machine gun can shoot a mile off. Being a machine gun, it can put a lot of rounds on target. Why they don't put one on every ship is beyond me.

===

It seems to work for the Coast Guard.

We had six M2s and a 5"/38. That will really reach out there and put a
50 pound projectile on target up to 10 miles away.
The 83 footers carried an 81mm
That will get your attention too.
I think they also started using the 20mm chain guns.

Chain guns or 5"ers may be a little expensive to mount on all those ships, but M2s or M85s should be
reasonably priced. They'd definitely keep the fishing boats out of RPG or AK-47 range.
--

Hope you're having a spectacular day!


Once again, you fellas are overestimating the crew sizes and
capabilities of the crews aboard those merchant vessels, and the ability
to see visually or via radar a small boat coming alongside at night for
a clandestine boarding. Most of these vessels have fewer than 20
officers and seamen aboard. There are many non-security duties aboard
ships, and a number of these duties require 24-7 attention, so the
number of crew available to stand watch in four six hour shifts is
minimal. How would you expect a merchant crew to stand extra watches and
also have the armament and training and time to ward off pirates,
especially at night?

Yup. Train a couple to operate the .50. They're not difficult to operate, or clear, if there's a
jam.
--

Hope you're having a spectacular day!

On 1/11/14, 2:03 PM, Poco Loco wrote:
On Sat, 11 Jan 2014 11:52:02 -0500, "F.O.A.D." wrote:

On 1/11/14, 11:36 AM, Poco Loco wrote:
On Sat, 11 Jan 2014 11:31:03 -0500, wrote:

On Fri, 10 Jan 2014 23:25:38 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:


The .50 cal machine gun can shoot a mile off. Being a machine gun, it can put a lot of rounds on target. Why they don't put one on every ship is beyond me.

===

It seems to work for the Coast Guard.

We had six M2s and a 5"/38. That will really reach out there and put a
50 pound projectile on target up to 10 miles away.
The 83 footers carried an 81mm
That will get your attention too.
I think they also started using the 20mm chain guns.

Chain guns or 5"ers may be a little expensive to mount on all those ships, but M2s or M85s should be
reasonably priced. They'd definitely keep the fishing boats out of RPG or AK-47 range.
--

Hope you're having a spectacular day!


Once again, you fellas are overestimating the crew sizes and
capabilities of the crews aboard those merchant vessels, and the ability
to see visually or via radar a small boat coming alongside at night for
a clandestine boarding. Most of these vessels have fewer than 20
officers and seamen aboard. There are many non-security duties aboard
ships, and a number of these duties require 24-7 attention, so the
number of crew available to stand watch in four six hour shifts is
minimal. How would you expect a merchant crew to stand extra watches and
also have the armament and training and time to ward off pirates,
especially at night?

Yup. Train a couple to operate the .50. They're not difficult to operate, or clear, if there's a
jam.
--

Hope you're having a spectacular day!


Once again, you are dismissing the fact that most pirate boardings take
place at night, when those on the large ship cannot see the pirate
boats. What are you going to be shooting at with those weapons? Passing
waves?

On Sat, 11 Jan 2014 14:35:29 -0500, "F.O.A.D." wrote:

Yup. Train a couple to operate the .50. They're not difficult to operate, or clear, if there's a
jam.
--

Hope you're having a spectacular day!


Once again, you are dismissing the fact that most pirate boardings take
place at night, when those on the large ship cannot see the pirate
boats. What are you going to be shooting at with those weapons? Passing
waves?

===

That's nonsense. There are many excellent night vision and infrared
detection devices available - reasonably priced also.

On 1/12/14, 12:28 AM, wrote:
On Sat, 11 Jan 2014 14:35:29 -0500, "F.O.A.D." wrote:



Once again, you are dismissing the fact that most pirate boardings take
place at night, when those on the large ship cannot see the pirate
boats. What are you going to be shooting at with those weapons? Passing
waves?

It is the 21st century. Hunting catalogs have night vision equipment
these days and they have very good RADARs on those ships. They know
the bad guys are coming and where they are coming from.
It would not be that hard to light these guys up and "light them up"
if they wanted to but I also agree this is really a military issue.
There are probably good reasons why they don't want to arm the
merchants.
In a military sense, the hardware necessary to shut these guys down is
trivial. You may not be able to protect every ship at all times but
you could create a reasonable deterrent and I suspect that is what
happened off the horn of Africa.
If a surplus A10 came over the horizon in response to a SOS, it would
be pirates zero, A10 all of them.


Indeed, and stepped up military patrols and responses to curtail piracy
would give navies around the world something useful to do.