Now They’re Being Stupid
Australian Broadcasting is reporting Pirates attack US-flagged ship:
Pirates have attacked a US-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Somalia with rockets and automatic weapons, but failed to board the craft, the ship’s owner says.
The crew of the Liberty Sun was unharmed, but the vessel suffered damage, according to a statement from the New York-based Liberty Maritime Corp.
…Liberty Maritime said the pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at the vessel, which was carrying US food aid for African nations and was en route to Mombasa, Kenya, from Houston.
These US-flagged vessels are carrying food aid for African nations, and are under government contract. There isn’t going to be any ransom, and if they keep it up, the pirates will find themselves in the sights of US attack aircraft. This action will push the US into dispatching a carrier battle group into the area, and that is not something the pirates will enjoy.
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Nor will all the other nations who illegally fish the waters, and the corporations who illegally dump toxic waste in the waters.
It’s exactly what some of the “Coast Guards” wants. Pull the US Navy in to do the job for them.
Rook´s last blog post..Is It News, Or SNL?
I don’t see how we can avoid it, and I really think the Japanese and Russian fishing fleets need some “thinning”.
None of the nations in the area actually have much in the way of a coast guard, and they certainly don’t venture beyond the near coast, because most of their vessels would be considered more appropriate for lakes than the open ocean. The resources just don’t exist.
Trying to farm in that area of the world gives the true definition to the term “dirt poor”, because it has some of the most worthless dirt on the planet.
…too bad the U.S.S. Constellation was decommissioned a few years ago. It would be fitting to have as the flagship of that battle group the namesake of one of the first US Naval ships commissioned in order to fight the Barbary pirates. Maybe the U.S.S. Bainbridge, U.S.S. Decatur, and U.S.S. Preble – all named after principals in the Barbary Wars – could be included in the group, just to make the point…
The Bainbridge is currently the flag vessel for the Nato effort, but we really need something smaller and faster to deal with these suckers, maybe PT boats with a mother ship in the area. We don’t need the torpedoes, but they have the speed and agility to chase down the pirates.