Man. Imagine that. A naval crew defending their vessel.
A sailor defends his ship with more intensity than anything I know. I once saw sailors manning the rail with fire hoses and M-60’s as they were entering San Diego harbor in the early 80’s. This was after Reagan got rid of that wuss carter. (He doesn’t even rate a capital letter in his name.)
Some tree hugger group (Greenpeace type) threatened to board the Cruiser because they felt that there were Nuclear warheads on board. The M-60 belts had not been fed into the weapon, nut they were ready. Thos guys manning the fire hoses looked very determined as well. There were Navy out riders in smaller patrol boats. All of the observable Sailors looked very determined that there would be no boarding that day.
The Bartender in the Convention Center (Omni at the time) told me that there would be some very hurting civilians if they tried. He tried to explain the bonding a Sailor has with his ship. My sense was that it is not a bond to be trifled with and have an expectation of making a statement other than to the Police in the emergency room of the local hospital.