Nothing like a 5 inch deck gun to wreck a pirate’s day.
Aka George QuickSurrender.
They still need help.
Anti-grappling rails - large diameter pipe to prevent getting a hook to fasten to the ship.
better lighting
strategically placed water spouts.
I'm thinking modified paintball technology + microwave.
Not only is it cheap and the poor little mud'pi'rats would not like it, it sure is slippery, as in "I can't climb up the side."
It’s also time to repel the Pirates IN DC!! Go to your local Tea Party today folks! Now is the time to stand up for our founding principles and against the rising tide of socialism in America!
Well, one option might be to hire a company like Blackwater to provide armed protection.
I think I may have spotted the problem.
"It would only escalate the situation The [Somali] pirates are pretty well funded, and they'd just get bigger weapons."
Well which is it? Either the pirates are worse than "dirt poor", as the MSM keeps telling us so we feel sooorrry for them, or they are well funded. It can't be both.
Continuously looped IPOD recordings of Obambi’s (BIRD!) speeches would work to repel just about anything.
The crews’ reactions might not be too healthy, however.
Getting his with can would ruin your whole afternoon. One ship in the Pacific had a pump and hose to shoot a combination of gasoline, diesel and detergent. They would cover the attacking boat with it, then aim Roman Candles at them.
No ship and no ship’s crew should work in a known pirate zone without at the very least personal weapons on board. They might be locked in a magazine during most of the voyage, but the moment you move into pirate waters weapons should be distributed and kept close at hand.
Others have commented that, on a large automated ship, there is often no one on deck. Obviously, in pirate waters you have to have someone on pirate watch around the clock.
And the navy needs to have a rapid response team. If it takes 20 hours for a ship to get to you, that isn’t much help. They need to have assault teams ready to go as soon as the word comes that a ship is being approached. A fixed wing plane could be on the scene within short order to sink or drive off the attacker, and a chopper with the assault team could be there within an hour or so to secure the ship if necessary. We have to do more than we’re doing.
We don’t need to arm these crews. the legal and liability reasons are many. We need to arm a couple of modern day “Q” ships with Navy SEALS and send them out to go hunting.
It shouldn’t be hard to put a few “special” containers of equipment and ammo onboard an easy looking merchant, along with a platoon who are prepared to forcibly repel boarders when attacked. If the pirates are using four or five vessels, then put 2 platoons onboard the bait vessel.
The only thing these “pirates” understand is the business end of a gun, and considering the ransoms being paid by gutless countries who never do seem to invest in their own defense, unless the US takes the lead in shutting this business down forcibly, it will only continue.
No prisoners.
they can carry. but when they get into port, they cannot display weapons. weapons must be stowed.
And people wonder why there's a lot of piracy going on?
There are some interesting weapons described in the article.
How about low-tech weapons? Israeli ships sail the Red Sea and Horn of Africa day and night, yet not one has never been successfully hijacked.
I’ll bet Israeli crews are armed to the teeth with Uzis, M-16s, SAWs and grenade launchers. They also probably shoot first and ask questions if there are any survivors.
If laws prevent crews from carrying, we need to change the laws.”
Hire Blackwater to protect the ships. They are not as busy these days in Iraq.
That's like saying if we gave a gun to all the convenience store clerks then there wouldn't be any stickups. We know better - it's not their job, it's not what they're trained for, and the odds are they won't want to die for someone elses money anyway.
If you want to put arms on the ships then contract it out. Let every U.S. ship, for example, pick up two or three armed professionals as they're entering the area and then have them ride the ship through pirate waters. As the ship leaves the danger area, the security team is air lifted to a ship that is inbound. Shipping lanes are pretty well defined and you could set up half dozen or fewer points that would be convenient for most of the U.S. ships going through the area to pick the guards up at. And if the pirates show up, you have a couple of trained professionals who know what they're doing and were hired specifically to protect the ship and its crew.