Posted on 11/08/2005 6:10:31 PM PST by neverdem
Associated Press
MIAMI – The crew of a luxury cruise ship used a sonic weapon that blasts earsplitting noise in a directed beam while being attacked by a gang of pirates off the eastern coast of Africa, the cruise line says.
The Seabourn Spirit had a Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, installed as a part of its defense systems, said Bruce Good, a spokesman for Miami-based Seabourn Cruise Line. The Spirit was about 100 miles off the coast of Somalia when pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns as they tried to get onboard.
The subsidiary of Carnival Corp. was investigating whether the weapon was successful in warding off the pirates, he said. The ship's captain also changed its course, shifted into high speed and headed out into the open sea to elude the pirates, who were in two small boats, he said. He had no further details.
Device maker American Technology Corp. said earsplitting "bangs" were directed by trained security personnel toward the pirates. That, combined with ship maneuvers, caused the attackers to leave the area, the company said.
The LRAD is a so-called "non-lethal weapon" developed for the U.S. military after the deadly 2000 attack on the USS Cole off Yemen as a way to keep operators of small boats from approaching U.S. warships.
The military version is a 45-pound, dish-shaped device that can direct a high-pitched, piercing tone with a tight beam. Neither the LRAD's operators or others in the immediate area are affected.
American Technology, based in San Diego, compares its shrill tone to that of smoke detectors, only much louder. It can be as loud as about 150 decibels, while smoke alarms are about 80 to 90 decibels.
The devices have been deployed on commercial and naval vessels worldwide since summer 2003, the company said.
Did you notice that the article is written by "John Pain"?
For some reason most hearing tests cut off at 8 KHz. I know someone who passed a hearing test and yet when I tested her hearing with higher frequencies, she couldn't hear anything above 9 KHz. It seems to me that the standard hearing test is probably not finding a lot of people who already have some hearing damage.
MY dad's a captain and has no worries of pirates but mutany is ALWAYS A WORRY. I DON'T KNOW ANY CAPTAIN THAT DOESN'T CARRY A GUN FOR SUCH MATTERS.
I'll have to photoshop Goofy or Snow White with a 50 cal. I was just at Disneyland tonight...I like the idea.
Captain: OK, all you passengers. We need volunteers to man the '50's should we encounter pirates. Any volunteers?
....I'm 56 years old, but guarantee my hand would be first up and waving..... "Pick me!!!"
Generally speaking, voice communications has very little to do with frequencies above 8 kHz. The same is true below around 300 Hz. The critical range to understand speech well is around 300 Hz to 3400 Hz. So that's what they test...
I was assuming that if you have already lost all hearing above 8 kHz, this is not a good sign for your future ability to hear in the voice range. Perhaps this is not justified, although the person I mentioned earlier has deafness in her family.
Highest key on a conventional piano = 8261 Hz.
I think they should create a way to hurl the contents of the ships septic tanks at these people, and bust their ear drums too.
Didn't know that, thanks.
Agreed, I might trip you up just to be first,lol.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.