United Nations vessel seized by pirates off Somalia

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2007-02-25 11:01pm

Pirates seize UN ship off Somalia

Pirates are reported to have hijacked a UN-chartered cargo ship delivering food aid to north-eastern Somalia.

The ship, the MV Rozen, had just delivered a cargo to Somalia's Puntland region when the pirates struck, a World Food Programme official said.

There have been no reports of demands from the pirates and it is not known if any of the 12 crew have been injured.

Piracy has become rampant off the coast of Somalia, which has had no stable central government for years.

A World Food Programme spokeswoman, Stephanie Savariaud, said there were deep concerns for the safety of the crew.

"We know it has been hijacked by pirates but we do not know how many pirates there are," she said.

Ms Savariaud said the Rozen had delivered 1,800 tonnes of food aid to the semi-autonomous Puntland region of Somalia and was returning to its home port of Mombasa in Kenya.

SyntaxVorlon · Post by **SyntaxVorlon** » 2007-02-25 11:50pm

Holy fuck!

Straha · Post by **Straha** » 2007-02-26 12:14am

Eh, Nothing new.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2007-02-26 12:34am

Can we barter them for rum?

Hawkwings · Post by **Hawkwings** » 2007-02-26 12:56am

So, who's going to fix the problem?

What are the international regulations for weapons on ships?

FSTargetDrone · Post by **FSTargetDrone** » 2007-02-26 01:15am

Hawkwings wrote:So, who's going to fix the problem?

What are the international regulations for weapons on ships?

No need. Just send a Q-ship or 3 along with the cargo ships.

Hawkwings · Post by **Hawkwings** » 2007-02-26 01:27am

The Hague Conventions in 1907 wrote:Merchant ships converted into war-ships must bear the external marks which distinguish the war-ships of their nationality.

Much as it would be desirable...

I know! Have the RIAA sue them!

PeZook · Post by **PeZook** » 2007-02-26 01:41am

Hawkwings wrote:
The Hague Conventions in 1907 wrote:Merchant ships converted into war-ships must bear the external marks which distinguish the war-ships of their nationality.
Much as it would be desirable...

I know! Have the RIAA sue them!

They could be simply armed merchants, you know

It's not like it would be a first...

It's nice to fantasize about hanging those scumbags off the rigging, but it's not gonna happen. I'm already astonished we don't hear about more hijackings like these.

FSTargetDrone · Post by **FSTargetDrone** » 2007-02-26 02:11am

Hawkwings wrote:
The Hague Conventions in 1907 wrote:Merchant ships converted into war-ships must bear the external marks which distinguish the war-ships of their nationality.
Much as it would be desirable...

I know! Have the RIAA sue them!

One little detail...

Paint "This is an armed escort ship escorting legal merchant traffic" on the sides if it helps. But there really should be some way these cargo vessels can transit their routes unmolested.

Winston Blake · Post by **Winston Blake** » 2007-02-26 02:32am

You could avoid the problem of being considered a warship by simply giving each ship personal armaments like a rifle or two and one man-portable ATGM. I'm sure the pirates would get the picture pretty quickly.

Fingolfin_Noldor · Post by **Fingolfin_Noldor** » 2007-02-26 03:12am

Winston Blake wrote:You could avoid the problem of being considered a warship by simply giving each ship personal armaments like a rifle or two and one man-portable ATGM. I'm sure the pirates would get the picture pretty quickly.

Wouldn't 14.5 mm guns mounted on the side and say a few RPGs be more than enough? Javelins against a bunch of ragtag pirates seem to be an overkill and not to mention, expensive.

Ritterin Sophia · Post by **Ritterin Sophia** » 2007-02-26 03:46am

Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:
Winston Blake wrote:You could avoid the problem of being considered a warship by simply giving each ship personal armaments like a rifle or two and one man-portable ATGM. I'm sure the pirates would get the picture pretty quickly.
Wouldn't 14.5 mm guns mounted on the side and say a few RPGs be more than enough? Javelins against a bunch of ragtag pirates seem to be an overkill and not to mention, expensive.

Somalian Pirates tend to have the same armaments as any other 3rd World wannabe militias, and that means AK's, RPK's, and RPG-7's.

Fingolfin_Noldor · Post by **Fingolfin_Noldor** » 2007-02-26 04:24am

General Schatten wrote:
Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:
Winston Blake wrote:You could avoid the problem of being considered a warship by simply giving each ship personal armaments like a rifle or two and one man-portable ATGM. I'm sure the pirates would get the picture pretty quickly.
Wouldn't 14.5 mm guns mounted on the side and say a few RPGs be more than enough? Javelins against a bunch of ragtag pirates seem to be an overkill and not to mention, expensive.
Somalian Pirates tend to have the same armaments as any other 3rd World wannabe militias, and that means AK's, RPK's, and RPG-7's.

Erm.. I was refering to this gun: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M2_Browning_machine_gun. I believe they are deployed aboard US Navy vessels to counter bombings of the variety that struck the USS Cole.

LordShaithis · Post by **LordShaithis** » 2007-02-26 05:11am

Sensible security precautions my arse, it's time to send a USN task force down there for some gratuitous overkill!

Winston Blake · Post by **Winston Blake** » 2007-02-26 05:30am

Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:
Winston Blake wrote:You could avoid the problem of being considered a warship by simply giving each ship personal armaments like a rifle or two and one man-portable ATGM. I'm sure the pirates would get the picture pretty quickly.
Wouldn't 14.5 mm guns mounted on the side and say a few RPGs be more than enough? Javelins against a bunch of ragtag pirates seem to be an overkill and not to mention, expensive.

My idea was to avoid being defined as a warship with fixed weapons by using only carry-on personal armaments, so HMGs were out.

The Javelin (being guided and longer ranged AFAIK) would be able to knock out the pirates with one missile before they get into RPG range. Keeping a pirate ship beyond maximum RPG range would be impossible using identical RPGs, and they've got the advantage of being smaller and harder to hit.

Although, I didn't consider the possibility of a long range anti-materiel rifle, but AFAIK even 14.5mm wouldn't out-range a Javelin.

Winston Blake · Post by **Winston Blake** » 2007-02-26 05:34am

Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:
General Schatten wrote:
Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:Wouldn't 14.5 mm guns mounted on the side and say a few RPGs be more than enough? Javelins against a bunch of ragtag pirates seem to be an overkill and not to mention, expensive.
Somalian Pirates tend to have the same armaments as any other 3rd World wannabe militias, and that means AK's, RPK's, and RPG-7's.
Erm.. I was refering to this gun: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M2_Browning_machine_gun. I believe they are deployed aboard US Navy vessels to counter bombings of the variety that struck the USS Cole.

Nitpick: actually 14.5mm is Russian, and is supposed to have about twice the muzzle energy of a 50 caliber round. But it was basically the same idea, using heavy machine guns.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2007-02-26 09:22am

Better idea, get the USN down there. A single frigging Destroyer should be able to handle any bunch of Pirates down there. Detach... three? Maybe even five for "detached duties" down there guarding cargo transport through the area. With enough ships they should be able to put the Pirates out of business or outright sink them.

For extra moral boosting, offer the crews a cut of any cargo they recover and tell them exactly what they are doing... Pirate hunting!

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2007-02-26 10:37am

At least they delivered the food before they were attacked...
A simple military escort sounds like the best option to me.

And as much fun as gratuitous overkill would be...it's a bit expensive.

Dartzap · Post by **Dartzap** » 2007-02-26 10:39am

How bizarre, you'd think they'd want the food more than the vessel itself . The RN tends to have field day when Pirating occurs.It brings back the 'Good old Days' for a short while

(they were after that cruise liner cum Pirate HQ a while ago)

D.Turtle · Post by **D.Turtle** » 2007-02-26 10:48am

Mr Bean wrote:Better idea, get the USN down there. A single frigging Destroyer should be able to handle any bunch of Pirates down there. Detach... three? Maybe even five for "detached duties" down there guarding cargo transport through the area. With enough ships they should be able to put the Pirates out of business or outright sink them.

An international naval Taskforce is already in that area.