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Should ships be armed to combat pirates?

Arm the ships?

  • Yes

    Votes: 152 81.3%
  • No

    Votes: 20 10.7%
  • Offer the pirates carrots

    Votes: 15 8.0%

  • Total voters
    187
Many of these ships are transporting flammable cargo, and if they were outfitted with guns then firefights would ensue during the takeover, possibly causing the entire ship to go up in flames or even explode. That would be a much worse situation than the pirate takeover.

The current procedure being talked about is using fire hoses to deter the pirates from boarding.
 
No. I work as a terminal superintendent for a stevedoring company.

Port security is pretty insane in this post 9-11 world.

If container ships came in and tied up to my dock, and were armed as you suggest, we would have even more security / operational "issues". I don't even want to think about what we would have to do, or what it would cost us as a terminal operator.

Maybe if there was US Coast Guard cooperation and the arms could be removed before the vessel arrives dockside, it would be okay, but I don't want armed containerships coming into port. (Neither does the Coast Guard)

I also see problems with the fact that pretty much all cargo and container ships operate under a foreign flag. So what you are suggesting would involve, for example, Chinese owned and operated vessels coming into US waters and tying up to US docks, with 50 mils and RPG's ready to fire. There is no way that could happen.

I see your point.

Can I change my vote? :atoz:
 
Yes, they should be armed. Private companies should instantly adopt new policies that they will not give in to pirate's demands and they should take whatever steps are necessary to make it very very dangerous for pirates to attempt to take over a ship.

When it becomes clear that it doesn't pay to try . . . they'll stop trying. :eyebrow:
 
We have a 5 trillion dollar Navy and we are being held hostage by a handful of terrorists in rowboats? The French knew what to do. :hyper:
Coming from a proud Navy family, if my great uncle Sir Henry was the current Admiral he would have vaporized all of them by now.
and had it known that unfortunately the Captain held hostage had in fact been wounded in the brave escape attempt and navy seal divers had deduced that he had subsequently died via listening apparatus.
Remember the story uncle Henry and Millington Drake concocted for Captain Langsdorf about the imminent arrival of the HMS Cumberland and an Aircraft Carrier off the river plate in WW11.
It worked rather well!
I should be in charge as its obvious the current commander hasn't the faintest idea how to prosecute any kind of asymmetric skirmish at sea. and should be immediately replaced.
Q ships is what we need now, thats how we dealt with U-boat pirates.
What a bunch of idiots!.:hiding:
 
Q ships are just merchantmen manned by Naval personnel and contain no real cargo just timber or cork to keep them afloat if torpedoed, all guns are hidden until attacked.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-ship
Of course we British chaps had far better success with ours, mainly due to not fitting too much armor plate so that the flotation cargo did in fact keep them afloat and carefully restricting our crews to firing only at the enemy.:ninja:
PS. You don't give the merchant navy guns as they spend most of their lives drunk as a skunk.
 
Armed escorts work.

Who would pay for it, though? Safe waters, like street lighting, are a public good. And, according to the public good dilemma, no one pays for public goods, so traditionally, a government would pick up the tab.

Who would pick up the tab for an international effort like this?

What is being considered, or in fact done, now, is armed guards stationed on ships. They aren't armed to destroy the pirate ships, as this would be a huge problem with coast guards, as mentioned already. They are instead armed with small arms, with the intent to disable, kill or otherwise incapacitate pirates who have already boarded the ship.
 
Hire a private security team for each vessel going through the area.A half dozen trained men with the right tools,should get the job done.Mount a couple of M-2's on the stern,and maybe one on each side along with a couple of TOWs close by.After a few pirate boats get cut to shreds and they start dying,they'll rethink attacking shipping.
 

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