Somali Pirates Seize Largest Ship Yet

[FSTargetDrone]

Linky:

Somali pirates seize supertanker



Hijackers sail Saudi-owned vessel — the largest ever taken — to Somalia

The Associated Press

updated 11:37 a.m. ET, Mon., Nov. 17, 2008

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Somali pirates hijacked a supertanker hundreds of miles off the Horn of Africa, seizing the Saudi-owned ship loaded with crude and its 25-member crew, the U.S. Navy said Monday.

It appeared to be the largest ship ever seized by pirates.

After the hijacking, the pirates sailed the Sirius Star to a Somali port that has become a haven for bandits and the ships they have seized, a Navy spokesman said.

The hijacking was among the most brazen in a surge in attacks this year by ransom-hungry Somali pirates. Attacks off the Somali coast have increased more than 75 percent this year, and even the world's largest vessels are vulnerable.

The Sirius Star, commissioned in March and owned by the Saudi oil company Aramco, is 1,080 feet long — about the length of an aircraft carrier — making it one of the largest ships to sail the seas. It can carry about 2 million barrels of oil.

'Threat to many more vessels'

Lt. Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, said the pirates hijacked the ship on Saturday about 450 nautical miles off the coast of Kenya — the farthest out to sea Somali pirates have struck.

By expanding their range, Somali pirates are "certainly a threat to many more vessels," Christensen said. He said the pirates on the Sirius Star were "nearing an anchorage point" at the Somali port town of Eylon Monday.

Somali pirates have seized at least six ships off the Horn of Africa in the past week, but the hijacking of a supertanker marked a dramatic escalation.

The pirates are trained fighters, often dressed in military fatigues, using speedboats equipped with satellite phones and GPS equipment. They are typically armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rockets launchers and various types of grenades.

Lucrative work

With most attacks ending with million-dollar payouts, piracy is considered the most lucrative work in Somalia. Pirates rarely hurt their hostages, instead holding out for a huge payday.

The strategy works well: A report last month by a London-based think tank said pirates have raked in up to $30 million in ransoms this year alone.

In Somalia, pirates are better-funded, better-organized and better-armed than one might imagine in a country that has been in tatters for nearly two decades.

They do occasionally get nabbed, however. Earlier this year, French commandos used night vision goggles and helicopters in operations that killed or captured several pirates, who are now standing trial in Paris. A stepped-up international presence of warships recently also appears to have deterred several attacks.

The Sirius Star was sailing under a Liberian flag. The 25-member crew includes citizens of Croatia, Britain, the Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia. A British Foreign Office spokesman said there were at least two British nationals on board.

An operator with Aramco said there was no one available at the company to comment after business hours. Calls went unanswered at Vela International, the Dubai-based marine company that operated the ship for Aramco.

Classed as a Very Large Crude Carrier, the Sirius Star is 318,000 dead weight tons.

Raja Kiwan, a Dubai-based analyst with PFC Energy, said the hijacking raises "some serious questions" about what is needed to secure such ships on the open seas.

"It's not easy to take over a ship" as massive as oil tankers, which typically have armed guards on board, he said.

Not the first attempt

But pirates have gone after oil tankers before.

In October, a Spanish military patrol plane thwarted pirates trying to hijack an oil tanker by buzzing them three times and dropping smoke canisters.

On April 21, pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades at a Japanese oil tanker, leaving a hole that allowed several hundred gallons of fuel to leak out, raising fears for the environment.

In September, three pirates in a speed boat fired machine guns at an Iranian crude oil carrier, though the ship escaped after a 30-minute chase.

Warships from the more than a dozen nations as well as NATO forces have focused their anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden, increasing their military presence in recent months.

But Saturday's hijacking occurred much farther south, highlighting weaknesses in the international response.

Graeme Gibbon Brooks, managing director of British company Dryad Maritime Intelligence Service Ltd, said the increased international presence trying to prevent attacks is simply not enough.

"The coalition has suppressed a number of attacks ... but there will never be enough warships," he said, describing an area that covers 2.5 million square miles.

He also speculated that the crew of the Sirius Star may have had a false sense of security because they were so far out to sea.

He said the coalition warships will have to be "one step ahead of the pirates. The difficulty here is that the ship was beyond the area where the coalition were currently acting."

I know these stories are becoming somewhat common, but this is notable if only for the size of the ship. That, and the distance the pirates went to get it.

[Samuel]

Why haven't we burnt their docks to a crisp yet?

[Admiral Valdemar]

Why haven't we burnt their docks to a crisp yet?

They burn easier when they have two megabarrels of oil in them.

Seriously though, this is ballsy. And I imagine the Saudis are not too pleased that the USN, RN and Marine Nationale are sitting watching this happen and not doing anything to stop the pirates get away with tens of millions in oil and ship.

[Ekiqa]

They burn easier when they have two megabarrels of oil in them.

Seriously though, this is ballsy. And I imagine the Saudis are not too pleased that the USN, RN and Marine Nationale are sitting watching this happen and not doing anything to stop the pirates get away with tens of millions in oil and ship.

The RN has orders not to pick up pirates, as the Home Office has said the pirates would be able to claim asylum. Which is one of the most ridiculous things I had ever heard.

[Aratech]

A question that was raised over at SB.com over this subject: what would be the approximate cost of sticking a couple squads of marines or PMCs on these boats to prevent this from happening?

[Ryan Thunder]

Meh. If we know where their docks are, we can wait until the tanker pulls in, and SEALs or SAS can strike while the hostages are being transferred. Once they've been evacuated, there's any number of fun things we can do to the place. Personally, I think a nuclear strike would be most entertaining.

Nothing says "Fuck off" like a fusion bomb.

A question that was raised over at SB.com over this subject: what would be the approximate cost of sticking a couple squads of marines or PMCs on these boats to prevent this from happening?

Apparently there are armed guards onboard these ships. I'm not sure how well-armed they are, however.

[JCady]

Can we sic the Somalian pirates on Nisshin Maru? She left port today.

[RedImperator]

At what point does the international community get off its ass and sic the first world navies on these pirates? This is getting absurd.

[TithonusSyndrome]

At what point does the international community get off its ass and sic the first world navies on these pirates? This is getting absurd.

What's left of the first world navies? I don't know how most nations would feel about operations like these given that there appears to be an overall trend across the world towards cutting navy budgets, and the USN and RN already have serious committments. I wouldn't exactly be enthusiastic about being tasked more work given all that.

[Dartzap]

The RN have been doing anti-piracy work recently. They shot dead a few of the wankers who were attacking a Danish ship as I recall. I think they were doing a joint operation with the Russian navy.

[Lagmonster]

At what point does the international community get off its ass and sic the first world navies on these pirates? This is getting absurd.

If history teaches us anything, it's that the only slip-up stopping the Puntland region of Somalia from being bombed until Ethiopia gets a new coastline is the capture of American ships, particularly if it contains photogenic Americans. I wonder if they're specifically targeting ships based on their ports of origin, selecting ships based on cargo, or just taking the ships that present the best targets of opportunity?

[Count Chocula]

It's times like this that a couple of 40mm Bofors mounts, or 5 inch rifles, on a cargo ship would be useful. Too bad that civilian ships so equipped wouldn't be allowed into their destination ports.

Remind me again why the US left Somalia? I don't recall this kind of activity when the US Army was in country.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Remind me again why the US left Somalia? I don't recall this kind of activity when the US Army was in country.

Guerillas/insurgents, Black Hawk Down in Mogadishu, US casualties, screams about how the Imperialistic Americans were conquering another country for its foreign resources and not just staying there as peacekeepers.
Same old, same old

[Isolder74]

Well as far as I see it it is about time we went Tripolli on these jerks! Pirates should not be allowed to do this anymore no matter where they go hang out after!

[cosmicalstorm]

The Saudis aren't exactly poor, I wonder if they could bribe some of their islamic brothers down in Somaliland to wage war against the pirates.

[CaptainChewbacca]

How much would it cost to put 5 guys with AK's and a .50cal machine gun on a supertanker?

[thejester]

Wasn't that discussed in the last thread? IIRC Skimmer pointed out that whilst it might seem like a good idea it would cost shitloads to put PMCs on every ship (because there are a helluva lot of them) that traverse the Horn of Africa.

[Solauren]

Why not put a few air bases around the horn of africa, and give all the large ships the frequency and code needed to go 'MAYDAY, PIRATES, SEND FIGHTERS'.

Sure, it's expensive as hell and difficult to send in battleships and the like, but don't Helicopter gunships have alot of range?

[erik_t]

Not that kind of range. 450mi is way, way out there. Even a F-16 would need to be flying lightly loaded, and it'd take an hour to get out there, by which time the pirates would have seized the vessel. Helos, of course, would take several hours.

The only plausible outcome I see is that the surrounding international waters end up entirely depopulated of anything shorter than 200ft or so. Lots of people die and whatever fishing occurs there gets fucked up. This is unfortunate.

[TithonusSyndrome]

Wasn't that discussed in the last thread? IIRC Skimmer pointed out that whilst it might seem like a good idea it would cost shitloads to put PMCs on every ship (because there are a helluva lot of them) that traverse the Horn of Africa.

That and a prolonged firefight might be more costly than just giving the pirates what they want. If one wants to view the impoverishment of African nations as the direct result of the actions of their corporate neocolonial masters, then there might be a kind of poetic justice in seeing the desperation and lawlessness they are driven to end up becoming a liability for those responsible for the conditions that created them.

[PeZook]

In the last thread we've had about this Skimmer also pointed out that small crews of most modern ships would make any kind of armament useless, since you need to keep watches in order to actually employ it against a boarding attempt. Most succesful boardings are detected once the pirates are already on board. Though it does seem that it should be possible to arrange a proper security setup using remote sensors (for quite a large chunk of change, of course) and remote-controlled weapons, so that one or two watchmen can keep tabs on most of the ship and detect boarders immediately.

BTW, the EU is organizing a military mission to the region.

[Invictus ChiKen]

I've always wondered why not A) Keep the fighters at the air bases on constant patrol and B) Start having random ships loaded with nothing but crews of USMC.

[DPDarkPrimus]

They burn easier when they have two megabarrels of oil in them.

Seriously though, this is ballsy. And I imagine the Saudis are not too pleased that the USN, RN and Marine Nationale are sitting watching this happen and not doing anything to stop the pirates get away with tens of millions in oil and ship.

The RN has orders not to pick up pirates, as the Home Office has said the pirates would be able to claim asylum. Which is one of the most ridiculous things I had ever heard.

There's a simple solution to that, you know.

[Admiral Valdemar]

I've always wondered why not A) Keep the fighters at the air bases on constant patrol and B) Start having random ships loaded with nothing but crews of USMC.

And who's going to be paying for that? And a random ship full of USMC? I take it the US military has nothing better to do than keep soldiers below decks as they cruise the coasts of Africa.

[Alyrium Denryle]

They burn easier when they have two megabarrels of oil in them.

Seriously though, this is ballsy. And I imagine the Saudis are not too pleased that the USN, RN and Marine Nationale are sitting watching this happen and not doing anything to stop the pirates get away with tens of millions in oil and ship.

The RN has orders not to pick up pirates, as the Home Office has said the pirates would be able to claim asylum. Which is one of the most ridiculous things I had ever heard.

That is why you dont take prisoners.

Can we sic the Somalian pirates on Nisshin Maru? She left port today.

I wholeheartedly second this motion. Especially because those whaling fucks have an armed escort this year. We might be able to kill two birds with one stone