USN Vessel sinks fishing vessel, machineguns survivors

[Lonestar]

The finest source on all things military

USS Haditha Accidentally Sinks Fishing Boat, Machine-Guns Survivors

Manama, Bahrain – In a rare setback for the international anti-piracy campaign off Somalia, US Navy officials today admitted that the American warship USS Haditha accidentally sank a Chinese fishing vessel just east of Somalia and then inadvertently machine-gunned the survivors.

This contradicted the Haditha‘s initial report, which said that it had been attacked by seven pirate skiffs and a pair of pirate-operated Mirage jets armed with Exocet missiles.

Vice Admiral Mark I. Fox, the commander of the United States 5th Fleet, spoke to reporters following reports that a fishing vessel had been “blown out of the water” by “an unusually well-armed warship that happened to be flying an American flag.”

Captain Erik King, the commander of the Haditha, claims that his ship was simply following the rules of engagement.

According to him, the Haditha originally spotted what it thought was a pirate vessel while patrolling 75 nautical miles east of Somalia.

“She was casually steaming up and down the coast with a group of armed men on board, obviously lying in wait for the next innocent ship to steam across her path,” Captain King said.

Many fishing trawlers carry armed guards while sailing through Somali waters.

When the Haditha demanded the fishing boat stop and be searched, its crew refused, claiming it was a sovereign vessel in international waters.

“Under our current rules of engagement, we’re allowed to prevent any suspicious vessels from leaving the area, and that’s what we proceeded to do,” said Captain King, referring to the Haditha‘s subsequent attack on the fishing boat with its 5 inch gun, Mark 46 torpedoes, and the Captain’s 9mm sidearm, which he fired from the bridge.

After the boat sank, the survivors began swimming towards the Haditha, prompting Captain King to order all four of the ship’s .50 caliber machine guns to open fire on them, as well as launch the ship’s SH-60 Seahawk helicopter to drop depth charges.

“They were clearly attempting to board our vessel,” said Captain King, “and the rules of engagement allow us to use deadly force to prevent potentially hostile individuals from ‘closing with or boarding’ our ship, so I’m unclear what the problem is.”

According to an anonymous source from the Haditha, just before the attack Captain King also told his sailors that he’d rather “be tried by twelve than carried by six.”

The Haditha is an Arleigh Burke--class destroyer, designed to operate in an asymmetric environment just off the coast of a hostile or potentially-hostile territory.

The ship has been particularly controversial for its habit of conducting escalations of force on Carnival Cruise ships with its Tomahawk Missiles, and of returning captains to their vessels with black eyes and claiming they fell off a ladder.

A YouTube video was also discovered last year showing two members of the ship’s crew tossing baby seals off a glacier, although they claimed the seals were already dead at the time.

The rules of engagement do allow this, although I'm sure that the whiners are gonna try to hang the captain.

[Ziggy Stardust]

A YouTube video was also discovered last year showing two members of the ship’s crew tossing baby seals off a glacier, although they claimed the seals were already dead at the time.

About damned time! Now cue the liberal bombasts coming in and complaining about this. Fucking pussies.

[General Zod]

How dare foreign nationals refuse a search and then try to save themselves when their ship was destroyed! They should have bowed to obvious American divinity.

[Mr Bean]

Looks like this is an officer issue, the Captains created an environment where this kind of behavior is excepted and accepted and his sailors react as he expects. Captain King however fucked up in firing warning shots at the swimmers. That is a huge no no Lonestar unless you want to tell me that Captain King had a reasonable expectation that the survivors were armed and trying to storm his ship. Never mind he could have simply cut in the engines and put some distance then lowered small boats and collected prisoners/rendered aid as needed.

How dare foreign nationals refuse a search and then try to save themselves when their ship was destroyed! They should have bowed to obvious American divinity.

Britishs ships do this to, it's called "I have a warship". The laws of the sea are pretty specific that warships get to stop ships and inspect them. If they keep doing it their Captains will get beached for abusing this authority.

[Lonestar]

Looks like this is an officer issue, the Captains created an environment where this kind of behavior is excepted and accepted and his sailors react as he expects. Captain King however fucked up in firing warning shots at the swimmers. That is a huge no no Lonestar unless you want to tell me that Captain King had a reasonable expectation that the survivors were armed and trying to storm his ship.

Listen, at the end of the day I'm going to take the word of a Navy Captain over some "fisherman" that's armed to the teeth in an area known for piracy. The Skipper made the call to minimize all possible dangers to his ship. It was the right one.

[Mr Bean]

Listen, at the end of the day I'm going to take the word of a Navy Captain over some "fisherman" that's armed to the teeth in an area known for piracy. The Skipper made the call to minimize all possible dangers to his ship. It was the right one.

Did you hear me objecting in how he dealt with the ship? I'm referring to the followup Lonestar after the ship had sunk.

[Lonestar]

So was I. For all he knew one of them was going to attach a limpet mine to the hull.

[Zaune]

What. The. Fuck?

[General Zod]

Looks like this is an officer issue, the Captains created an environment where this kind of behavior is excepted and accepted and his sailors react as he expects. Captain King however fucked up in firing warning shots at the swimmers. That is a huge no no Lonestar unless you want to tell me that Captain King had a reasonable expectation that the survivors were armed and trying to storm his ship. Never mind he could have simply cut in the engines and put some distance then lowered small boats and collected prisoners/rendered aid as needed.

How dare foreign nationals refuse a search and then try to save themselves when their ship was destroyed! They should have bowed to obvious American divinity.

Britishs ships do this to, it's called "I have a warship". The laws of the sea are pretty specific that warships get to stop ships and inspect them. If they keep doing it their Captains will get beached for abusing this authority.

I didn't realize steaming up and down the coast was enough to make someone an obvious pirate. According to the definition of piracy it doesn't look like being heavily armed is really enough.

Definition of piracy

Piracy consists of any of the following acts:

(a) any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed:

(i) on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft;

(ii) against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State;

(b) any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft;

(c) any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described in subparagraph (a) or (b).

[Simon_Jester]

That's an interesting site the OP article comes from...

[Dalton]

“Under our current rules of engagement, we’re allowed to prevent any suspicious vessels from leaving the area, and that’s what we proceeded to do,” said Captain King, referring to the Haditha‘s subsequent attack on the fishing boat with its 5 inch gun, Mark 46 torpedoes, and the Captain’s 9mm sidearm, which he fired from the bridge.

He shot at the enemy vessel with his sidearm? Is that a usual occurrence? Seems a little trigger-happy to me, but I'm no expert on these rules of engagement.

[Dalton]

That's an interesting site the OP article comes from...

"The Duffel Blog serves the men and women of the US Military with a daily dose of military humor, funny military pictures, and faux news."

We've been had!

[Block]

Look at some of the other "stories" posted. Also you all really think there's a ship in the Navy named after the Haditha massacre?

[Simon_Jester]

There is no USS Haditha.

So, anyone willing to admit that they took the article seriously at first glance? Second glance? Long enough to write an outraged post? Two outraged posts?

[Dalton]

This isn't exactly The Onion, so it may not be obvious to anyone but Mess types.

[General Zod]

Look at some of the other "stories" posted. Also you all really think there's a ship in the Navy named after the Haditha massacre?

It's not really something that most people would make an immediate connection to unless you paid attention to ME affairs so . . .

[Losonti Tokash]

I thought the name of the ship was a pretty good indicator. :p

[Block]

Look at some of the other "stories" posted. Also you all really think there's a ship in the Navy named after the Haditha massacre?

It's not really something that most people would make an immediate connection to unless you paid attention to ME affairs so . . .

Ok, so how about the fact that they've supposedly targeted cruise ships with Tomahawks? I mean c'mon.

[General Zod]

Look at some of the other "stories" posted. Also you all really think there's a ship in the Navy named after the Haditha massacre?

It's not really something that most people would make an immediate connection to unless you paid attention to ME affairs so . . .

Ok, so how about the fact that they've supposedly targeted cruise ships with Tomahawks? I mean c'mon.

Look with as much bullshit as the military does it's really that much of a stretch. :v

[Zanfib]

I thought there was something odd about the name, but since the link didn't contain any onions I was completely fooled.

[Phantasee]

I thought the name of the ship was a pretty good indicator. :p

Yeah that gave it away pretty quick, and then a captain shooting his sidearm from the bridge and buzzing cruise ships with Tomahawks kinda sealed it.

Lonestar and Bean arguing seriously was definitely telling.

[Simon_Jester]

There's something funny about having gotten so used to outrage-posting that this wouldn't ring alarm bells as being too over the top to be true...

[Ziggy Stardust]

Seriously, nobody but me made it through to the last sentence of the story with the line about the baby seals?

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

It seriously had me at first ("What? How do pirates have missile-armed jet fighters?") but the mental image of a captain firing his pistol from the bridge while SH-60s drop depth charges on hapless fishermen was the tipping point.

[Lonestar]

Lonestar and Bean arguing seriously was definitely telling.

Well how else were we to push it along...