Re this thread about Somali pirates attacking cargo freighters, some folks speculated it might make sense for a shipping firm to use on board security in dangerous waters to deter pirates. Assuming that in keeping with the low manpower ethos of shipping companies they hire one competent guard to deter pirates, how does this one man deterrence force equip and arm themselves to prevent boarding and threats from pirate ships?
What kind of horsepower would you need (or be able to obtain and legally use aboard ship) to keep a pirate ship with an RPG and machine guns at bay?
I’m not sure a single person would do it. The question would come down to would the shipping company go for expensive hardware and few personnel, or cheaper equipment and more personnel?
The big bux answer, IMNSHO, would be to mount a couple of these on the bow and stern of the ship. (Or port and starboard…) Since the best answer would be to keep the pirates at a stand off distance. And having the cannon mounted on the ship would give an advantage in stability and marksmanship over personnel RPGs, which would likely be decisive.
Cheaper, from an equipment viewpoint, would be a slightly larger anti-piracy crew, say 3-5 people, carrying RPGs and sub-machine guns. But that would also entail a higher risk, I’d think.
The problem for both these scenarios is that a late detection would serious futz any attempts to protect the ship. More night time watch standers would seem to me to be the best defense against pirates, and that’s going to cut into shipping profits. sigh
ETA: Taking RPGs out of the equation, a small crew armed with a fire hose would probably be able to keep boarders off the ship. Even boarders with small arms, I think.
I’m also ignoring the legalities of using deadly force for privately owned vessels, for this argument.
Common shipboard firehose at full pressure, anything else ,probably just shotguns. Unless your hiring blackwater to provide a protection detail and they give you a list of options.
Not sure exactly, but I recall one of these noisemaking devices being used recently to repel pirates from a cruise liner. I also recall reading that the most effective pirate eradication system is a watchful crewman who knows how to use the fire hoses.
How about a couple of small, armored turrets carrying remote-controlled .50 machineguns? Operated by camera from a hardpoint (say, the bridge). Put them high up, bow and aft, and you’ve got a lot of coverage. A big cargo ship is a pretty stable firing platform compared to a small powerboat and weight isn’t a concern so you can carry a ton of ammo.
This is existing technology and pretty cheap.
A .50 has a max range (per Wiki) of over 4.5 miles. An RPG tops out at under 1km. You’ve got all that nice powerful ships radar so detecting incoming vessels and giving them lots of warning shouldn’t be too hard, then you’ve got miles to convince them that they’d better find easier pickings before their boat gets totally ventilated.
If the bad guys are similarly armed you may have to upgun to outrange them - 20mm cannon seems like a lot, so would missiles. That’s pretty serious stuff.
If you want to focus on anti-boarding measures (like preventing them from hooking a ladder on an scrambling aboard) how about a nice low-tech layer of concertina wire all the way around? Hell, Galileo had ways of handling assault ladders hundreds of years ago.
I like the idea of using the firehoses but without a bunch of remotely operated nozzles I don’t see how one person could run it all and it depends on letting the pirates get up close.
Similar to the joke about not having to outrun the bear, just the companion, I’m guessing that having even just a little more firepower than other cargo carriers would be effective, (at least until the competition gets better armed as well).
In that case, having a couple of people with RPBs and something similar to AK-47s or M16s class of weapons could probably work. It seems that most pirates are operating from single boats, so it shouldn’t take a huge team.
Something that’s enough to scare them at long range, and engage them at shorter range. Something that is readily portable, so you can move about the vessel with it. Accurate shooting may not be easy from on deck, so something that can fire full-auto, with tracer.
I’d say we’re talking about a light machine gun, say an M60 or M240, or a Minimi. Have a 7.62 NATO selective fire rifle for backup, say an FAL. Send a few bursts of tracer their way while they’re still out of range, and see if they don’t suffer an attitude adjustment.
That’s if you have to haul whatever you have around. If you’re allowed to put fixed weapon mounts on the vessel, then a few fixed Browning machine guns would be more than adequate, practically overkill. It’d still be nice to have a mobile light machine gun and a rifle for backup though.
I do wonder whether the most important investment would be decent optics and a comfortable viewing platform. Spotting the pirates when they’re a long way off is a BIG advantage for you, and getting on board before you know they’re there is a BIG advantage for them!
My previous thread sank like a stone, but I’ll ask the question again (posed in slightly different way): what prevents modern navies and/or commercial vessels from summarily hanging pirates? For that matter, from simply shooting them?
I don’t think any European navy could hang a pirate. The death penalty is completely banned, even in wartime, under Protocol 13 of the ECHR. I’m not a lawyer, though.
I wouldn’t dilly-dick around with the small arms or fire hoses. Mount two of these port and starboard. In cased if attack, you wouldn’t even have to get out of your bunk, just hit the “Okay” button when the fire control radar screen asks, “Permission requested to completely obliterate the threat”. The only thing more sure than this would be to take off and nuke them from orbit.
That’s what I came in to suggest. Let “R2D2 with a hard-on” take care of them, toot-sweet. Kinda pricey option, though. The Bushmasters would be cheaper, but would also require trained crew to operate.
As for the hanging question…why bother? If pirates are caught in the act, summary justice is applied then and there. Cut them down and let the fish eat. No need to capture any of them at all.
I think it was in The Sand Pebbles that they used live steam hoses fed from the ships boiler to repel boarders. Nothing says “you aren’t welcome here” like being scalded to death.
What? Leave them alive to attack the next ship that comes along? Where is your sense of civic duty. Kill’em all while you have the opportunity. It’s the proper thing to do.
And yet everyone instantly goes for the machine guns and military weapons that would be HIGHLY ILLEGAL in pretty much every port the ship needed to visit. (And would be confiscated during any visit by a local navy/coast guard vessel.)
A Barrett .50 rifle, as noted, would have more than enough range to be hitting the pirates long before they got in RPG range. One or two of them in capable hands with the right optics should be more than enough distance deterence. You could blast some serious holes in their hulls if you wanted to avoid bloodshed.
I might stock an AR-14 or two for mid-range work, then go straight to the shotguns. Nothing says lovin’ like buckshot for close range work.
As cool as those are, they are designed as anti-missle defence, would they depress enough to shoot a speed boat at sea level? Especially from the deck or superstructure of a cargo ship. Remember you have to be able to point the barrel down to hit your pirate targets.