# Can you imagine if Pirates had tanks? Imagine no longer and no, it is not cool. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 27, 2008, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503 "2008-09-27T22:54:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503/21 "2008-09-28T15:57:23Z")
One complication of course for the ones thinking on just shooting the pirates is that the pirates have the crew of the ship as hostages, but then a thought hit me: While the pirates may not be able to do anything with the tanks, the weapons are very likely to end in Somalia and used to kill dozens if not hundreds of Somalis. Knowing this, would it be justified to just sink the ship if there is no practical way to rescue the hostages? ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503/22 "2008-09-28T16:04:10Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Well, he could shoot them, but Danish Naval law apaprently no longer has a death penalty. > > He could dump them off in the Hague, who might concievably have the same witness issue. > > if they were taken in an act of piracy, or there was enough evidence of piracy, the international court in England is still set up to deal with piracy. > > I do believe that under international maritime law was broken in this case and it should be addressed. > > I would probably have shot them in the back of the head and dumped them if there was enough compelling evidence of piracy. The pirates would have had no compunction to capture and release the average common seaman on any vessel they took. The answer is right on the tip of my tongue. Don’t they carry a large piece of wood on board Danish warships? Say something like a 2"X12"? What is the word I am looking for? You know a large piece of wood you could have the pirates walk on. Now what is that word? Gaaah! I hate it when I can’t recall a word. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skylark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Skylark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skylark)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503/23 "2008-09-28T19:07:31Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > If I priced insurance policies for cargo on ships that were planning to go anywhere near Somalia, I’d charge them 110% of the value of the cargo just for calling me and wasting my time. > > Also, if I were on a ship loaded with tanks and tons of weapons, there’s no damn way a pirate gets within boarding distance. Hmmm . . . inside job maybe? You’re pretty right on the first one. But the second, it’s likely the hijacked ship was one of your basic ginormous cargo ships. They’re big and loaded with cargo, slow as hell, and have a crew of almost nobody. They’re easy prey to anybody with a couple of speedboats and a way up the side. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503/24 "2008-09-28T20:18:20Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > The answer is right on the tip of my tongue. Don’t they carry a large piece of wood on board Danish warships? Say something like a 2"X12"? What is the word I am looking for? You know a large piece of wood you could have the pirates walk on. Now what is that word? > Gaaah! I hate it when I can’t recall a word. > 😃 Your _constant_ suggestions are always welcome. In fact, I think I’ll create a political party, and part of my platform will be the philosophical statement that piracy should be punished. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503/25 "2008-09-28T22:34:01Z")
Avast ye, maties! We be surrounded! > **[tollbit-host.com](https://tollbit-host.com/news/3097826/US-warship-challenges-Somalia-pirates.html)** > [@](#): > > The Howard, a heavily armed guided missile destroyer, was in place to monitor whether Somali pirates began offloading any of the MV Faina’s 33 Soviet-type T-72 tanks or their ammunition, a US Navy 5th Fleet spokesman said. > > He would not say what action was being planned to stop the pirates moving the cargo, which had been en route to Kenya. > > A spokesman for the armed group which seized the Ukranian ship and its 25 crew said that the Faina was surrounded by three foreign warships, but he said his men were ready to fight to the death to protect their catch. > > Sugule Ali said that the ship would be released on payment of a $20 million (£10.8 million) ransom. > > “It is true we are surrounded by three foreign military vessels and there are some others we can see [in the] distance,” he said. > > "We are not afraid of their presence, that will not make us to abandon the ship or to refrain from asking the money. > > “There is no shortage of food supply and all the crew members are healthy and well including ours.” ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503/26 "2008-09-29T01:43:16Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Avast ye, maties! We be surrounded! > > [tollbit-host.com](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3097826/US-warship-challenges-Somalia-pirates.html) Step One, pay the ransom. Step Two, move the ship out of th way. Step Three, pummel the pirate port to dust. Who’s for it? It’s mind boggling that a pirate port is allowed to exist. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503/27 "2008-09-29T02:30:45Z")
Well thank goodness [Global Warming will be coming to an end soon!](http://www.seanbonner.com/blog/archives/001857.php) ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503/28 "2008-09-29T03:44:46Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > The pirates would have had no compunction to capture and release the average common seaman on any vessel they took. I don’t understand this sentence. > [@Ale](#): > > It’s mind boggling that a pirate port is allowed to exist. What “pirate port”? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503/29 "2008-09-29T03:56:37Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > What “pirate port”? The little-known Somalian resort town of Tortuga, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503/30 "2008-09-29T04:03:22Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > What “pirate port”? I think he is referring to the town of Eyl, from the first quoted article: > **[BBC NEWS | Africa | Somalia's pirates seize 33 tanks](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7637257.stm)** > > Pirates off the coast of Somalia have seized a Ukrainian ship carrying 33 tanks, officials say. > [@](#): > > Somali pirates are currently holding more than a dozen hijacked ships in Eyl, a town in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland. It is not really a port, as seen in Google Earth, it seems that the only place to keep any captured ship is to keep it anchored close to the almost dry river mouth. > **[Eyl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyl)** > > Eyl is an ancient port town in the northeastern Nugal region of Somalia in the autonomous Puntland region, also serving as the capital of the Eyl District. Eyl, also called Illig, was the capital of the Dervish from 1905 onwards, until superseded by Taleh, which became Dervish capital in 1909. > Eyl is the site of many historical artifacts and structures. Along with a rock shelter near the southern town of Buur Heybe, it is the seat of the first professional archaeological excavation in the countr... ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503/31 "2008-09-29T04:18:48Z")
Missed the edit window: One interesting bit: Google earth community members made notice of a secret(?) airfield close to the town: [http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php?Number=903506](http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php?Number=903506) ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503/32 "2008-09-29T04:35:59Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I wonder what Kenya was planning to do with 33 tanks? Well, I’m _not_ supposed to tell, so all I’ll say is that it has “something” to with the upcoming US elections. . . 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503/33 "2008-09-29T04:53:43Z")
I understood the USS Howard was shadowing the ship. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503/34 "2008-09-29T05:31:42Z")
They won’t be able to support the tanks in the field the way a nation would. I think they have 33 paper weights in the tanks. The rest of the cargo might me a lot more useful to them. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503/35 "2008-09-29T05:34:20Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > I understood the USS Howard was shadowing the ship. Are you sure it wasn’t the USS Moe or USS Curly? I think they were planning on sending the USS Shemp at one point, but it didn’t test well. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503/36 "2008-09-29T05:53:47Z")
Pirates with tanks? Pfft, those things can’t float. Nothing to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503/37 "2008-09-29T06:04:21Z")
> [@Jeff](#): > > Pirates with tanks? Pfft, those things can’t float. > > Nothing to worry about. [The Germans thought the same thing.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DD_tank) ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503/38 "2008-09-29T06:08:37Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > They won’t be able to support the tanks in the field the way a nation would. I think they have 33 paper weights in the tanks. If they can sell the tanks to a nation, however, they will be very valuable paper weights. There are all sorts of reasons why this won’t occur, but the fact that the pirates themselves won’t have a use for the tanks isn’t one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503/39 "2008-09-29T07:24:35Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > [The Germans thought the same thing.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DD_tank) Well, they still can’t drive up the side of a tanker, so we’re still pretty much ok. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503/40 "2008-09-29T08:01:47Z")
> [@Jeff](#): > > Well, they still can’t drive up the side of a tanker, so we’re still pretty much ok. What tanker? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-imagine-if-pirates-had-tanks-imagine-no-longer-and-no-it-is-not-cool/465503.md?page=3)