In WWI, the British Navy combatted submarine attacks on ships, using “Q Ships”. They were made to look like unarmed merchant ships, but were manned by Royal Navy crews, and had guns and weapons concealed on the decks. When a German submarine surfaced and prepared to attack, the Q Sip would pull up…then the weapons would come out, and the sub bated to pieces.
Would this work with the Somali pirates?
I think there would be intl. legal issues. Imagine the first time the Chinese stop a US military vessel disguised as a civilian freighter in the Taiwan Strait. “No, really, this is to combat pirates; we swear we’re not conducting clandestine military ops here…”
Borrowed from someone at the Balloon Juice blog: “Only if the captain is Honor Harrington”
Why would any major nation need to use these methods to spy on another country, and couldn’t the confrontation be avoided if the Chinese military was forewarned?
Probably not for two reasons:
Firstly, because the threat is different.
Subs were (1) expensive, and hence (2) relatively scarce. Further, they were well-armed, with five torpedo tubes (on most of the German sea boats), a hatful of torpedoes, and a gun.
Hence, the “Q” ships were often willing to take a torpedo (with a hull full of cork or other buoyant material) to get a U-boat to surface–that it was worth essentially trashing one of our ships to get one of their subs–because they were likely to do significant damage if not stopped (as they were well armed), and they were expensive–so sinking a sub meaningfully reduced the German ability to attack shipping.
The threat here is armed peasants in motorboats. Motorboats and RPGs are cheap–hence, there are a lot more pirates, so getting any one boat full of pirates doesn’t do as much to the overall threat. Further (unlike a U-Boat–where sinking one boat stopped it making many future attacks.), one boat of pirates might get one freighter if they’re lucky, (and if they get a reward measured in millions, they’re much less likely to go out again)-so stopping one attack doesn’t do much to stop other pirate attacks (except through deterrence).
Finally, pirates (from what I read) are risk averse. They don’t go after ships trying to resist–and so are unlikely to be able to be suckered in close (like a U-Boat).
Second, because how we fight war is different:
The big problem with U-Boats was getting a chance to shoot at them–Anti-sub weapons were short ranged (depth charges–so you had to steam over the U-boat to attack), and detection equipment was rudimentary. Guns, on the other hand, were well developed–but couldn’t shoot at underwater targets (and U-boats would not voluntarily approach armed ships on the surface)-- the great advantage of a Q-ship was that it could get a chance to actually shoot at a U-boat. On a tactical scale, it could get into range of a U-boat (bring it from underwater to the surface)—the U-boat itself solved the strategic problem (they came to the Q-Ship).
Today, we have armed helicopters, missiles, guns with radar direction—the problem isn’t getting a motorboat into tactical range, but strategic range (putting our ships near the pirates). This is because we just have a lot fewer (albeit more effective) combat vessels today.
Furthermore, Q-ships are only useful if they look like targets. In WWI, this was easy–there were a lot of tramp steamers. Today, the pirates are attacking big ships–there just aren’t as many of them, (and hence, fewer “spare” to be converted into Q-ships). Also, modern weapons are different–it’s a lot harder to arm a freighter with naval weapons than it was then (just bolt a gun onto the deck)–since we’re talking about weapons, integrated sensor and command systems, a whole setup today).
The equivalent might be to put a few marines and a couple of machine guns on a freighter–but again, the real problem is the first one–that there are a whole bunch of pirates, and it just doesn’t help as much to stop any given motorboat full.
On a historical note, Q-ships became ineffective pretty quickly–they were tried again in WWII, and failed miserably.
The “historical” solution to U-boats and pirates that might work is convoy. The reason it stopped the U-boats is that it concentrated defense–so that destroyers didn’t go out looking for U-boats (it’s a big ocean), but instead defended their targets, so a U-boat could only attack by putting itself in the vicinity of a couple of DDs. Ships in convoy suffered loss rates astronomically lower than ships sailing independently-and statistically, attacks on convoys were a lot more dangerous to the subs than attacks on independent sailings --an attack on a convoy might take the first target by surprise, but would also lead to a co-ordinated counterattack by two or three aggressive escorts-whereas an attack on an independent ship might take the first target by surprise–and there it ended.
The same applies here–if instead of a bunch of cargo ships traveling independently (as now), the pirates ran into a group of 10-20, they might be less willing to try to attack (as the ships could help each other). Now, add a destroyer and a dozen marines or so into that group of freighters, and the pirates are going to have a very bad day–and the point of convoy is so that the pirates (or U-Boats) can’t avoid the problem, as the only place they can find a ship to hijack is in a convoy.
That would work well.
A bit off-topic, but I read the other day that an Israeli cargo ship was able to defeat pirates by stringing barbed wire around the hull.
So what about passive defenses like this? i.e. barbed wire; electric fences; glass-embedded walls, and so forth?
whorfin probably hit on the major drawback - the difficulty in getting ahold of and converting large cargo ships to Q-ships for what would probably be a limited return of pirates sunk.
The idea of reviving convoys is intriguing. I suspect it would be relatively expensive and inconvenient for commercial shippers (not to mention taxing for limited modern navies), but if you’ve got to travel that route it’d be comforting to have an escort(s) who could blow muggers out of the water.
Container ships carry four “special” containers. Weapon pods. To simple of an answer?
The answer is to sort out the massive political and economic woes of Somalia.
These pirates have nothing in life apart from piracy, which is incredibly profitable compared to starving.
Tt’s pretty much the same as wasting billions on the the ‘War on Drugs’ and trying to stop Mexicans entering the US by using patrols and building barricades.
And why Afghans grow so much heroin.
Then at the off chance it doesn’t work now you’ve given a bunch of yahoos full access to all of them.
It seems that most of the times the “pirates” are tipped off by dudes at the docks. So, they don’t attack random ships a lot, and they’d know about the weapons hidden.
Somalia has one of the largest open air weapons markets around in Mogadishu. Weapons are not in short supply. If you arm the ships, the pirates will get better weapons. Imagine the armament possible with the millions of dollars ransoms they have already received.
Also, international agreements do not allow armed ships into many trade ports unless they are part of a military with port priveleges.
I actually think they could work rather well, if a few things were worked out.
Why not do like Booker57 suggested, except with a few changes:
Use Q-Containers. I’m imagining a shipping container that would be indistinguishable from any other shipping container. The difference would be that it would have say… a couple of 50 cal machine guns, 3000 rounds of ammo, and maybe a Javelin or some other small guided missile system inside. Or really whatever weaponry would be appropriate. (miniguns for the sheer terror factor?)
There would also be a way to drop one side or elevate the weapons so that the gunners would have a clear field of fire.
Load the Q-containers at sea- like 500 miles offshore in the Indian ocean or Mediterranean. Have US Navy personnel come aboard the freighter to man the weapons and act as lookouts.
Then, when the pirates come up in their junky motorboat, up come the guns, and shoot holy hell out of their boat.
Offload the container and gunnery crew at sea… ship goes into port unarmed, container gets repainted at sea and put on a different ship that’s going through the Gulf of Aden in the other direction.
This way, the pirates wouldn’t be able to know which ship was armed and which wasn’t, or even if it’s armed one trip, and not another. Plus, you wouldn’t have to worry about the port agreements and what-not, since the ships wouldn’t be armed in port.
The only thing I see as seriously problematic would be the loading/unloading of the containers, and that’s mostly because I’m not sure if it can be done by helicopter or not.
Help me out here. If the pirate problem is off the coast of Somalia, tell me again why you would sail the Q ship off the coast of China. 
The weather is nicer?
While convoys would work, if you want a Q ship the US Navy has axillary vessels (cargo/tanker etc) ships that could be painted.
I would like to see a cite that this is how the pirates in Somalia are finding their targets.
The problem is that the pirates are using mother ships to attack ships that are steaming 200 miles offshore. I think the Q ship is the answer. Paint up a US Navy axillary vessel to look like a civilian ship. Load it with SEALS and shadow it with a 688 class sub.
Steam through the area. When the mother ship shows up and launches the small boats for the attack the plan goes into action. At the point the small speed boats are headed toward the “Civilian” ship there is no doubt that they are pirates. Attack and sink the mother ship. If the pirates surrender, fine. If not sink them also.
Somalia does not have a limitless supply of mother ships. If they have no mother ships, they cannot conduct attacks far off shore, problem solved.
[QUOTE=Rick;11053516
I would like to see a cite that this is how the pirates in Somalia are finding their targets.d.[/QUOTE]
“In various ports, paid informants send information… enabling pirate gangs to select their targets and plot courses for interception.”
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/capture-pirates-on-land-and-sea/?ref=world
With reports that 20 percent of all ransom money received is reinvested by the pirate groups into better boats, G.P.S. systems, satellite phones and payments to informants working in the Middle East, Somali pirates are able to both evade the multinational naval task forces operating in the area and find new targets.
http://www.midasletter.com/news/09041505_Increased-navy-presence-will-not-curb-piracy.php
In various ports, paid informants send information about vessels’ defenses, crews, cargos, and itineraries, enabling pirate gangs to select their targets and plot courses for interception.
http://www.france24.com/en/20090413-portrait-somalia-pirates-africa-piracy-indian-gulf-aden-equipment-rules
He also finds informants in the ports he targets and recruits guards to survey the waters for captured ships, anchored around the ports particularly of Eyl, Hoboyo, and Haradhere.
*The Somali pirates have a widespread network of informants who let them know when ships leave certain harbors. They also utilize the internet, radar (both long and short-range), and radio broadcasts to follow their prey.
And here is the other problem why q-ships won’t work- the chance of any given ship being attacked is like 1-1000 or 1-10000.
Which also shows why convoy works better (if done properly). The chances of a convoy being attacked don’t matter–if it isn’t, you’re happy, since no ships got attacked (as they’re all traveling in the convoy). If it is, you’re happy–as you’ve concentrated your escort ships there (or in the pirate case, put one naval ship there)—so that you get a clear shot at the bad guys.
In WWII Convoys cost shippers a lot of money, due to delays and having to go at one speed. They mostly went along with it due to the fairly extreme danger. Still, quite a number of ships did not. The danger is nowhere near that extreme today. Shipping companies simply won;t go along with it. If they thought it was a good idea, they’d be clamoring for convoys now. They ain’t.
Now perhaps a partial convoy system just off the coast there might work.
Well, obviously a global system isn’t necessary-only in the area at risk. That was true in WWII (although the areas of risk changed–leading, for example, to convoying on the U.S. east coast and up from South America).
That being said, there are a lot of naval assets out there handling the (admittedly less extreme) danger–it’s still meaningful enough to put a lot of time and resources in.
I’ve suggested Q-ships on these boards several times already. I think it could work well, for the reasons stated by Rick and bump, and I’d like to see it tried.
For the reason stated by me back in post 11, Q-ships will not work. The pirates will usually know which ships are Q-ships and which are not. The pirtates simply woudl not attack the Q-ship.