Good point. I watched the CNN video posted here, and, yes, I was surprised to see what kind of vessel this lifeboat was. It looked like a submersible, not at all what I’d picture as a lifeboat.
So, let me get this straight – all three pirates exposed themselves at the same time, two of them sticking their heads out the windows, while being towed by a US Navy ship full of snipers. Is that the story? Sounds like death by stupidity, but what do I know?
Have you seen photos of Somalian “irregulars” firing their weapons? We’re talking about people with no military training whatsoever.
These lifeboat pictures make “sticking their heads out the windows” seem like non-trivial tasks. I wonder where the captain and the guy with the AK were standing. One guy did supposedly pop out of a hatch; maybe they others were seen through the windows?
Alternately, it’s been proposed that thermal imaging equipment was used – could that (and the bullets too) penetrate the hull material of that lifeboat?
ETA: On seeing the interior (err, link doesn’t work – go to the 2nd one manually), am I the only one who thinks “that’d be one hell of a Disney ride!”?
Thermal imagers don’t work through glass, let alone through walls/bulkheads. Night vision aka starlight scopes will, though. According to most reports, it was hot and they stuck their heads up through the hatches on top. I imagine that the DD could also have had lights on the boat, which would have partially blinded the pirates and provided visibility.
Just to reiterate what people have said earlier (the ones who seem to know about guns), the shots likely weren’t terribly difficult. And personally, I don’t think they were using “sniper rifles” nor were they actual snipers, just good CQB shots (normal SEALs).
“Snipers” as a military tactic are very limited. It would be much easier and more effective to put a dual .50 cal or something similar on a boat, rather than stationing military snipers. Furthermore, shots from boats, to boats, at long range, on choppy ocean, are seriously tough. Finally, the reason merchantmen aren’t armed is simply because insurance is more expensive. Right now, it’s cheaper to accept the .001% chance of being hijacked than to pay the extra insurance premium for having an armed vessel.
Just a quick point about the did they parachute onto the ship or not.
Apart from the fact that it would be a very tricky landing for the team,lots of hard metal and sharp pointy things about plus an extremly limited area to land, on and lets face it you dont ship highly trained specialists from god knows where only for them to become ineffective due to a broken ankle or impaled on an antenna…
Apart from that the naval types tend to get a bit disgruntled when their Radar arrays are snarled up with peoples chutes and rigging lines,(Or dead bodies)whereas a rendevoued jump into the sea and a pickup is a walk in the park by comparison, plus it allows the ships company to feel all nautical and Yo ho ho and its an excuse to practice some seafaring man on man love with each other,if the U.S.N.wasn’t “dry” no doubt they’d break out the rum while they were at it.
And now I’m going to make a run for it in the interests of my own personal safety.
FWIW, from the latest issue of People magazine (yes, I know):
…a military plane flew over the Bainbridge in the dead of night, and a squad of Navy SEALs parachuted into the Indian Ocean…
And incidentally, Commodore William Bainbridge served against the Barbary pirates, so it’s a nice historical irony to have a warship named after him play so prominent a role in the current anti-piracy campaign.
[Ghostbusters]
Right. That’s bad. Okay. All right. Important safety tip. Thanks, Egon. Everybody put on their Depends and duct tape themselves to the good captain.
[/Ghostbusters]
I dont think anyone has yet linked to this relevant Slate explainer article “Open Sea Sniping How hard is it to shoot someone in a lifeboat 100 feet away?”
This was cool: “(Sniper teams generally count down from five and fire in unison on the T in ‘two.’)”
That is a Disney ride! The recently reopened Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage (a modified version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) uses submarines with interiors that look just like that. 
IANASniper.
According to Tom Clancy (Yeah, I know… but what do you expect from me ? I ain’t shot nobody !) it is indeed possible - which is why sharpshooters try to aim for the back of the head/neck, where the cerebellum is. That part of the brain controls muscle activity, so no cerebellum = no spasm.
The lifeboats on a cruise ship I sailed on 20 years ago looked similar to that, but they weren’t fully enclosed.
What weapon bigger than an RPG would pirates be likely to use? And we aren’t talking about bulk carriers armed with 5" guns and CIWS cannons.
A sniper with a standard hunting rifle with a range of a mile firing from a stable 20,000 ton cargo ship vs 15 pirates in a bobbing shitbox open motorboat armed with AKs and RPGs with an effective range of only a couple hundred hards? I’m pretty sure I give it to the sniper.
Other than cost, how come the shipping companies don’t hire private security guards like one might for a factory or warehouse? I mean that seems like it would be a good business for those Blackwater type companies.
It’s already happening. I know a former Navy SEAL who was just hired by Xe (the former Blackwater) to provide security on cargo ships in that region.
