Saturday, October 31, 2009

Progress

How come we were more effective at dealing with pirates 200 years ago than we are now?

I mean, we have ships, helicopters and aircraft with high powered radar that can spot a bottle top floating on the sea from a distance of 15 billion miles away, but for some reason we can't stop a rag tag bunch of sailors armed with nothing more than a rickety speed boat, a few AK47s and an RPG from stopping and capturing enormous floating warehouses as easily as they can capture a pleasure yacht.

Come on! Why aren't they stopping this? I don't think it is lack of technology or ships - it is the lack of will. Two hundred years ago they would have stopped the suspicious vessel with a shot across the bows - and if it failed to stop they'd sink it.

Now they are too tied up with red tape to do this. They can't do anything unless they have "reason" to do so - i.e. they actually see the bastards firing their machine guns at someone. They should be doing what they did 200 years ago - and with the technology at their disposal it should be easy to do. Spot a suspicious blip on the radar - send a helicopter armed to the teeth out to check it out - and if the suspicious blip fails to stop - sink it!

Why are we so pathetic today? If this is progress you can shove it.

9 comments:

Casey's Belly said...

Absolutely spot-on! I've been saying it foe years - arm the damned things like they did the Q-ships - the so-called pirates would soon get the message!

Anonymous said...

A few mercs on each of the tankers would stop this nonsense.

I liked the Indian navy's approach - 'we saw a pirate ship, so we sank it'

Larry said...

I wonder if these are muslim pirates, content in the knowledge that regardless of what they do they will go to Allah.

Von Spreuth. said...

Casey's Belly said...

Absolutely spot-on! I've been saying it foe years - arm the damned things like they did the Q-ships - the so-called pirates would soon get the message!


Q ships were a total failure. In BOTH world wars they sank less than TEN U-Boats!

Problems with pirates.

The West has gone bloody queer. "What if we threw a war and no one got shot!" seems to be their wet dream.

I have been on pirate hunt patrols with the Bundesmarine. I had TWO of the bastards in my sights (Multi targeting torpedoes), and was not allowed to fire.

What happened? We took them aboard, fed the ciunts, and then put them back on land with a "good telling off".

SINK THE BASTARDS! And send the Marines in to take out their bloody villages is the ONLY answer.

Na. a couple of Tornados with napalm may also work.

Stan said...

I tend to agree with you, VS - look at the response of the modern government to that of the British government over the Don Pacifico incident. As Palmerston said at the time ....

"As the Roman in days of old held himself free from indignity when he could say Civis Romanus sum, so also a British subject, in whatever land he may be, shall feel confident that the watchful eye and the strong arm of England will protect him against injustice and wrong."

Q Ships may not have sunk many U boats, but I do think that these Somali pirates may think twice if next time they sidled up to a supertanker in their rickety boat with their AK47s they were met by a well aimed salvo from a 30 mm chain gun. I can't see these being standard issue on pleasure yachts, though.

Idiotboy said...

It can only be a matter of time before those who have little interest in our collective welfare react to this blatant display of indecision by upping the ante.

If a rickety speedboat armed with a couple of AK47s can take out a supertanker, then a six or seven strong armada of the Somali naval force should be able to take out Central London within a couple of hours after sailing up the Thames without a fight.

We really have lost it.

Anonymous said...

And stop paying ransoms.

"Once you have paid them the Danegeld, you never get rid of the Dane"

Weekend Yachtsman said...

"Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for the West while it commits suicide"

Discuss.

Stan said...

Nice quote, WY - a modern update on the "fiddling while Rome burns" analogy.