Somali Pirates: Crew Use Water Jets To Defend Oil Tanker

ATHENS, Greece — Crewmen fired high pressure water jets Friday to fight off heavily armed Somali pirates trying to board a Greek oil tanker in the dangerous Gulf of Aden, officials said. It was the fourth pirate attack of the new year.

Armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades, pirates in three speedboats twice tried to board the Greek-flagged Kriti Episkopi but were driven away when the crew turned fire hoses on them and EU aircraft scrambled from a nearby European Union naval flotilla to help, shipping company and Greek government officials said.

The attack came a day after Somali pirates seized an Egyptian cargo ship and its 28 crew in the waterway, one of the world's most important sea routes. Also Thursday, a Malaysian military helicopter saved an Indian tanker from being hijacked and a French warship thwarted an attack on a Panamanian cargo ship and captured several pirates.

The captain of the Kriti Episkopi spotted the pirates' speedboats just before 8 a.m. GMT. While he took evasive action to try to shake them off, Greek authorities alerted the EU naval flotilla.

"An aircraft and a helicopter reached the ship very quickly, which scared the pirates off," a Greek Merchant Marine Ministry spokesman said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. "A frigate also sped to the scene. Everything now seems to be under control, but we remain vigilant."

The 29 crew members were unhurt and the tanker, carrying oil from the Persian Gulf to Greece, was not damaged in the attack off the Somali coast, according to the ship's operating company Avin International.

More than a dozen warships are now patrolling between the shores of Yemen and Somalia to try to protect commercial vessels in the key waterway, which links the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. Countries as diverse as Britain, India, Iran, the United States, China, France and Germany have naval forces in the waters.

A French warship on Thursday intercepted two speedboats with eight Somali pirates as they were preparing to board the Panamanian ship, according to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office. The crew of the "PM L'Her" dispatch boat seized weapons and munitions and plan to hand the pirates over to Somali authorities.

Pirates attacked 111 ships around the Gulf of Aden in 2008, hijacking 42 of them and earning tens of millions in ransom. With the capture of the Egyptian tanker, 15 ships with more than 260 crew are still in the hands of pirates, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

The pirates have been able to operate so successfully because Somalia has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991 and then turned on each other.

Comments

[taddles]

How hard is it to arm a ship? These guys are coming at them 3-4 in a speed boat. A couple high powered rifles and 2-3 trained marksmen and the pirates loose.

[wolfgangmo]

You need to take into account the size of these ships and the low numbers of crew. Automation of the ships and a huge increase in size makes defending them difficult.

Tactically the pirates try to sneak aboard and if that doesn't work then they split up and try to board from multiple points. Given that these ships are several football fields large, defending them is difficult.

Also a sniper would still need a clear field of fire, which in this case means shooting pretty much straight down while the pirates shoot straight up.

I commend the crew.

[karela]

They do it because there is a great deal of money involved. They do it, according to news reports, because women hang on them and think they're wonderful because they buy nice things for them. This is about greed as surely as drug cartels are about greed. If nothing effective is done about the situation and if the money continues to be so lucrative we can expect to see a great deal more of this both there and in other places around the world. Easy money draws lots of people. I don't think I'm a blood thirsty person, but I do think that this needs to be a much more mortally dangerous career path. It should have happened much sooner because they have had far too much time and far too much publicity. Many more pirates have been and will be attracted. Even if they are oppressed, and I don't believe that only the oppressed are attracted by violence and easy money, this is not an acceptable way of dealing with the problem. I used to take care of a three year who when she had a cold or felt ill would yell and kick her father's leg. What I tried to reinforce was that when you need help, you don't act ugly to the people who might help you.

[jake106]

It seems to me that the response among the boating and shipping community has been slow in coming. I mean really, it isn't that hard to stock these ships with firearms. Just kill the fools when they try to board. You can't possibly be more maneuverable than they are, so you know that if they try to board, they are going to get on. Just wait until they get along side your ship, and blow them out of the water. A few well placed .50 cal rounds will plug holes big enough to sink most of the ships these guys are using anyway.

[wndrwrthg]

I read an account that occurred in the early days of steamships. The vessel was attacked by pirates and used steam hoses to repel the borders. Perhaps steam would not have the range of the fire hoses, it would inflict severe injury to those it was used against.

[KingPest05]

I still don't understand how an oil tanker get's high-jacked by a 19' fishing boat. Isn't that like a squirel high-jacking a tour bus? I would imagine a ship that large, designed to travel around the world. Could outrun, out manuver a boat with a 20 hp trolling motor made for fishing a mile off shore.

[RumiSouth]

It takes 23 miles for a supertanker to stop, about a mile for one to make a turn. They are huge, heavy vessels and therefore difficult to maneuver. All the pirates have to do is climb aboard the ship. You do the math.

[Okay]

Also the number of crew members don't measure equally to the size of the vessel.

[tbirdalum]

There's only one way to deal with these thugs. Shoot to kill. No quarter. You come in for an act of piracy, you die. All you knotheads are doing is driving them away to be able to come back the next day. Grow a set of cahones and blast their a*s'es out of the water. Best way, you don't see them again.

[totalliberal]

The world ain't run like Jersey. It's even more dangerous. Ka-pow.

[wolfgangmo]

Ahh to bliss of ignorance.

[OkieIntellectual]

Okay so here's my idea, some bold nation (not the US) needs to lead the charge at the UN & say "from now on any time we catch some of these guys in the act we are going to confiscate the weapons, execute the pirates on the sop and dump the bodies on the beach from one of our helicopter­s... anybody got a problem with that?"

And of course a few insignificant nations (and probably France too) will pitch a gripe, the response to which should be "ok, does anybody who's opinion matters have a problem with this plan?" To which everyone else would just kind of shrug & say "eh, sounds good to us."

The practice would surely catch on and within a year you'd either have driven all the pirates away or simply eliminated them.

[americanexile]

And there you have it, my friends -

An intellectual in Oklahoma (who knew?)

With that kind of intellect, I am afraid to find out what the stupid people in Oklahoma think...

no wonder they keep voting Republican.

[teachdemocracy]

Americanexile, please don't call us your friend. Anyone reading his blog, please don't think he represents the average democratic view. His stereotyping, which brings us back to an age before the Civil Rights Act, in no way represents a democracy, rather a separatist view. Americanexile, maybe you might do well to move to Somalia, where organized hate/prejudice is tolerated.

[Okay]

I'm thinking it may be effective but so would nuking the place from orbit. Neither would the proper response.

[RightWingMarine]

you'll get plenty of ridicule, but you have a good idea.

[wolfgangmo]

Two things.

First of all this is what is mostly happening already when pirates are captured. We just don't see it on CNN.

Second, I know you are wrong because RWMarine agrees with you.

[DrFelch]

The ships need to defend themselves, yes, of course. I cannot help feeling the tiniest bit of sympathy for the pirates, though, after all, they are trying to stop global warming, as per the orders of the FSM, by increasing pirate activity, the lack of which, as we all know, being the cause of it..
But seriously, folks, they do have a bit of a gripe against the international community. Of course, until they get some kind of working government, it will be hard to enforce the fishing regulations they are complaining about.

[Halter]

His noodly appendage will take care of everything.

[totalliberal]

These sailors are hard working people, busting their behinds on ships doing jobs to support their families. Life at sea is dangerous enough. How can you excuse this bunch of criminal thugs that threaten their lives, you pr.ick.

BTW pri.ck, I'm a sailor.

[wolfgangmo]

TotalLib,

Ummmm. It was sarcasm. Read it again.

[TJCole]

We'll need to start arming merchant and cruise ships with mini guns that can be brought on deck and send these scurvy swine to "Davey Jones's Locker....­.argh..!"

[chicago25624]

Stop using water cannons and use real ones. Start sending a message. Time for 13th century justice. Hang'em and leave for the birds to pick their bones clean.

[wolfgangmo]

Are you suggesting that all ships be warships and all sailors trained in ordinance?

It simply isn't feasible, although I agree that more needs to be done.