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| 7/12 |
| 2005/11/8-9 [Politics/Domestic/911, Reference/Military] UID:40490 Activity:moderate |
11/8 Cruise Ship Escapes Pirate Hijack Attempt
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051105/ap_on_re_af/pirate_attack
Ship's Passengers Recall Pirate Attack
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051107/ap_on_re_af/seychelles_pirate_cruise
What kind of cruise ship is it that can outrun speedboat? Or, what
kind of lame speedboat is it that can't even catch up with a cruise
ship!!?? And what kind of lame pirates would use such a speedboat?
\_ "two 25-foot inflatable boats" I suspect that heavily loaded
inflatable boats are not that fast. Probably better
acceleration, but lower top speed.
\_ Still, they can't outrun a 440-foot-long, 10,000-ton cruise ship?
That's still lame.
\_ They probably didn't outrun, per se. With no way to board or
stop the ship, when the cruise ship set out to open sea, the
pirates probably just gave up.
\_ Modern luxury liners can hit almost 30 knots. Some lame
Somali rustbucket may not make that much. -John
\_ The rigid inflatable boats the US Navy uses have
a top speed of 45 knots, but a cruise speed of
only 30 knots - and that's a boat the US military
uses. I'm gonna guess the speedboats were faster,
but not much faster and have a shorter range.
\_ Once again, khat-addled Somali thugs. Have a look
at link:tinyurl.com/9mynz -- "speedboat" is an
optimistic description. -John
\_ They went 100 miles offshore in that?
\_ Look up Thor Heyerdahl. Where there's a will
there's a way. Some of the slow freighters,
private yachts or tankers modern pirates
take are well worth it. Anda cruise ship
will not deviate course because some random
blip is near it--it will probably just try
to avoid ramming. -John
\_ The more I think about it, the more surprised I
am that the thugs got that close. A radar blip
from something on an intercept course within 10
miles of me? If I can't talk to it, I run from it.
A possible terrorist strike would be my primary
worry, especially 100 miles out on a ship full of
American/European tourists.
\_ Even more lame is that, why did the pirates fire their guns when
they approach the cruise ship if their speedboats aren't that fast?
They should have quietly approached and climbed up the ship before
waking up everybody with gunfire.
\_ The problem is that there is no easy way to "climb" up the ship.
The ships are built for easy access to docks not to those at
sea level. The shooting was probably out of frustration.
\_ The article says they were trying to disable the ship
with their shooting.
\_ It's like shooting BBs at a elephant. You need to know
where to hit and then get lucky hitting it.
\_ Eh, not so much with RPG's.
\_ I thought climbing up ships from sea level are pirates'
specialty. Isn't it their main way of hijacking ships?
\_ Most piracy deals with much smaller, slower ships. Small
frieghters, fishing boats, that sort of thing. Built much
lower and substatially easier to access.
\_ These guys are primitive thugs. Like op, they probably thought
"speed boat _must_ be faster than cruise ship." -John
\_ Per /., it looks like the cruise ship used a sonic weapon to
deter their pursuers:
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/breaking_news/13106303.htm
\_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_range_acoustic_device
very cool. |
| 7/12 |
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| news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051105/ap_on_re_af/pirate_attack AP Cruise Ship Escapes Pirate Hijack Attempt By RODRIQUE NGOWI, Associated Press Writer Sat Nov 5, 4:50 PM ET NAIROBI, Kenya - Pirates armed with grenade launchers and machine guns tr ied to hijack a luxury cruise liner off the east African coast Saturday, but the ship outran them, officials said. Click Here Two boats full of pirates approached the Seabourn Spirit about 100 miles off the Somali coast and opened fire while the heavily armed bandits tri ed to get onboard, said Bruce Good, spokesman for the Miami-based Seabou rn Cruise Line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corp. The ship escaped by shifting to high speed and changing course. "These are very well-organized pirates," said Andrew Mwangura, head of th e Kenyan chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Program. "Somalia's coastli ne is the most dangerous place in the region in terms of maritime securi ty." The attackers never got close enough to board the Spirit, but one member of the 161-person crew was injured by shrapnel, cruise line president De borah Natansohn said. The vessel's 151 passengers, mostly Americans with some Australians and E uropeans, were gathered in a lounge for their safety, Good said. "Our suspicion at this time is that the motive was theft," Good said, add ing that the crew had been trained for "various scenarios, including peo ple trying to get on the ship that you don't want on the ship." The British news agency Press Association said passengers awoke to the so und of gunfire as two 25-foot inflatable boats approached the liner. Edith Laird of Seattle, who was traveling with her daughter and a friend, told the British Broadcasting Corp. in an e-mail that her daughter saw the pirates out the window. "There were at least three rocket-propelled grenades that hit the ship, o ne in a state room," Laird wrote. "We had no idea that this ship could m ove as fast as it did and (the captain) did his best to run down the pir ates." The Spirit was bound for Mombasa, Kenya, at the end of a 16-day voyage fr om Alexandria, Egypt. It was expected to reach the Seychelles on Monday, and then continue on its previous schedule to Singapore, company offici als said. The 440-foot-long, 10,000-ton cruise ship, which is registered in the Bah amas, sustained minor damage, Good said. The liner, which had its maiden voyage in 1989, can accommodate 208 guests. There has been a steep rise in piracy this year along Somalia's nearly 2, 000-mile coastline, with 15 violent incidents reported between March and August, compared with just two for all of 2004, according to the Intern ational Maritime Bureau, a division of the International Chamber of Comm erce that tracks trends in piracy. In June, a UN-chartered ship carrying 935 tons of rice for Somali victi ms of the Asian tsunami was hijacked by pirates, who held crew members h ostage for three months before releasing them. Somalia has had no effective central government since opposition leaders ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. The leaders then turned on e ach other, transforming this nation of 7 million into a patchwork of bat tling fiefdoms ruled by heavily armed militias. ABC News photo released on November 7, 2005 shows an unexploded rocke t propelled grenade on the deck of the Seabourn Spirit, the passenger cr uise ship attacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. |
| news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051107/ap_on_re_af/seychelles_pirate_cruise AP Ship's Passengers Recall Pirate Attack By BISHR EL-TOUNI, Associated Press Writer Mon Nov 7, 3:29 PM ET MAHE, Seychelles - A cruise liner that was attacked by pirates over the w eekend docked safely on this Indian Ocean archipelago Monday after chang ing its course to escape. Passengers described their horror as pirates i n speedboats chased their luxury cruise liner at sea, firing rocket-prop elled grenades and assault rifles with smiles visible on faces otherwi se hidden by ski masks. "I was scared, I was very scared," Jean Noll of Florida. But her husband said the experience was not likely to deter them from enjoying another c ruise. The Seabourn Spirit had been bound for Mombasa, Kenya, when it was attack ed by pirates armed with grenade launchers and machine guns on Saturday about 100 miles off Somalia's lawless coast. The ship escaped by shiftin g to high speed and changing course. The gunmen never got close enough to board the cruise ship, but one membe r of the 161-person crew was injured by shrapnel, according to the Miami -based Seabourn Cruise Line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corp. After docking at the Seychelles, passengers boarded two buses for a tour of two of the resort islands and reporters were kept away. Most passenge rs were to continue from the Seychelles to Singapore, company officials said, although some who planned to tour Mombasa were to fly there Tuesda y aboard a chartered plane. Relieved holiday-makers praised the ship's captain for foiling the attack that lasted for more than 90 minutes, during which pirates fired their weapons on the bridge and elsewhere in an effort to cripple the vessel. Some passengers were lucky to escape with their lives, said Charles Forsd ick, from Durban, South Africa. A woman survived an explosion in her stateroom simply because she was tak ing a bath at the time. Others flung themselves to the floor to avoid bu llets that were zipping through the ship, Forsdick told Associated Press Television News. The retired physician and World War II veteran said said he started to ta ke a photograph of a pirate craft, and "the man with the bazooka aimed i t right at me and I saw a big flash. The grenade struck two decks above and about four rooms further forward," Supple said. Bob Meagher of Sydney, Australia, said he climbed out of bed and went to the door of his cabin shortly before 6 am after hearing a commotion ou tside. "I saw a white-hulled boat with men in it waving various things and shoot ing at the ship at that stage it appeared to be rifle fire," he told A ustralian radio. "My wife said look, they're loading a bazooka,' which we later discovere d was called an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) launcher." "There was a flash of flame and then a huge boom a terrible boom sound, " he said, adding the grenade hit about 10 feet from where they were. The liner had been at the end of a 16-day voyage from Alexandria, Egypt. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Monday that the attacke rs might have been terrorists. But others said the attack bore the hallm arks of pirates who have become increasingly active off Somalia, which h as no navy and has not had an effective central government since 1991. Judging by the location of the attack, the pirates likely were from the s ame group that hijacked a UN-chartered aid ship in June and held its c rew and food cargo hostage for 100 days, said Andrew Mwangura, head of t he Kenyan chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Program. That gang is one of three well-organized pirate groups on the 1,880-mile coast of Somalia, which has had no effective government since opposition leaders ousted a dictatorship in 1991 and then turned on each other, le aving the nation of 7 million a patchwork of warlord fiefdoms. Somalia's Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi has long urged neighboring coun tries to send warships to patrol Somalia's coast, which is Africa's long est and lies along key shipping lanes linking the Mediterranean with the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. NATO warships patrol the region to protect vessels in deeper waters farther ou t, but they are not permitted in Somali territorial waters. The International Maritime Bureau has for several months warned ships to stay at least 150 miles away from Somalia's coast, citing 25 pirate atta cks in those waters since March 15 compared with just two for all of 2 004. The 440-foot-long, 10,000-ton cruise ship, which is registered in the Bah amas, sustained minor damage, the cruise company said. The liner, which had its maiden voyage in 1989, can carry 208 guests. Seabourn Sprint at anchor in deep waters off Mahe in the Seychelles M onday, Nov. None of its passengers, mostly Americans with some Austra lians and Europeans, were injured, said Bruce Good, spokesman for the Mi ami-based Seabourn Cruise Line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corp. One membe r of the 161-person crew was injured by shrapnel, cruise line president Deborah Natansohn said. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. |
| www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/breaking_news/13106303.htm MIAMI - The crew of a luxury cruise ship used a sonic weapon that blasts earsplitting noise in a directed beam while being attacked by a gang of pirates off Africa this weekend, the cruise line said Monday. The Seabourn Spirit had a Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, installed as a part of its defense systems, said Bruce Good, a spokesman for Miami -based Seabourn Cruise Line. The Spirit was about 100 miles off Somalia when pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns as they tr ied to get onboard. was investigating whether the weapon was successful in warding off the pirates, he said. The ship's captain also changed its course, shifted into high speed and headed out into the ope n sea to elude the pirates, who were in two small boats, he said. The LRAD is a so-called "non-lethal weapon" developed for the US milita ry after the 2000 attack on the USS Cole off Yemen as a way to keep oper ators of small boats from approaching US warships. The military version is a 45-pound, dish-shaped device that can direct a high-pitched, piercing tone with a tight beam. Neither the LRAD's operat ors or others in the immediate area are affected. The device's makers compares its shrill tone to that of smoke detectors, only much louder. It can be as loud as about 150 decibels, while smoke a larms are about 80 to 90 decibels. |
| en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_range_acoustic_device search Also known as an LRAD, the recently developed long range acoustic device is a crowd-control and combatant deterrent piece of equipment recently d eveloped by "American Technology Corp." The warning tone is a high-pitched shrill tone similar to that of a smoke detector, only som ewhat louder. He concedes that the devic e is powerful enough to cause permanent auditory damage, but that it is only meant to be used for a few seconds at a time. Countermeasures may include the use of passive hearing protection (earplu gs, headsets), which should easily bring the sound down to ineffective l evels. In addition, sound can be reflected from a solid surface, and red irected back to the originator. |