Avast Ye Scurvy Dogs!

[Despanan]

I know lives are at stake but still. This is fucking cool:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/...n4608750.shtml

Pirates Hijack Oil Tanker In Brazen Attack
Seizure Off The Kenyan Coast Is Furthest Out To Sea And On Biggest Vessel Yet

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 17, 2008

(CBS/AP) Somali pirates hijacked a supertanker hundreds of miles off the Horn of Africa, seizing the Saudi-owned ship loaded with crude and its 25-member crew, the U.S. Navy said Monday.

It appeared to be the largest ship ever seized by pirates.

After the brazen hijacking, the pirates on Monday sailed the Sirius Star to a Somali port that has become a haven for bandits and the ships they have seized, a Navy spokesman said.

The hijacking was among the most brazen in a surge in attacks this year by ransom-hungry Somali pirates. Attacks off the Somali coast have increased more than 75 percent this year, and even the world's largest vessels are vulnerable.

The Sirius Star, commissioned in March and owned by the Saudi oil company Aramco, is 1,080 feet long - about the length of an aircraft carrier - making it one of the largest ships to sail the seas. It can carry about 2 million barrels of oil.

For the U.S. and foreign navies trying to protect shipping, this attack has opened up a whole new front in the pirate wars, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips.

The latest incident took place about 500 miles off the coast of Kenya, well out in the Indian Ocean, rather than in the Pirate Alley of the Gulf of Aden, where most of the recent attacks have happened.

"That's an area that is four times the size of Texas," says Commander Jane Campbell of the U.S. Navy. "Greater in size than the entire Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea combined."

To protect themselves, ship captains like Colin Darch, who was hijacked earlier this year, are now being urged to arm their crews.

But as for getting in a gunfight with armed attackers in speedboats, Darch is not so sure, Phillips reports.

"They do have these rocket launchers," Darch says. "And I think a rocket launchers could punch a hole in a ship and well maybe sink it.

"They'd soon scramble up and get aboard, especially if they were shooting at anybody trying to cut the ropes or prevent it."

Lt. Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, said the pirates hijacked the ship on Saturday about 450 nautical miles off the coast of Kenya - the farthest out to sea Somali pirates have struck.

By expanding their range, Somali pirates are "certainly a threat to many more vessels," Christensen said. He said the pirates on the Sirius Star were "nearing an anchorage point" at the Somali port town of Eylon Monday.

Somali pirates have seized at least six several ships off the Horn of Africa in the past week, but the hijacking of a supertanker marked a dramatic escalation.

The pirates are trained fighters, often dressed in military fatigues, using speedboats equipped with satellite phones and GPS equipment. They are typically armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rockets launchers and various types of grenades.

With most attacks ending with million-dollar payouts, piracy is considered the most lucrative work in Somalia. Pirates rarely hurt their hostages, instead holding out for a huge payday.

The strategy works well: A report last month by a London-based think tank said pirates have raked in up to $30 million in ransoms this year alone.

In Somalia, pirates are better-funded, better-organized and better-armed than one might imagine in a country that has been in tatters for nearly two decades.

They do occasionally get nabbed, however. Earlier this year, French commandos used night vision goggles and helicopters in operations that killed or captured several pirates, who are now standing trial in Paris. A stepped-up international presence of warships recently also appears to have deterred several attacks.

The Sirius Star was sailing under a Liberian flag. The 25-member crew includes citizens of Croatia, Britain, the Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia. A British Foreign Office spokesman said there were at least two British nationals on board.

An operator with Aramco said there was no one available at the company to comment after business hours. Calls went unanswered at Vela International, the Dubai-based marine company that operated the ship for Aramco.

Classed as a Very Large Crude Carrier, the Sirius Star is 318,000 dead weight tons.

Raja Kiwan, a Dubai-based analyst with PFC Energy, said the hijacking raises "some serious questions" about what is needed to secure such ships on the open seas.

"It's not easy to take over a ship" as massive as oil tankers, which typically have armed guards on board, he said.

But pirates have gone after oil tankers before.

In October, a Spanish military patrol plane thwarted pirates trying to hijack an oil tanker by buzzing them three times and dropping smoke canisters.

On April 21, pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades at a Japanese oil tanker, leaving a hole that allowed several hundred gallons of fuel to leak out, raising fears for the environment.

In September, three pirates in a speed boat fired machine guns at an Iranian crude oil carrier, though the ship escaped after a 30-minute chase.

Warships from the more than a dozen nations as well as NATO forces have focused their anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden, increasing their military presence in recent months.

But Saturday's hijacking occurred much farther south, highlighting weaknesses in the international response.

Graeme Gibbon Brooks, managing director of British company Dryad Maritime Intelligence Service Ltd, said the increased international presence trying to prevent attacks is simply not enough.

"The coalition has suppressed a number of attacks ... but there will never be enough warships," he said, describing an area that covers 2.5 million square miles.

He also speculated that the crew of the Sirius Star may have had a false sense of security because they were so far out to sea.

He said the coalition warships will have to be "one step ahead of the pirates. The difficulty here is that the ship was beyond the area where the coalition were currently acting."

[tekajo]

This is even fucking cooler.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...Su6OEDkwXFSM5g

Indian navy destroys pirate ship as super-tanker ransom demanded

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AFP) — An Indian warship destroyed a pirate "mother vessel" in the Gulf of Aden, the navy said Wednesday, as bandits demanded a ransom for a Saudi super-tanker seized in the most daring sea raid yet.

The Indian frigate INS Tabar, one of dozens of warships from several countries protecting shipping lanes in the area, attacked the Somali pirate ship late Tuesday after coming under fire, navy spokesman Nirad Sinha said.

The incident came as shipping groups reported a new surge in hijackings off Somalia and the International Maritime Bureau said pirates based in the lawless African nation were "out of control".

"The INS Tabar closed in on the mother vessel and asked her to stop for investigation," the New Delhi navy spokesman said.

"But on repeated calls, the vessel's threatening response was that she would blow up the naval warship if it approached."

An exchange of fire ensued, causing explosions and the navy ship then used heavy guns. "From what we see in photographs the pirate vessel is completely destroyed," a senior officer said on condition he not be named.

It was the first time a mother ship had been destroyed, in the most significant blow to pirates to date.

The piracy crisis has grown since the weekend capture of the super-tanker Sirius Star. The huge vessel was carrying a full load of two million barrels of oil worth around 100 million dollars.

Al-Jazeera, the Arabic satellite television channel, broadcast an audio tape it said was of one of the pirates making a ransom demand.

"Negotiators are located on board the ship and on land. Once they have agreed on the ransom, it will be taken in cash to the oil tanker," said the man identified as Farah Abd Jameh, who did not indicate the amount to be paid.

Vela International, owners of the ship, said it "cannot confirm, nor deny" the reports, citing the safety of the crew.

Seized in the Indian Ocean some 500 miles (800 kilometres) off the African coast, the Sirius Star is now anchored at the Somali pirate lair of Harardhere, according to local officials.

The super-tanker has 25 crew -- 19 from the Philippines, two from Britain, two from Poland, one Croatian and one Saudi. It was the largest ship yet taken by Somali pirates and the attack furthest away from Somalia.

Pirates have hijacked three ships since capturing the Sirius Star.

Andrew Mwangura, from the East African Seafarers Association, said a Thai fishing boat, a Hong Kong-registered freighter, the Delight, and a Greek bulk carrier were seized Tuesday in the Gulf of Aden.

The Greek merchant marine ministry said it had no word of a Greek-flagged or Greek-owned vessel being seized but the other hijackings were confirmed.

The Delight, chartered by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, was carrying 25 crew members and 36,000 tonnes of wheat when it was seized on its way to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.

The shipping line's senior official Ensan Najib told IRNA news agency that no contact had been made with the ship and the hijackers.

On Wednesday, pirates released another Hong Kong-flagged ship, MV Great Creation, and its 25 crew seized two months ago, Mwangura told AFP, adding it was unclear whether a ransom was paid.

In southern Somalia, the hardline Islamist alliance controlling the key port of Kismayo promised tough measures to protect ships.

Pirates use mother ships, generally hijacked trawlers or deep-sea dhows, to tow speedboats from which they launch their attacks with grapnel hooks tied to rope ladders before neutralising the crews at gunpoint.

The Indian navy action could hamper the pirates in the Gulf of Aden but the group holding the Sirius Star operates from mother ships further south.

The Gulf of Aden controls access to the Suez Canal, which allows trade between Europe and Asia without taking the longer and more expensive route around southern Africa.

The European Union will launch its anti-piracy operation -- its first-ever -- off Somalia December 8 to boost warships from NATO, the United States and other nations already in the region, French Defence Minister Herve Morin said in Paris.

In Washington, the White House urged joint efforts to rescue the super-tanker.

Spokeswoman Dana Perino said "the goal would be to try to help get this ship to safety, secure the crew, and then work with our international partners to try to alleviate the piracy problem full stop."

Speaking in Beirut, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called piracy "a threat to trade and prosperity."

[Albert Mond]

The pirates are trained fighters, often dressed in military fatigues, using speedboats equipped with satellite phones and GPS equipment. They are typically armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rockets launchers and various types of grenades.

Bahahahahaha!

[Saya]

Is it sad that everyone is so desensitized to pirates?

I remember one year this submarine came into harbour, and they'd let people onboard for a tour. And all that time I thought "My god this isn't well guarded at all, if I had a cutlass I could take this."

Of course it was a Canadian sub so it would probably leak and sink before I'd get very far XD

[Beneath the Shadows]

Jack Sparrow has upgraded the Black Pearl, I see.

[tekajo]

Originally Posted by Beneath the Shadows

Jack Sparrow has upgraded the Black Pearl, I see.

Yeah, but them crazy Indians downgraded it for him.

[Despanan]

They need to issue letters of marque and reprisal so there can be privateers hunting the pirates, too.

[HellforgedX]

...and not a one of them owners of a parrot. I bet they didn't even have a one-handed or -legged captain.