The Threat of Modern Piracy- A Merged Thread

[Rifleman62]

I would get suspicious at the new trend of Iranian fishing vessels in distress. One of these will eventually blow up in their faces one way or another. I realize you must respond to a vessel in distress, but the Iranians are nutters.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

The IRGN are nut jobs.  In my experience, the Iranian Navy and Iranian fishermen are ok.  The fishermen, in particular, just want to be left alone.

It might happen the the USN gets set up at some point by a "vessel in distress", but I would say that right now, they are winning the propaganda war by doing what they are doing.  The guys that get helped by the USN talk when they get back home.  And they all have family that also talk.  For now, it is a good risk to take.

 

[jollyjacktar]

The IRGN are nut jobs.  In my experience, the Iranian Navy and Iranian fishermen are ok.  The fishermen, in particular, just want to be left alone.

Whats the difference between the IRGN and IN?  Thought it was one in the same.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

The revolutionary guards navy is controlled directly by the theocracy, IIRC.  They are fairly...fanatical.  The Iranian Navy is just like any other Navy- And I don't recall there being a lot of love lost between the two organizations

 

[jollyjacktar]

The revolutionary guards navy is controlled directly by the theocracy, IIRC.  They are fairly...fanatical.  The Iranian Navy is just like any other Navy- And I don't recall there being a lot of love lost between the two organizations

There you go.  I'll admit I haven't looked too hard at what Iran has for assets.  You only seem to hear of the Revolutionary portion of their goodies.  I'm sure they are tools, as most fanatics seem to be.  Never sailed in those waters so did not bone up on what professional forces they might posses.  Seeing as they are the pro's I expect they don't have time for the beardy weirdy schmoes.

 

[OldSolduer]

The revolutionary guards navy is controlled directly by the theocracy, IIRC.  They are fairly...fanatical.  The Iranian Navy is just like any other Navy- And I don't recall there being a lot of love lost between the two organizations

Come to think of it, the SS was not adored by the Wehrmacht in World War Two. Political armies/forces rarely endear themselves to professional forces. At least that is the way I read it.

Sorry for the tangent.

 

[jollyjacktar]

Shared with the usual caveats.  This sounds interesting, and promising too.  Maybe by being private vs regular naval they might be able to take more proactive courses of action against the pirates.  Good hunting and good luck, sounds interesting.    Photo and story at link below.

http://www.shipsmonthly.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=534:a-maldon-based-warship-has-been-refurbished-to-take-on-somali-pirates&catid=49:waterfront&Itemid=64


A Maldon-based warship has been refurbished to take on Somali pirates. Defender, an ex-Omani Navy fast attack vessel which was featured in Ships Monthly last year, has been armed and modernised at Fullbridge after languishing on the Blackwater estuary for the past three years.

The ship has changed hands several times since being ‘gifted’ back to Lowestoft, where she was built in the mid-1970s for the Sultan of Oman. Her new owner and skipper is former Royal Navy Lieutenant Chris Enmarsh, who said: ‘Defender’s task will be to deter pirates intent on boarding ships that pass the East African coastline. She will be manned by handpicked ex-Royal Marine Commandos and run as a professional naval ship.’

Defender has had a 40mm cannon installed on her fore deck and a 20mm cannon on her aft deck, with two machine guns on each side.

 

[GAP]

2 Hostages Are Killed in Sea Rescue That Frees 16
By J. DAVID GOODMAN Published: February 28, 2012
Article Link

The Danish Navy said Tuesday that two hostages had died during an operation over the weekend that freed more than a dozen people held on a pirate mother ship off the coast of Somalia.

The navy said in a statement that 16 crew members of the hijacked ship had been rescued, but that two more had been found with severe injuries and later died despite a navy doctor’s efforts. The circumstances that led to their fatal injuries were not immediately known, and their nationalities were not given. The navy said the situation was under investigation.

A navy spokesman said the two hostages “were wounded during the operation,” Reuters reported.

The crew from the Absalon, a Danish warship under international command in the Gulf of Aden, had been tracking the large pirate vessel for several days before intercepting it on Sunday night as it tried to move away from the coast. The Danish ship opened fire on the vessel after it ignored both calls to stop and warning shots, the navy said.

At least 17 people suspected of being pirates were taken aboard the Absalon, the navy said, and could face criminal prosecution.

Danish naval ships, part of international antipiracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea, have often favored negotiation over aggressive action to secure the release of hostages held by Somali pirates.
More on link

 

[GAP]

Next pirate hot spot: the Gulf of Guinea

The Gulf of Guinea, off the coast of West Africa, is a significant source of US oil. Rising piracy here could mean rising prices at the pump.

By Scott Baldauf, Staff Writer / February 28, 2012
Article Link

High-seas piracy has found another home, in the waters of the Gulf of Guinea on the West African coast. The number of attacks in 2011 far surpassed the total number for 2010, and the pace could increase this year as well, as oil-rich nations of the region increase their production. With global oil supplies tight and the price of oil already rising, the costs of West African piracy will almost certainly be felt at your local fuel pump.

According to the UN International Maritime Organization (IMO), 64 incidents of piracy were reported in nine countries of the Gulf of Guinea region in 2011, up from 45 incidents in seven countries in 2010. There have been 10 reported piracy incidents in the first two months of 2012 alone, an indication that the pace of attacks remains steady, as oil prices rise.

Like piracy off the coast of Somalia, the high-seas attacks in the Gulf of Guinea – extending from Ivory Coast in the West toward Nigeria, and down toward the Democratic Republic of Congo -- are driven by a combination of economic opportunism by existing criminal gangs, and the lack of governmental capacity to rein in those criminal gangs on shore. Militias in Nigeria’s restive Niger Delta region have long carried out attacks on land-based oil pipelines, siphoning off crude oil in a practice called “illegal bunkering.”

In recent years, these attacks have extended to commercial shipping, and today’s West African pirates hijack ships and direct them to meet up with other large tanker ships specially contracted to offload the volumes of stolen crude oil.
More on link

 

[Sythen]

The European Union has agreed to expand its mission against Somali pirates, by allowing military forces to attack land targets as well as those at sea.

In a two-year extension of its mission, EU defence ministers agreed warships could target boats and fuel dumps.

The BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner says the move is a significant step-up in operations, but one that also risks escalation.

Several EU naval ships are currently on patrol off the Horn of Africa.

They police shipping routes and protect humanitarian aid. A two-decade war has wrecked Somalia, leaving it without a proper government.

The transitional government only controls the capital Mogadishu, while al-Shabab militants, who recently joined with al-Qaeda, hold large swathes of territory.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17487767

More at link

EDIT: Forgot to add link

 

[jollyjacktar]

About time they started to get some balls.  They still have a long way to go to get to the way it should be.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

However, that is the E.U. only, so it does not encompass Canada, Australia or the U.S. who only operate there under the auspices of the UN, or of their own national authority.
Would not mind seeing our national authority move in the same direction, even if only for the sake of uniformity of R.O.E.'s.

 

[jollyjacktar]

However, that is the E.U. only, so it does not encompass Canada, Australia or the U.S. who only operate there under the auspices of the UN, or of their own national authority.
Would not mind seeing our national authority move in the same direction, even if only for the sake of uniformity of R.O.E.'s.

That's true.  But if all the others start taking it to the Pirates, as they damn well should be.  Perhaps we will start to see a change in our mandate as well.

 

[GAP]

Civilian Gun Ships Off Somalia
April 1, 2012
Article Link

To get around laws, in many ports, forbidding weapons aboard merchant ships, security companies operating off the Somali coast have equipped small ships to serve as floating arsenals. The security guards boards, in port, the merchant ships they are guarding, then meet up with the gun ship in international waters so the guards can get their weapons and ammo. The process is reversed when the merchant ships approach their destinations or leave pirate infested waters (and put the armed guards off onto the gun ship.) Maritime lawyers fret that there are no proper laws to regulate these floating armories, or that if there are applicable laws, everyone is not following them. It's also feared that some enterprising lawyers will seek to represent the families of pirates shot by these armed guards. Off the Somali coast, everyone is looking for a big payday.

In the last three years, more and more merchant ships, despite the high expense, have hired armed guards when travelling near the "Pirate Coast" of Somalia. It began when France put detachments of troops on tuna boats operating in the Indian Ocean, and Belgium then supplied detachments of soldiers for Belgium ships that must move near the Somali coast. These armed guards are not cheap, with detachments costing up to $200,000 a week. There are now over a dozen private security companies offering such services. What makes the armed guards so attractive is the fact that no ship carrying them has ever been captured by pirates. That may eventually change, but for the moment, the pirates avoid ships carrying armed guards and seek less well-defended prey.

Most Western nations have small merchant marine fleets operating under the national flag. It's more common for shipping companies in the West to use "flags of convenience" (like Liberia and Panama) to evade laws mandating who can be hired for the crew and what they must be paid (in addition to other restrictions.) Shipping companies using flags of convenience generally do not allow firearms on board, lest they be used by mutineers. There are a few mutinies each year, usually over pay or working conditions. But even if there are weapons on board, you would have to train members of the crew how to use them. Moreover, the pirates often rely on stealth, sneaking up on a ship at night, while the target vessel is far off the Somali coast.

The piracy has been a growing problem off the Somali coast for over a decade. The problem now is that there are thousands of experienced pirates. And these guys have worked out a system that is very lucrative, and not very risky. For most of the past decade, the pirates preyed on foreign fishing boats and the small, often sail powered, cargo boats the move close (within a hundred kilometers) of the shore. During that time, the pirates developed contacts with businessmen in the Persian Gulf who could be used to negotiate (for a percentage) the ransoms with insurance companies and shipping firms. The pirates also mastered the skills needed to put a grappling hook on the railing, 10-12 meters (30-40 feet) above the water, of a large ship. Doing this at night, and then scrambling aboard, is more dangerous if the ship has lookouts, who can alert sailors trained to deploy high pressure fire hoses against the borders.

Big ships have small crews (12-30 sailors). Attacking at night finds most of the crew asleep. Rarely do these ships have any armed security. Ships can post additional lookouts when in areas believed to have pirates. Once pirates (speedboats full of armed men) are spotted, ships can increase speed (a large ship running at full speed, about 40+ kilometers an hour, can outrun most of the current speed boats the pirates have), and have fire hoses ready to be used to repel boarders. The pirates will fire their AK-47 assault rifles and RPG grenade launchers, but the sailors handling the fire hoses will stand back so the gunmen cannot get a direct shot.

Since the pirates generally take good care of their captives, the anti-piracy efforts cannot risk a high body count, lest they be accused of crimes against humanity, war crimes or simply bad behavior. The pirates have access to hundreds of sea going fishing boats, which can pretend to fish by day, and sneak up on merchant ships at night. The pirates often operate in teams, with one or more fishing boats acting as lookouts, and alerting another boat that a large, apparently unguarded, ship is headed their way. The pirate captain can do a simple calculation to arrange meeting the oncoming merchant vessel in the middle of the night. These fishing boats can carry inflatable boats with large outboard engines, or simply two speedboats towed behind it. Each of these can carry four or five pirates, their weapons and the grappling hook projectors needed to get the pirates onto the deck of a large ship. These big ships are very automated, and at night the only people on duty will be on the bridge. This is where the pirates go, to seize control of the ship. The rest of the crew is then rounded up. The pirates force the captain to take the ship to an anchorage near some Somali fishing village. There, more gunmen will board, and stand guard over crew and ship until the ransom is paid. Sometimes, part of the crew will be sent ashore, and kept captive there. The captive sailors are basically human shields for the pirates, to afford some protection from commando attacks.
end

 

[GAP]

Sea piracy on the decline in first quarter
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia— The Associated Press Monday, Apr. 23, 2012
Article Link

Sea piracy worldwide dropped 28 percent in the first quarter of the year as attacks fell sharply in Somalia's waters thanks to international naval patrols, an international maritime watchdog said Monday.

Pirate attacks intensified, however, in Nigeria and Indonesia.

The number of worldwide attacks in January to March dipped to 102, down from 142 cases in the same period in 2011, the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur said in a report. It said 11 vessels were hijacked and 212 crew members taken hostage, compared with 18 ships seized and 344 people taken hostage a year ago.

In Somalia, there were 43 attacks, including nine vessel hijackings, compared with 97 attacks a year ago. The agency attributed the decline to “disruptive actions and pre-emptive strikes” by navies in the region.

Multiple navies — including a large U.S. presence — patrol the Gulf of Aden and the wider Indian Ocean, and many private ships now carry armed guards.

The European Union Naval Force recently said it would expand its mission to include Somalia's coast and waterways inside the country for the first time, making its battle against piracy more proactive.

“It is unlikely that the threat of Somali piracy will diminish in the short to medium term unless further actions are taken,” the agency said. “The EU announcement to expand their anti-piracy mission to target pirates ashore is another welcome move that could further threaten the Somali piracy model.”
More on link

 

[Sythen]

http://isupportourveterans.com/?p=833

Somali pirates spot what looks like a large cargo ship in the dead of night and decide to attack. They fire on the ship — only to discover that the “cargo ship” they’ve engaged in battle is actually the USS Nicholas, a guided-missile frigate. Oops! The Nicholas sinks the pirates’ boat, then finds and sinks their mother ship. Five Somali pirates are now awaiting trial in the Nicholas’ brig. As Rachel Maddow says in this clip, the Navy really is more than a job — it’s an adventure!

Guess someone needs to teach these guys the basics of PID!

 

[GAP]

Two articles of interest.....

Seeking Somali pirates, from the air
By Frank Gardner BBC security correspondent
Article Link

From a desert airbase in the United Arab Emirates, a Royal Australian Air Force Orion surveillance plane taxis along the tarmac.

The 13-strong crew, part of a 25-nation coalition force, has been tasked to patrol two huge patches of ocean between the southern coast of Oman and the Horn of Africa.

It is where Somali pirates were last seen operating - and it is where they are thought to be lying in wait for their next victims.

Maritime piracy off the Somali coast is estimated to have cost the global shipping industry about $5.6bn (£3.6bn) last year alone and, along with the growing terrorist threat, it is one of the principal reasons David Cameron has convened this week's Somalia conference in London.

Over 100 seafarers and several ships are currently held for ransom in often atrocious conditions.

What started out a few years ago as a local vigilante reaction by Somali fishermen - fed up with foreign fishing fleets plundering their waters - has now evolved into a massive and sometimes murderous business.

The Navy's Mark Ray explains what happens when a distress call comes in

Ransoms run into the millions of dollars, crews are sometimes tortured to put pressure on ship-owners to pay up, and ships have been attacked as far as 1,000 miles (1,600km) from Somalia.
Vast ocean

So how does patrolling the vast Indian Ocean by air make any difference?

It is a long sortie - ten hours in the air, banking and diving - down to the Horn of Africa and back.

Flying low, the Australians record every vessel in a designated search area.

The plane has an electronic optical (EO) camera beneath the nose, producing high-resolution photographs that can be beamed instantly back to analysts onshore in the UAE and Bahrain. Sitting just behind the pilot, a photographer uses a hand-held telephoto lens to take digital photos as back-up.

"Basically we are just seeing what sort of vessels are in the area," says aerial analyst Sergeant Scott Brando.

"We're looking for any acts of piracy. The radio operator puts through any surface contacts that the radar picks up, big or small."
More on link

Somali Mohammad Shibin guilty over Quest hijacking
Article Link
27 April 2012

A US jury has convicted a Somali man of piracy for serving as a hostage negotiator during the hijacking of an American yacht.

Mohammad Saaili Shibin was found guilty of piracy, kidnapping and hostage-taking over the 2011 hijacking of the SV Quest, near Oman.

Prosecutors said he received at least $30,000 (£18,475) for negotiating ransom payments.

The incident saw all four Americans on board shot and killed.

Shibin was arrested by the FBI and military officials in Somalia in April 2011.

He now faces a mandatory life sentence, due to be handed down in August by the court in Norfolk, Virginia. His lawyer said he would appeal.

Two Somalis also charged in the case pleaded guilty last year and were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Several others involved in the hijacking have also received life terms, while some face murder charges and the possibility of the death penalty.

The couple who owned the boat, as well as two guests, were shot to death after a gang of 19 pirates took them hostage in the Indian Ocean.

The four - Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, California, and friends Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay, of Seattle - were the first Americans to die in a spate of piracy attacks in the Gulf of Aden.

Two of the pirates were killed by US forces and another two were found dead on the pirates' vessel. It is unclear how they died.
end

 

[GAP]

Somali piracy: EU forces in first mainland raid
15 May 2012
Article Link

EU naval forces have conducted their first raid on pirate bases on the Somali mainland, saying they have destroyed several boats.

The EU forces were transported by helicopter to the bases near the port of Haradhere, a well known pirate lair.

Anti-piracy forces have been reluctant to attack mainland bases, fearing for the crew of captured ships.

Somalia-based pirates have seized vessels across the Indian Ocean and demand huge ransoms for their release.

They are believed to be holding about 17 ships and 300 crew.

The latest incident involves the Greek-owned oil tanker Smyrni which was hijacked in the Arabian Sea last week.

The Liberian-flagged tanker carrying 135,000 tonnes of oil is reported to be heading for Somalia.
'Nothing spared'

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the attack on the land base is a significant development in the fight against Somali piracy.

The EU recently agreed to expand Operation Atalanta to allow forces to attack land targets as well as those at sea, and this is the first time its forces have used the new rules to attack a base on the mainland.

The attack was carried out overnight and, according to the European forces, no Somalis were hurt during the action.

The multinational forces used helicopters in conjunction with two warships to leave five of the pirates' fast attack craft "inoperable".

The European naval mission issued a statement saying: "The focused, precise and proportionate action was conducted from the air and all forces returned safely to EU warships on completion".

A spokesman added that the operation was carried out with the full support of the Somali government after extensive surveillance, and the aim was to deny the pirates a safe haven onshore.

Bile Hussein, a pirate commander, told the Reuters news agency that speed boats, fuel depots and an arms store had been targeted.

"They destroyed our equipment to ashes. It was a key supplies centre for us," Mr Hussein said.
More on link

 

[The Bread Guy]

The Department of Defense will begin funding an Office of Naval Research (ONR)-sponsored project aimed at developing Web applications to help multinational navies police the world's oceans, officials announced May 14.

The International Collaborative Development for Enhanced Maritime Domain Awareness (ICODE MDA) was one of 14 projects selected by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics to receive $1 million awards beginning this fall through the Coalition Warfare Program, which funds international collaborative research efforts.

The ICODE MDA project is a research alliance between ONR and Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific). ONR is partnering with scientists in Chile to build widgets, or Web-based applications, for use by sailors and maritime operators to analyze data and other information to combat pirates, drug smugglers, arms traffickers, illegal fishermen and other nefarious groups.

"A lot of maritime threats occur in developing parts of the world," said Dr. Augustus Vogel, associate director for Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa in ONR-Global's Chile office. "Our goal is to develop partnerships with countries that have maritime threats to help solve those problems."

ONR will tap researchers at the Technical University of Federico Santa Maria, one of Chile's top engineering schools, to create Web-based tools in an open source environment. The work will focus on producing software to improve automation, small-target detection and intent detection.

Ultimately, the software will be compatible with multiple maritime network systems so that navies around the world can use the tools and share information for global operations ....

U.S.N. Info-machine, 14 May 12

 

[Kirkhill]

Concurrent Activity from Defense-Aerospace

Back to the days of yore:  Can't make up my mind if this is the East India Company model, the Knights of Malta model or the Templar model.  I suspect the latter.

Private Navy Planned to Counter Pirate Raids

(Source: The National; published May 13, 2012)

A private navy costing US$70 million (Dh257m) is being set up to escort merchant ships through the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden.

It will comprise a fleet of 18 ships, based in Djibouti, and will offer to convoy merchant vessels along the Internationally Recognised Transit Corridor (IRTC).

This is the world's most dangerous shipping lane, between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. The fleet will be operated by the Convoy Escort Programme (CEP), a British company launched by the international shipping insurers Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) and the Lloyds of London underwriters Ascot.

Full funding will be in place by the end of next month, and the CEP hopes the fleet will be operational by December.

"The shipping industry needs to stand up and be counted," said Angus Campbell, the CEP's chief executive and a former director of Overseas Shipholding Group, the world's second-biggest listed oil tanker company. "The time is now, not in four or five years' time."

Piracy in the region is costing the global economy an estimated US$7 billion a year. For the ship owners alone, every vessel sailing through the waters off Somalia is charged additional insurance premiums of between $50,000 and $80,000.

Ships opting to carry their own armed guards can be charged an additional $18,000 and $60,000 per voyage by security companies.

Although the European Union is spending more than €8m (Dh37.94m) a year to maintain a naval force in the waters - EU NavFor - its warships still cannot provide close support to all merchant vessels.

The CEP, however, offers substantial savings to owners as well as protection from pirate attack. The CEP will buy insurance and use that to cover the ships in its convoys, so owners will no longer need to pay premiums, or hire security.

Instead, they will just pay a flat $30,000 to $40,000 per ship in the convoy.

The CEP is planning to buy seven 150-foot fast patrol boats, understood to be ex-Swedish Navy, and has already earmarked 11 former offshore supply vessels for purchase and conversion.

The ships will be equipped with fast semi-inflatables, called ribs, an array of non-lethal counter-measures, and 0.50 calibre heavy machine guns. They will be operated by a crew of five and carry eight armed security personnel each.

The programme will result in convoys of up to four merchant ships closely escorted by one CEP craft along the IRTC, with additional CEP ships in support, covering east and west-bound traffic.

Once in operation, the force will capable of escorting up to 470 ships a month through the Gulf of Aden, equivalent to about 25 per cent of current traffic.

"Our crews will undergo intensive training in how to implement a graduated response. We will be compliant with maritime law and will observe the International Maritime Organisation conventions, such as the Safety of Life at Sea treaty," said Mr Campbell. "We have had detailed discussions with the Royal Navy, who were a little concerned at first, but are now supportive, as are the British government."

Sean Woollerson, a partner in the marine, oil and gas division of JLT, said the description "private navy" did not apply to the CEP fleet.

The aim is to stop the pirates before they reach the merchant ship, and the emphasis is on non-lethal measures. Use of offensive weapons will be a last resort. "This is not a navy," said MrWoollerson. "What we're trying to be is a deterrent force. Prevention is within our reach."

The plan has been put together during the past three and a half years and now involves 21 companies, including law firms, auditors and risk managers, as well as JLT and Ascot.

The CEP has agreed with the Cyprus Maritime Administration for its vessels to sail under the island's flag.

"Anything that can prevent piracy in this area is to be supported," PottengalMukundan, the chief executive of the Commercial Crime Services arm of the International Maritime Bureau, told the British newspaper TheMail on Sunday.

JLT is a leading British insurance business and was first established as a division of Jardine, Matheson and Company, which was founded in Canton [now known as Guangdong], China, in 1832.

Although floated off, Jardine still owns 40 per cent of JLT, which specialises in risk insurance, such as shipping, kidnap and ransom. JLT insures 14 per cent of the global shipping fleet and is a traded on the FTSE 250 Index.

"While this peril has always existed on the high seas, the scale and intensity of piracy in the Gulf of Aden has focused the attention of the shipping and insurance industries on this exposure," said the company's website regarding its involvement in the programme.

-ends-

The Templar Naval Ensign attached.