Tars not jolly anymore -

[observer]

Some 1,000 RN sailors have been made redundant, including some from HMS Cumberland(?), just back from Libya. Meanwhile, the Somali pirates are still at it on the E/African Coast and now piracy has kicked off on the W/African coast. :roll:

[asperity]

Believe me, as a victim of piracy off Liberia some 32 years ago, piracy is not new to the West Coast of Africa. It is a big problem for all of us as these acts of piracy drive up the costs of our imports and if we had any sort of government in this country they would be ensuring that we took a leading role in the fight against these international criminals. Unfortunately our so called PM is more concerned with how many plastic carrier bags are being used. Pathetic. :roll: :roll:

[observer]

Well, I suggested "shock and awe" all along the Somali coast, the last time we discussed this, but as we now don't have even one Carrier; that options is now off the agenda. btw notice the Foreign Office is advising tourists to Kenya, to stay at least 90miles away from the border with Somalia - better late than never, I suppose.

[algy]

If we had ten carriers "shock and awe" would not work, what would we do bomb/burn all the settlement villages along the Somali coast where these people operate from, you can't put pressure to bare on a government that does not respect and hasn't the ability to control it's own people who can hardly afford food, members of their government are probably involved in the debacle up to their necks, taking a large percentage of the proceedings. These so called pirate who have as asp states have been carrying out these raids on shipping for years and with today's ease of availability of automatic weaponry and high speed craft and also with large ships having few crew on board compared to what they used to have are now finding easy pickings, a few months back there was a video showing what Russian Special Service personnel did with pirates that they caught and justice never entered the equation, unfortunately violence is the only method these aggressors understand. I understand that the topic was primarily about tourists being taken hostage, a totally different situation than attacking cargo ships, if people decide to visit these remote beaches and islands then so be it, they must suffer the consequences.

[Bazj]

Trouble is Algy, look what happened the last time the Navy came up against armed aggressors off the coast of Iraq.... the navy boat crew were captured and paraded on TV with the woman forced to wear a veil or whatever

 

Sad as it may be; I wouldn't write off the pirates on a one to one battle with our Navy these days!

[algy]

I agree to a point Baz, but I wasn't talking about our Jolley Jack & Jackie Tars, we have Special Forces who would give their eye teeth to practice on these so called 'Pirates', you don't send your average sailor in to do a specialist job, these boys and girls that man our depleted navy are excellent at doing what they are trained to do but ill equipped in the craft of close hand combat.

[Lt Kije]

Got to agree with Baz, also if a big fleet turns up the pirates would just disappear, how long would we have to keep them their and who would pay

[observer]

As I said before, vapourise everything that floats along the Somali coast - no boats = no piracy - simples. Problem is, we've no carriers left to do it.

[Lt Kije]

What about the fishermen Obs, their are infinitely more of them who have to fish to live. I cannot believe you would be willing to kill innocent people.

[observer]

Not "killing" people necessarilly, livelyhoods maybe - just sinking boats.

[Lt Kije]

No fish equals no food equals death, those that live might try to get over here, it will do wonders for your immigration policy.

[algy]

Not "killing" people necessarilly, livelyhoods maybe - just sinking boats.

That's a brilliant idea, just send helo's over and drop leaflets on the boats saying " if your a fisherman jump overboard and swim ashore, if your a pirate stay aboard while we sink you" Durhhh!!!!

[observer]

Errrm nope; boats can be destroyed in port or on the beaches - sorted. :roll:

[Lt Kije]

Lots of fishing boats are lunched from the beach, suggest you get real Obs

[asperity]

Fishermen having picnics??? :unsure:

[observer]

.. and I said "BEACHES" Kije, all lined up, making a convenient target; if we can do it in Libya, we can do it in Somalia - but a Carrier or two would help. Which was the point of the topic; we (due to service cuts), no longer have the capacity to do it. We could ask the Yanks, but they appear tied up with their now successfull drone strategy against Al Quaeda, and they possibly have painfull memories in relation to "boots on the ground" in Somalia (remember "Black Hawk down"?).

[Lt Kije]

How do you tell a fisherman from a pirate, unless you can get close enough to see the parrot and the peg leg, they have similar boats.

[observer]

Think you missed the draconian nature of my suggestion - "ALL boats", as no boats = no piracy; the downside for the locals is, that it would mean no fish either; yer can't make an omelette without breaking eggs! Think it's termed "collateral damage" and has occured in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya etc etc. It's the price of making our merchant seaman and their cargoes secure. However, (back to the point of the topic), it's a non-starter, as we no longer have the capacity to do it.

[algy]

Didn't you state that in the beginning obs.

[Lt Kije]

No fish means no food, which would mean more refugees, some of which might want to come here, As it would be our fault I suppose you would welcome them then Obs.

[observer]

Nope, even more reason to strenghthen our border security and send 'em straight back. :roll:

[Lt Kije]

So you cause a humanitarian problem, and also probably cause people to head to our Borders, cost that one out Obs

[observer]

A lot less than the £millions being paid out in insurance claims, ransoms; not to mention dead tourists. :roll:

[Lt Kije]

I doubt that Obs, it would cost a lot more and last longer, and probably start terrorist activity against us

[Evil Sid]

would not a cheaper option be to sink the tourist boats and cheat the pirates of a target