cudamank
Member
The following news story is out how a US Navel vessel outran pirates. They did come under small arms fire, albeit a mile away, but under file no less and continued on its merry way. uss lewis and clark
who is running the navy?
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Bob R
US Veteran
It is a USNS ship, so at best it may have a couple of M2 .50 cals onboard, if not that the best may actually be shotguns and M14's. And probably not very many of them.
It sounds like the closest the pirates got was 2 nautical mles, or 4050 yds. Even the best of shot, on a rocking/vibrating deck, would be hard pressed to put anything near a skiff at that distance.
The civilian master of the vessel did exactly as he was ordered most likely, speed up and head toward friendly ships while keeping people appraised of the situation on the radio.
That is my uninformed take on the scenerio.
bob
It sounds like the closest the pirates got was 2 nautical mles, or 4050 yds. Even the best of shot, on a rocking/vibrating deck, would be hard pressed to put anything near a skiff at that distance.
The civilian master of the vessel did exactly as he was ordered most likely, speed up and head toward friendly ships while keeping people appraised of the situation on the radio.
That is my uninformed take on the scenerio.
bob
7.62foryou
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The neuted are running the military. A US Navy vessel ordered to run away from a bunch of punks with AK's in a couple of skiffs?!?!?!
Outrageous! A 50 cal is more than enough to sink a couple of skiffs. The worlds finest navy reduced to fleeing from a couple of skiffs. No wonder we're afraid of the Chinese, they must be rolling around laughing!
Outrageous! A 50 cal is more than enough to sink a couple of skiffs. The worlds finest navy reduced to fleeing from a couple of skiffs. No wonder we're afraid of the Chinese, they must be rolling around laughing!
truckermike
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No suprise here. Erkel is Commander In Chief. Took him 3 days to decide to let the Seals go hot.
Smith357
US Veteran
You can't blame an unarmed ship for fleeing from a fight.
I would be interested in knowing who designed a Navy ship that does not have one single deck gun. Even a bare bones cargo ship shuld have a 5 inch gun front and rear and some sort of AA guns.
http://www.msc.navy.mil/invent...cs/lewisandclark.jpg
I would be interested in knowing who designed a Navy ship that does not have one single deck gun. Even a bare bones cargo ship shuld have a 5 inch gun front and rear and some sort of AA guns.
http://www.msc.navy.mil/invent...cs/lewisandclark.jpg
If they were unarmed couldn't air support have been called?! Seems to me what they did sends a bad message.
Steve
Steve
If there are no bad guys dead, we screwed up.
jlrhiner
US Veteran
This may come as a shock to you guys, but not all Navy ships are combatents. If that guy was filled with things that go boom, I'd have picked it up and ran with it before I'd let an RPG come close.
NCTexan
US Veteran
Sounds like our Navy probably consulted with "The French Guard" from Monty Python and the Holy Grail... for their "verbal warnings".
"I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"
jholder
Member
Now go away before I taunt you a second time!
parallel
Member
Well, as has been mentioned this was a non-combatant ship loaded with ordnance. The prudent thing was done. I just hope that some of you heroes don't approach your personal protection in the same manner that you have advocated in this situation. I can see it now, there you are, at the beach with your family... when 100 yards away an armed thug comes into view... you could easily just leave and defuse the situation, but that just wouldn't do. So you put yourself and those who you are charged with protecting at risk to satisfy your ego... yeah... there is a reason you aren't in command.
Seriously though, if this were a frigate or some other combatant ship I would agree... but it wasn't. My last ship was a Supply Class AOE. It was built much different than most supply ships in that it was fast and pretty well armed. Even so, the purpose of those weapons were defense. Asking the Lewis and Clark to engage pirates would be like expecting a detective to raid a well armed drug house with his .38 snubby. There are SWAT teams for a reason... there are combatant ships for a reason as well. There is no doubt in my mind that the security team would have done what needed to be done if it came to that... but fortunately cooler heads prevailed and the situation was defused in the most efficient manner.
Seriously though, if this were a frigate or some other combatant ship I would agree... but it wasn't. My last ship was a Supply Class AOE. It was built much different than most supply ships in that it was fast and pretty well armed. Even so, the purpose of those weapons were defense. Asking the Lewis and Clark to engage pirates would be like expecting a detective to raid a well armed drug house with his .38 snubby. There are SWAT teams for a reason... there are combatant ships for a reason as well. There is no doubt in my mind that the security team would have done what needed to be done if it came to that... but fortunately cooler heads prevailed and the situation was defused in the most efficient manner.
dovekiller
Member
I never quite understood the "USNS" thing but those ships are never armed and, as far as I know, there are no naval uniforms aboard. Those ships are civilian operated.
dovekiller
Member
I was just thinking those pirates weren't too smart. A 40,000 ton ship doing 20 kts is generating one helluva wake. Approaching such a ship from behind in a small boat would be suicidal.
When an aircraft carrier is conducting air ops there is always a destroyer in trail. He is called the Plane Guard and his job is to retrieve any pilots that end up in the sea.
The carrier runs at about 31 kts during air ops and the wake it generates is fierce. For the destroyer it's like running for eight hours into a typhoon.
When an aircraft carrier is conducting air ops there is always a destroyer in trail. He is called the Plane Guard and his job is to retrieve any pilots that end up in the sea.
The carrier runs at about 31 kts during air ops and the wake it generates is fierce. For the destroyer it's like running for eight hours into a typhoon.
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