Pirates target the wrong ship - a navy frigate

[woody60707]

A mixture.

I don't see why we don't just pay them off. Call it "aid money" and save the expense of actually policing them (which has got to be far in excess of the paltry millions they've collected). Its also with no small irony that some of the nations having ships "borrowed" were involved in the raping of the fishing grounds that started this whole sick sad game. I have the distinct impression that the pirates are targeting some nations ships far more than others probably with that very notion in there minds

Not possible, even if they wanted. For most (all?) ships, the only way for the pirates to ID nation of origin is the flag on the back. At this story shows, they start going after ships WAY before they can see any detail about the ship. And that point is WAY WAY after the point of getting close enough to see a flag.

 

[Winner]

The Seychelles are an awesome little country, I had a real good time when I stopped there.

French Navy

Yeah, many pirates of the financial seas reside there Next time the French should invade the main island as a suspected pirate hub...

----

Anyway, why don't they set up an international tribunal to deal with piracy? I'd just toss them into the water and let Judge Shark decide the punishment, but since executing a bunch of terrorists is so politically incorrect now, let's at least imprison them.

Do the French still have some prison colonies?

 

[Steph]

Do the French still have some prison colonies?

We don't have colonies to start with...

 

[Winner]

We don't have colonies to start with...

No, of course you don't, French Guyana and the various islands around the world are all part of France...

 

[Masada]

Not possible, even if they wanted. For most (all?) ships, the only way for the pirates to ID nation of origin is the flag on the back. At this story shows, they start going after ships WAY before they can see any detail about the ship. And that point is WAY WAY after the point of getting close enough to see a flag.

That story shows you the stupid ones. The whole point of having mother-ships is to put some distance between your weapons and your resupply. The two are not meant to mix. It also gives you a means of becoming fisherman if the SHTF. They tend to operate three types of vessels correspondingly, a skiff for boarding, actual or ex-fishing boats for scouting and target selection and motherships for the aforementioned reasons. Practically this means that they can select their victims with impunity (nobody will shoot at an un-armed fishing boat), they have a safe point from which to resupply and refuel and they have a means of rapidly closing and boarding vessels. High powered binoculars explains the rest of the story.

 

[IglooDame]

That was my first thought as well. Seriously, what happened with these pirates? Next time they should steal some binoculars so they can see the deck gun and realize that's not a good ship to attack.

Seriously, I found a picture of this French frigate:

I know it's French, but even still, they have obviously visible guns! Epic fail on the visual ID.

Deck gun, singular - can't see it easily from any target angle abaft the beam (i.e. from the back of the ship). But anyway, a big to the French Navy, assuming they don't do like the Portuguese Navy and let the pirates go.

 

[dutchfire]

This so could have been a Darwin award...

 

[dosed150]

This so could have been a Darwin award...

its just like any criminal enterprise its the stupid or unlucky ones that get caught

 

[bhsup]

I cannot believe I've read about paying them off. No, never. They're a scourge on civilization. Sink their ships, destroy their 'infrastructure', and any who refuse to mend their ways...well...those navy ships have big guns.

 

[amadeus]

Too bad the French don't have a "sink on sight" policy. That would definitely warrant a

 

[Patroklos]

Having spent many years identifying vessels at 13nm horizon (far further than what these pirates could see at their elevation), it is not difficult to identify a warship via its silhouette regardless of target angle. If anything the color should give it away.

These pirates are just idiots.

 

[BSmith1068]

Having spent many years identifying vessels at 13nm horizon (far further than what these pirates could see at their elevation), it is not difficult to identify a warship via its silhouette regardless of target angle. If anything the color should give it away.

These pirates are just idiots.

I was hoping you would provide your expertise on this… This was pretty much my impression from reading the story. It’s kinda hard to make a warship look like a merchant vessel, no matter what you do. Sailing into the sun could give you the tactical advantage of being hard to see for a short while when the sun comes up (to turn around for example and head toward the pirates while they still think you are sailing away from them).

One thought just occurred to me here. The pirates probably had visual contact with the ship at night only. This is the only way I could see that they would think it was a merchant vessel and not a warship. Is it easy to tell the difference at a distance from the lights of a ship if it is a warship or a merchant vessel? It would be easier to make yourself look like a merchant vessel if all you had to do was selectively turn on or off some lights.

By the time the sun came up enough to actually see the ship, it was likely already directly in the sun and heading straight for them.

 

[blackheart]

I was hoping you would provide your expertise on this… This was pretty much my impression from reading the story. It’s kinda hard to make a warship look like a merchant vessel, no matter what you do. Sailing into the sun could give you the tactical advantage of being hard to see for a short while when the sun comes up (to turn around for example and head toward the pirates while they still think you are sailing away from them).

One thought just occurred to me here. The pirates probably had visual contact with the ship at night only. This is the only way I could see that they would think it was a merchant vessel and not a warship. Is it easy to tell the difference at a distance from the lights of a ship if it is a warship or a merchant vessel? It would be easier to make yourself look like a merchant vessel if all you had to do was selectively turn on or off some lights.

By the time the sun came up enough to actually see the ship, it was likely already directly in the sun and heading straight for them.

I think it has more to do with the pirates being illiterate 17 yr olds

 

[IglooDame]

Having spent many years identifying vessels at 13nm horizon (far further than what these pirates could see at their elevation), it is not difficult to identify a warship via its silhouette regardless of target angle. If anything the color should give it away.

These pirates are just idiots.

Having spent a decent number of years identifying vessels myself from ship's bridges and cockpits of >50ft sailboats, I don't think you're being particularly fair comparing a professional mariner with access to Janes and other reference materials, and teenagers with what amounts to a bit of coastal fishing experience.

 

[Steph]

No, of course you don't, French Guyana and the various islands around the world are all part of France...

Yep, Guiana, Reunion, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and soon Mayotte are all parts of France

 

[BSmith1068]

I think it has more to do with the pirates being illiterate 17 yr olds

You don't have to know how to read to tell the difference between a warship and a merchant vessel...

Could you honestly tell the difference at night (going off of ship lights only) at a distance of 10+ miles if a ship you were following was a warship or a juicy target?

 

[blackheart]

You don't have to know how to read to tell the difference between a warship and a merchant vessel...

It would probably in reading the captions in the books with pictures of those vessels, if they had books. Seriously, it's not hard to conceive that some Somalians would not know what warships are supposed to look like given the shambles of their education system.

 

[Flying Pig]

It would probably in reading the captions in the books with pictures of those vessels, if they had books. Seriously, it's not hard to conceive that some Somalians would not know what warships are supposed to look like given the shambles of their education system.

Let's think - warship has a gun, flying colours, doesn't look like it holds much... that's pretty much unmistakeable. Well done to the monkeys!

 

[blackheart]

Let's think - warship has a gun, flying colours, doesn't look like it holds much... that's pretty much unmistakeable. Well done to the monkeys!

By posting on CFC, you've already proven you aren't an illiterate Somali pirate

 

[Mad Man]

Yep, Guiana, Reunion, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and soon Mayotte are all parts of France

What about New Caledonia?