Pirates target the wrong ship - a navy frigate

[mrt144]

Come on though, Navy vessels are pretty obvious.

Those French militarists like to cruise in style.

 

[Flying Pig]

Notice the massive great gun on the front. While some ships could be said to look like merchant vessels, that one could not.

 

[Drewcifer]

Are the pirates going to be returned to Somalia or tried in France? I would assume that France has laws against attempting to hijack it's warships.

 

[Antilogic]

Notice the massive great gun on the front. While some ships could be said to look like merchant vessels, that one could not.

In all fairness, it looks like a 5" or the French equivalent. Not necessarily as powerful as the big guns during the World War days, but still more than a match for your puny pirate RPG.

When examining a silhouette, like the pictures posted earlier in the thread, it's real easy to tell which ones you shouldn't consider hitting. Any one with something that looks like a forward deck gun is obviously a bad target.

 

[Patroklos]

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?

At night a warship lighting looks like any other vessel of similar size. This probably does account for the initial approach.

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.

Telling what warship it is, no they would not have much of a hope of that. Telling whether it is a warship period, no I don't think I am being overly harsh. The silhouettes are simply nothing alike and even Somalis pirates (who are usually fisherman types anyway) know the differnece between a sleek meanacing warship and a blocky merchant vessel.

Perhaps if they had rolled up on a Kaiser or similar class auxillary I could see it as they look identical to a group three, but not this frigate.

 

[Flying Pig]

In all fairness, it looks like a 5" or the French equivalent. Not necessarily as powerful as the big guns during the World War days, but still more than a match for your puny pirate RPG.

If you want booty, rum etc; are you really going to chase anything with guns on? Especially if you know that non-naval vessels don't carry them, and warships are full of nasty six-foot marines with big guns...

 

[bhsup]

If you don't know what a warship or other military technology looks like from its distant silhouette you're simply not a man. These Somali pirates are allegedly men, therefore they will instinctively know what all military technology past, present and future, allied, enemy and alien looks like. Duh.

Warship or cargo ship?

Warship or cargo ship?

Your manhood is on the line, Mise!

 

[Flying Pig]

They're really old; back then there wasn't such a difference.

Warship or Cargo ship?

Warship or Cargo ship?

 

[Patroklos]

This is the USNS Big Horn, a Kaiser-class auxillary in the USN. It is not a warship proper, but it is a Navy ship. I could see a pirate mistaking this as a merchant vessel, though would expect eventually the gray color would arouse suspicion eventually. In fact there was an instance were the Somali pirates did attack a similar Greek auxillary if I remember correctly.

 

[Patroklos]

They're really old; back then there wasn't such a difference.

Warship or Cargo ship?

You would have to be blind to not tell the difference between those two. Warships have not looked like merchant ships since the age of sail.

 

[Flying Pig]

This is the USNS Big Horn, a Kaiser-class auxillary in the USN. It is not a warship proper, but it is a Navy ship. I could see a pirate mistaking this as a merchant vessel, though would expect eventually the gray color would arouse suspicion eventually. In fact there was an instance were the Somali pirates did attack a similar Greek auxillary if I remember correctly.

Is it armed? And as for your last post, I wouldn't confidently give an opinion on that to attack it, but I reckon that the top one is probably the cargo ship.

 

[Patroklos]

Is it armed?

Depending on the theatre they are operating they sometimes carry .50cals to ward off small boat attacks, and always have small arms aboard. The ship is operated by the Military Sealift Command and most of the crew is civilian, but they do have a handful of Navy personel onboard.

And as for your last post, I wouldn't confidently give an opinion on that to attack it, but I reckon that the top one is probably the cargo ship.

Are you talking about VRWCagent's pictures? I can't see them at work. But the pictures you posted show a clear distiction that anyone would notice.

 

[Mise]

Here are some warship silhouettes I've found on google. They look kinda like merchant vessels to me

Ya, when they're freakin close ups in perfect sunlight it's pretty damn easy... not so easy when they're tiny silhouettes, is it! They all look like merchant vessels to me... And these are profiles -- just imagine what they'd look like front on! But yeah you guys are clearly more manly than me I'm not sure if my inability to distinguish between two black objects in the distance makes me a good candidate for a Somali pirate, or a bad one...

 

[Flying Pig]

Depending on the theatre they are operating they sometimes carry .50cals to ward off small boat attacks, and always have small arms aboard. The ship is operated by the Military Sealift Command and most of the crew is civilian, but they do have a handful of Navy personel onboard.

OK, but it's probably an exception and not likely to be in operation around the Gulf of Aden anyway; since that's manned by a fighting taksk force they probably have better ships more fit for purpose.

Are you talking about VRWCagent's pictures? I can't see them at work. But the pictures you posted show a clear distiction that anyone would notice.

Yes, I am. The ones I posted are designed to show that in the modern age there is a bit more difference.

Mise, you can see that 2nd colum 2nd row is a warship and make a reasonable guess at the others: I think that 3, 4 is a civvy, as is 1,3 and 3, 1; and the three to the far right are probably not warships.

 

[Patroklos]

OK, but it's probably an exception and not likely to be in operation around the Gulf of Aden anyway; since that's manned by a fighting taksk force they probably have better ships more fit for purpose.

They most surely do operate in the Gulf of Aden because we have task forces there. How do you think those warships get their food and fuel!

 

[Flying Pig]

They don't dock to get them? I've just become a bit more impressed with sea officers.

 

[bhsup]

My test wasn't fair, I admit. They were WWI and II era Q-Ships. Warships disguised to look like cargo ships so as to lure the enemy in close.

 

[Patroklos]

They don't dock to get them? I've just become a bit more impressed with sea officers.

USN ships rarely refuel in port, even at their home port. We do take on dry and frozen stores when we pull into a port (anywhere in the world) if they are availabe, but more often than not when deployed we just have them VERTREPed to us while getting fuel from oilers.

I can only remember one instance when we got fuel shoreside, it was in Sicily.

 

[BSmith1068]

They don't dock to get them? I've just become a bit more impressed with sea officers.

Some examples:

 

[Antilogic]

My test wasn't fair, I admit. They were WWI and II era Q-Ships. Warships disguised to look like cargo ships so as to lure the enemy in close.

I had an inkling that is what you were going for, although I didn't recognize the ships myself. In any case, Flying Pig's ship IDs are far more applicable for the modern day situation the Somali pirates find themselves in, so I think that's a better example to work with.

On Mise's pictures, I'll admit I might be tempted to attack the flat-top ones (because most modern merchant ships are flat-topped freighters).