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callred (72)   May 01, 2009 - 11:00 am

Almost exactly what I asked friends the other day. During WWII when U-boats were sinking ships left and right, they banded together in covoys. Thier losses went way down and the supplies started making it to England. » Login to reply to this

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Labotomizer (992)    Apr 16, 2009 - 01:32 pm

Several reasons... The US government doesn't pay the ransom, the shipping companies do. Typically a single day delay on a cargo ship costs hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars. The crew doesn't know what is on the cargo ship either. Gun fights on a cargo ship would be a terrible thing. You also forget how incredibly stupid most sailors, outside of the officer crew, really are. I do work for a cargo line and I service the computer network on the ships when they're in port here in Houston. They are here for 24 hours. Period. Which means if I'm not done in that 24 hour period I ride to New Orleans on board. And despite the thousands of dollars it costs them to do that it's way cheaper than delaying the ship. So if a Somali pirate asks for 250k to get a ship back that's a bargain compared to the money it's costing them in penalties for the ship not getting good where they need to go. And giving regular weapons to the crew is just plain bad. » Login to reply to this  Kessandra (1008)    Apr 16, 2009 - 01:56 pm I wasn't talking about giving guns to nobody sailors. Hire security guards at the very least. Mercenaries, like Blackwater who could use a new assignment. There's no excuse not to protect our citizens and our shipping lanes. » Login to reply to this  Kessandra (1008)     Apr 18, 2009 - 01:24 am All of these are pathetic excuses so as to not foot the bill. Covertly arm mercenaries? Hide the guns where they can't be found? Have a comfortable, enclosed lifeboat for the mercenaries to detach in (a comfy one so that they don't go crazy waiting)? Have the mercenaries in a separate ship throughout the trip as escorts that will safely ensure they get to their destination. » Login to reply to this  froggz (643)    Apr 17, 2009 - 03:50 pm Quote from the article, "Modern ships' crews are usually unarmed for a number of reasons, among them laws that prevent armed vessels from docking in the ports of many countries." Armed Black water mercenaries wouldn't work. Maybe if they had a smaller combat boat they can launch prior to docking were the merc's can hangout until the ship has completed it's business. But even then, I don't think anyone will be willing to be at sea for that long without hitting ports once. » Login to reply to this

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