Defending Against Pirates

It occurs to me that is international shipping lanes are going to come under constant attack by Captain Jack Sparrow & Co., then the international community had better step up the effort to ensure that constant military presence is available to deal with this threat. But the seas are vast, and response time would be dismal, even if fixed or rotor aircraft were to be dispatched in time. And short of a miraculous recovery by the Sudanese government, sailors are not going to be able to count on local help.

This scenario leaves individual vessels to fend for themselves. And if the mode of operation of these pirates relies on squad-sized elements using small arms, grenades, and variations of RPG weapon systems, then the only logical solution is to arm crews.

The objective of the pirates dictates that they would not use their most destructive on a ship itself, at least not with the intention of catastrophically crippling it, lest it sink with all of their proverbial booty. What remains is intimidation.

And the way to counter intimidation is to intimidate. Crews need to be trained in evasive maneuvers, but they must also realize that their advantage as defenders allows them to proactively counter pirate maneuvers with their own weapons.

This last example of piracy points to the fact that crews are capable of fighting back. I say arm them, and make any would-be pirates walk the plank.