Somali pirates 'seize 30 tanks', page 2
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reply posted on 27-9-2008 @ 11:40 AM by Now_Then
Well this is an interesting little story, I read about it briefly in the paper and chuckled a bit - now I read they are serious tanks (I just assumed they were real old cast off's) It made my little ears prick up.

I notice no one has linked This story yet....

THE Royal Navy has been ordered not to arrest pirates — in case they claim asylum.

Warships must simply watch if merchant vessels are attacked, it was revealed yesterday.

Meanwhile crews have been warned that fighting modern-day cut-throats could violate their HUMAN RIGHTS.
............................
Yesterday respected shipping newspaper Lloyd’s List revealed: “Foreign Office officials are understood to have advised the Royal Navy not to confront or arrest pirates in the region, for fear of transgressing human rights legislation or encouraging their seeking asylum once taken to the UK.”


Now I know that link is from the Sun - but quite a few other scources, the Telegraph for instance, took down the story. So I'm gonna have a quick search for this Lloyds List.

Edit - you have to subscribe to Lloydslist.com to read the articles, I had a quick go with a bugmenot login but no joy

[edit on 27/9/2008 by Now_Then]


reply posted on 27-9-2008 @ 02:05 PM by Anonymous ATS
reply to post by MischeviousElf


Sir. as far as the USA in Mogadishu I disagree on the influence issue. I was there on 3 October 1993, the result of what happend was a direct cause of piss poor planning and the oxymoron called military intellegance. We did pretty DAMN good playing the hand we were delt. My seventeen fellow Ranger's and Delta Force members did NOT die in vein. We went on that mission with a little more than a few hundred men and were up against tens of thousands. Did I mention that their losses are unknown but estimates range from one to several thousand. We were not there to assert control or force our ways on the people. We were there to stop the war lords from starving and killing the people of the country of Somolia. The reason this did not happen and the situation exsist now is due to the cut and run policy of the Clinton adminastraition. You sir should understand all of the facts before you engage your eating hole without mental thought.



reply posted on 27-9-2008 @ 03:02 PM by Now_Then
reply to post by roguetechie


Good point - one big boat - strap the whole tank on it, cut out all the excess - everything that don't interfere with the operation of the gun turret - wow that actually sounds like the most fun you could have with an old tug boat, a tank and an oxy-acetylene torch


reply posted on 27-9-2008 @ 03:11 PM by Anonymous ATS
The answer to Pirates is Sonic Weapons (unless the pirate develop a super ear-plug)

www.guardian.co.uk...

As to men learning to operate a tank... if they can start them, they will learn.
It's only a tank. The T-72 is a 40 year old beast that as built in large numbers.
If they left them on the ship, or lined them up somewhere on land, it would only take a
couple of Russian Su-25 Frogfoots a few passes to waste all of them.


reply posted on 27-9-2008 @ 03:11 PM by Anonymous ATS




reply posted on 27-9-2008 @ 03:24 PM by wutone
reply to post by roguetechie


One anti-ship missile or torpedo will take care of that problem.

Anyhow the pirates just bit into the worldwide arms trade and scored. They can't use the tanks themselves because they are useless without supporting combat personnel, vehicles and massive amounts of fuel. A couple helicopters from any of the African governments can deal with these 30 tanks.

I wonder who the pirates are going to try and sell the tanks to. I also wonder if the pirates aren't some kind of staged middle man working for the Russians or maybe the U.S. for some scheme of supporting one of the regional strongman.


reply posted on 27-9-2008 @ 04:12 PM by Keyhole
Originally posted by tyranny22
Interesting times.

I can't wait to see the retribution Russia deals out to a bunch of rag-tag pirates.



You might not have long to wait!

Russia Sending heavily-Armed Patrol Ship to Somali Coast to Combat Piracy


The Russian Navy's central command has sent the patrol ship, Neustrashimy, to the coast of Somalia after pirates seized a Ukranian vessel in the region.

For the record, piracy as a jihadist activity has a pedigree at least as old as the Barbary conflicts with Europe and the new United States, and the Islamic slave raiding pirates vividly described in Giles Milton's book White Gold.

Navy spokesman Captain Igor Dygalo, says the Neustrashimy, which belongs to the Baltic Fleet, has been sent as part of Russia's aim to combat piracy.[...]
******SKIP******
Pirates hijacked Ukraine's vessel Faina under Belize's flag en route to Kenya in neutral waters not far from Kenya's coast on Thursday (local time).

Some reports indicate that the Ukrainian ship was carrying military hardware, including nearly 30 T-72 tanks and spare parts for armoured hardware.

The patrol ship Neustrashimy is equipped with anti-submarine and air defence missile systems, a 100 millimetre artillery gun, torpedo systems and rocket-assisted bomb launchers.

"Pirates" be warned.

It also has a Kamov Ka-27 ship-based helicopter on board.



Pirates better hide!


reply posted on 27-9-2008 @ 04:30 PM by Keyhole
Didn't realize they were asking a ransom for the return of the pirated ship and it's cargo!

Pirates Lower Ransom Demand to $5 million


Pirates who seized a Ukrainian vessel loaded with tanks and weapons off the African coast have lowered their ransom demand to $5 million.
Russia has sent this frigate to the Somalia coast after the hijacking of a Ukrainian ship.

The pirates initially demanded $35 million and no military action, said Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya Seafarers Association. They decreased their demands for several reasons, Mwangura said.

Those reasons include that the crew is from eastern Europe and not the United States, the weapons the ship carries are secondhand, and there is no way to unload the tanks without coming onto land, he said.



It would take a HUGE crane to unload a tank from a ship! Kind of hard to sell somebody a tank that you can't get off the ship!

It's hard to believe, but they actually were paid a ransom before from Japan!


Meanwhile, Mwangura said an Egyptian ship seized by pirates has been released, and a Japanese ship was released after a $2 million ransom was paid.




reply posted on 27-9-2008 @ 05:24 PM by Keyhole
Found another interesting article about the pirated "tank" ship!

US Destroyer Watching Hijacked Ship Off Somalia


A U.S. destroyer off the coast of Somalia closed in Saturday on a hijacked Ukrainian ship loaded with tanks and ammunition, watching it to ensure the pirates who seized it do not try to remove any cargo or crew.



So now at least we know the none of the weapons that are still on the ship will be unloaded!


reply posted on 27-9-2008 @ 06:49 PM by makeitso
Perhaps something is being overlooked.

Did you notice that the Russian ship set sail before the tank ship was hijacked?

Rumor has it they were deployed to recover this ship's cargo. Not the tank ship.

Somali pirates suffered skin burns, lost hair and fell gravely ill “within days” of boarding the MV Iran Deyanat. Some of them died...


[edit on 9/27/08 by makeitso]


reply posted on 27-9-2008 @ 10:33 PM by mattguy404
reply to post by makeitso


Incredibly excellent thing to point out...

I knew Iranian ships had been captured before, but I've never heard that the pirates had gotten sick after boarding the vessel.

Mystery surrounds hijacked Iranian ship


Angered over the wave of piracy and suspicious about the Iranian ship, authorities dispatched a delegation led by Minister of Minerals and Oil Hassan Allore Osman to investigate the situation on September 4. Osman also confirmed to The Long War Journal that during the six days he negotiated with the pirates members of the syndicate had become sick and died. "That ship is unusual," he said. "It is not carrying a normal shipment."


www.longwarjournal.org...

So were the contents of the Iranian ship simply toxic, or did it contain nuclear material?







reply posted on 27-9-2008 @ 11:27 PM by johnsky
Alright, careful about talking about that ship, it may derail the thread from the ship we're supposed to be talking about.

The ship hijacked off the Somalian coast carrying 30 Russian made T72's, plus ammunition, was bound for Kenya. The deal was made by the Ukraine, a legal arms deal with Kenya.

The big fear here is these 30 T72's can only be feasibly offloaded near where it was hijacked. It doesn't have the fuel necessary to run very far, and it would be pretty hard to make it very far regardless without being hunted before they get anywhere.
With that being said, my fear is these 30 T72's are going to make some warlord very happy.

Yes, the T72 is dated... it won't stand up against most modern tanks. Hence, why they're being sold...

... but as dated as they are, they are still just as effective as they've always been at suppressing civilians, and taking out other dated military vehicles, and other hard targets.

It's not like the civilians are going to have Merkava tanks to retaliate with.


As for conspiracies... yes Russia wants to be buddy buddy again with Ukraine... for obvious reasons. The Ukraine has a choice whether to side with NATO, or the Russian Federation. Clearly it's in the Federations best interests to have the Ukraine on their side.

Yes, the ship intended for interception set sail before the hijacking... but, it's a warship, and the Russians aren't known for just sitting idle by until something happens. Their ships are sent out on routine patrols, hence, the obvious choice of ship to intercept the hijacked cargo vessel, was one that had already left harbor.
So you've likely got nothing there.

This is all about politics.
It's a greased pig contest, and Ukraine is the pig. NATO and Russia are desperately trying to be the ones with their hands on it.

It looks like Russia is putting their money where their mouth is though, by taking action against those who infringe on Ukraine's property. (It remains their property until successfully sold.)

From NATO? I haven't heard a peep.

There are US warships in the area too... but they are merely "watching" the situation. Bureaucracy at it's finest.

It's high time someone blew these pirates out of the water. They've been getting more troublesome as time passes... if NATO doesn't want to get it's hands dirty, I applaud any efforts Russia is willing to make.

Let em have it boys.
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