Thursday, April 01, 2010

Frigates vs. Pirates: Different Sea, Same Result

The young US Navy won renown battling pirates in the Mediterranean 200 years ago, and continued that tradition today off Somalia, this time without spotting them a frigate.

My favorite part of the article, quoting British pirate expert "Jolly"* Roger Middleton:
[Pirates] might not always make rational decisions, and they often attack things that are bigger than they should... It's also quite possible that they don't have a full understanding of the targets they are attacking. Perhaps they just see a big ship they think is a worth a lot of money.
Considering the $64 million unit construction cost and the theoretical ransom the capture of such a ship might entail, they weren't entirely incorrect, although they overlooked the part about the guns, highly-trained crews etc.

*You KNOW that's what they call him.

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