Dances With Words  | 03 Mar 2010 1:07 p.m. PST |
Taking a page from the 'old world' and 'Freedom Force?' (that movie with all the cool dune buggies?-Deeds not words) What if…an 'aged tanker' was retrofitted to be a 'q-ship'…re-enforced hull, backup engines/weapons…(like that tanker in 'For Your Eyes Only' that captured Subs…only this one carried MINI-subs and SEALS/multi-national types…and similiar spec-ops types… The goal of the ship would be to 'lure' the pirates in…with a minimum crew…etc…and have the ship taken to the pirate's home port…where the 'crew' would be 'held'/have 'secret ops' folks track them…etc..and find out where other crews are being held…etc… Meanwhile…the minisubs and seals would use sat-recon and stuff in (secret) areas of tanker to gather intel..on how many 'pirates' and so on… Then…after a couple nites….THE PLAN is put into action and all the pirates are captured/killed, hostages freed, enemy 'stronghold' and attack ships destroyed…'scorched earth' policy…and throw in a few Apache attack choppers with Hellfire and stinger missles…. Without getting 'political'…say HYPOTHETICALLY this is a 'state-sponsored/condoned' privateer action on the pirate's part…maybe leaving the ship there with a TAC-NUKE might be an incentive to not try piracy again…or start having q-ships in the convoys….???? Just some 'modern naval'/spy-movie/'black ops' kinda scenarios….with the objective or 1. freeing all the hostages…2. capture/neutralize all pirate forces/transports/facilites and 'safe-ports'…3. recovering or DESTROYING any 'ransom ships'/property if not recoverable. 4. Demonstrate a UNIFIED front against piracy and STERN protective anti-pirate measures and GUARANTEED RETRIBUTION against further attempts at piracy…. What do you think…as a naval/covert ops scenario…what is the minimum/maximum possiblilities…Could 'James Bond' do it by himself…or what??? I don't know if the CIA/NSA or others have thought of this…(I'm sure they have rooms of folks thinking up weird BLEEP like this for real world applications…which is kinda SCAREY…but I'm talking GAMING/wargaming/rpg use!) Slishfully…(time to break out Octosquid for covert ops!)
Sgt DWW |
| aecurtis | 03 Mar 2010 1:31 p.m. PST |
Just redo Chuck Norris in "Delta Force", but with a jet-ski instead of a dirt bike. One man could take out hundreds of pirates. Job done. Allen |
| Ed the Two Hour Wargames guy | 03 Mar 2010 1:34 p.m. PST |
There's currently a Q-ship being outfitted in Seattle. |
| Top Gun Ace | 03 Mar 2010 2:17 p.m. PST |
I don't think one mission would draw enough pirates in a single event to make it worthwhile, and they mainly stay on the vessel until the ransom is delivered. Of course, if it were to cruise up and down the coast, changing paint schemes, and its profile, then that might do, since you could catch numerous pirate bands that way. The misfit "A Team" from the old TV series would be good enough to take care of the pirates. To really get it going, create a small fleet of Q-ships of various sizes, and arm all of the crews heavily with small arms, and Tow missile launchers. Open fire when approached, or you see men with weapons – not PC, but effective. Until we go the 19th Century tactics route, clean out the pirate nests, and kill off the pirates, piracy will continue to escalate. |
| aecurtis | 03 Mar 2010 2:44 p.m. PST |
Approach the former Soviet Union (I guess it's the Russian Federation that still has these), and ask for the loan of some WIGs: link Allen |
| CmdrKiley | 03 Mar 2010 4:38 p.m. PST |
Chuck Norris on Jet Skis with big Stinger Missiles mounted on the handlebars! That'll put the fear into any Somali pirate…until the genetically engineered Sharktopi are deployed! |
| WarpSpeed | 03 Mar 2010 5:20 p.m. PST |
Very cool machine ,thank you aecurtis. |
| asa1066 | 03 Mar 2010 6:15 p.m. PST |
I've always wanted to write a book with WIG's in it. Maybe this would be a good time to start. David S. |
| dglennjr | 03 Mar 2010 6:34 p.m. PST |
Are you thinking "MegaForce" (with the infamous Barry Bostwick from Rocky Horror Picture Show), not "Freedom Force"? The dune buggies, mortorcycles and other vehicles coated with the solar-reactive camouflage. (The six-wheeled, command vehicle was always the coolest.) |
| Ron W DuBray | 03 Mar 2010 7:29 p.m. PST |
one problem what would stop the pirates from killing some of the crew? better off building kill boxes on the ship like roach traps. pirates check in but dont check out :) Q ship type hidden weapons to take out the boats after the boarding. |
| Dances With Words | 03 Mar 2010 9:13 p.m. PST |
How about this…. We clone Chuck Norris and equip every freighter/ship with at least TWO of him on ski-doos with missle launchers on the handlebars and machine guns in the nose…. While he's taking out the pirates AT sea…we pull a page from 'The Operative's guide from 'Serenity'…'When your quarry goes to ground, leave them no ground to go to'…NAPALMING/hellfire missiles on their 'safe-ports' while they're OUT to sea…leaving any SURVIVORS no place TO return to…would be a nice 'touch' too… Until we have a 'Megaforce' or 'Chuck Norris cloning system' in place…it's not going to amoung to much though… I can see if HIT-TENTACLES are available till Roger Corman gets 'SHARTOPUS' ready???? Sgt DWW-btod |
| aecurtis | 04 Mar 2010 8:10 a.m. PST |
Now, now. I suggest neat things that people have forgotten about, and then we go to napalming communities? Let's be cool. Seeing little kids running down the street with their clothes burned off ain't cool, pirates or not. Allen |
| Cke1st | 04 Mar 2010 9:54 a.m. PST |
The pirates aren't centralized at all. Getting into one gang's base won't get you one inch nearer the others. The economics and tactics make about as much sense as sending a Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Ops Capable) to take out a street gang of 10-12 kids. Just put a squad of Marines on each ship, with unrestrictive ROE's. Once their ship clears the danger zone, fly them to the next ship. When every freighter becomes a Q-ship, the pirates will find another line of work. |
| CmdrKiley | 04 Mar 2010 11:28 a.m. PST |
Somali Pirate 1: Should we go after that ship? Somali Pirate 2: No way man, Chuck Norris is on that ship and he'd totally mess us all up. Somali Pirate 1: Well what about that one? Somali Pirate 2: No, see that bald guy on the deck. I think that's Bruce Willis, and I've seen all the Die Hard movies. Trust me you don't want to mess with him. Somali Pirate 1: Well that one's got Stephen Segal, he's gained a lot weight and hasn't done a decent movie in years. Somali Pirate 2: Yeah but I hear Jean Claude Van Damme is on that boat too, and I don't think we have enough to take both of them on. Besides with a B-list like that, they probably have a Sharktopus backing them up. Somali Pirate 1: Well what about that one! Somali Pirate 2: Oooo…that looks like Shia LeBoufe strutting around on the deck of that one. Let's go boys, we got a ship hijack! |
| aecurtis | 04 Mar 2010 11:39 a.m. PST |
You know, it is kind of sad. In the past, these guys have kicked butt on all kinds of serious terrorists. They've taken out tanks, recaptured battleships, heck, even defended the entire USA: YouTube link And now they're so old and decrepit, the best we can think of for them is to sit on some boats to scare off a few pirates? Isn't there some guy in a cave somewhere they could be hunting down? Or are they just past their sell by date? Allen |
| Top Gun Ace | 04 Mar 2010 12:09 p.m. PST |
"Isn't there some guy in a cave somewhere they could be hunting down"? Actually, the Pakistani's and our troops are finally doing that now. "The pirates aren't centralized at all. Getting into one gang's base won't get you one inch nearer the others". From what I have read, they throw terrific parties, so perhaps we could crash one or two, just for fun, and to capture/retire a bunch in one fell swoop. |
| CmdrKiley | 04 Mar 2010 12:45 p.m. PST |
"From what I have read, they throw terrific parties, so perhaps we could crash one or two, just for fun, and to capture/retire a bunch in one fell swoop." That reminds me of an old movie, where these undercover cops setup a pawn shop and took in stolen merchandise. They filmed who brought it in and determined if it was stolen or not. Then they threw a big party for all their clients, sending invites to all the theives that they had evidence on. At the party they then announced they were all under arrest. |
| CmdrKiley | 04 Mar 2010 12:49 p.m. PST |
How about sort of a floating Roach Motel. Big juicy tanker sits out there waiting to get boarded. Boarders are jumped by trained personnel and secretly stashed away. The ship can change it's name and configuration to throw off the pirates. Eventually some pirates are going to notice a lot of pirates not coming back. |
| Top Gun Ace | 05 Mar 2010 1:08 a.m. PST |
That would work, but crashing one of their parties would be quicker. No doubt, the leaders will be easy to identify, e.g. those cruising around in expensive SUV's, or sedans, with darkened windows, and being freshly washed. |
| aecurtis | 05 Mar 2010 4:11 a.m. PST |
"Actually, the Pakistani's and our troops are finally doing that now." The Pakistani's… what? And which Pakistani? The one who runs Bill's Liquor on Montara? Allen |
| Chouan | 08 Mar 2010 4:49 a.m. PST |
The pirates are also operating from intelligence, ie they know which ships are around, where they've come from, where they're going to, and what cargo they're carrying. An "aged tanker" that hadn't been operating, without a cargo, without a destination, would be so obvious to the pirate operations intelligence that no pirate would go near it.
Where would you hide the extra kit? Some of the pirates are ex-seamen, who've sailed on most types of ships. They'd know their way around a tanker, and would know, for example, what the draught of a tanker that is light is. Hence reinforced hull, extra kit, etc would change the draught, and be obvious. Similarly, where would you put the back up engines? Have you seen the size of a tanker's main engine? Again, put in extra machinery and a pirate would spot it immediately they boarded. |
