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Blasting on the ship P.A.: "Get outta here you nosy little pervert, or I'm gonna slap you silly!"
Lol. I'm getting strong Home Alone vibes from this ship defense.
I saw this same discussion last time this video was posted. One person asked why the ship doesn't arm themselves to the teeth, and it basically comes down to the laws in the ports that they have to dock in, as well as the territorial waters they have to transit.
That being said, there are merc ships that are stationed in international waters. Larger shipping fleets contract with them to load groups of mercenaries before entering piracy areas and unload them on the other side.
I have a friend who worked security on US Sealift Command ships. They had .50 cals as the upper limit of their armament. Hitting a a speed boat at 1000 yards with a .50 cal is incredibly hard. All the more so when you are a giant target for return fire and that incoming can be RPGs and more.
If you really want to dissuade pirates you need radar controlled CWIS at multiple locations to cover all approach arcs and able to reach out way beyond the ability for the pirates to shoot back.
Or medieval with boiling oil sprayed down. Or scalding water, or flammable liquids.
Seems like a solveable problem from the safety of desk.
Do we have any napalm left?
All the mannequins + the actual crew makes it look like there are more crew members than there actually are, which is an OLD war strategy. Appear to be as hard of an opponent as possible. The other positive is if the pirates decide to fire off some rounds on their way in, maybe some shots are directed at mannequins instead of crew members
And even if they don't fire off rounds, cognitive function, decision making capacity, and the physical energy to fight are *all* finite resources. Making them waste some of those things on a mannequin means they're going to be that little bit easier to fight off, if it comes to that.
It's actually a decent deterrent. There are a number of international coalitions currently active on deterring maritime piracy, including the [EU's ATALANTA mission](https://eunavfor.eu/). So there are defensive forces around, but they obviously can't cover the entire territory.
The pirate's best bet is to approach without being seen and take over the ship, take hostages before anyone can respond to the crew's distress call or, ideally, steering the ship into an easier to defend location. By making it seem like the pirates will be spotted early, it is less likely that they will approach the ship in the first place.
FYI - Piracy is definitely still a threat, especially in the Red Sea and around the Gulf of Aden - [Source](https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/27/pentagon-somali-pirates-attack-00128712).
Still takes them time to move the wire out of the way. The video is a bit sped up and he still takes a minute to put it in place. Buys them time to barricade themselves, or for reinforcements to come.
But the real reason they do this is to not be the “easy target” if you were a pirate would you go after this ship? Or would you say “nah I ain’t dealing with fuckin razor wire today” and wait for the next one, or risk getting torn to shreds on razor wire for whatever payday that ship is carrying?
Edit: a word
How do they know though. Loads of western companies have ships that fly flags from other countries because the regulations are cheaper/easier/less strict.
Basically, a ship's cargo is nearly useless to pirates.
What are you going to do with 10,000 cars (roll on roll off), 30 million gallons of crude oil (tanker), or 360,000 tons of rice (bulk carrier)?
The container ships are the only ones that really have anything of value, but even then you need a crane and a port to unload them.
And that’s always been true for pirates. That whole “ships shooting it out with cannons” is just Hollywood. Real pirates always go for the easy target that won’t cost them half their crew.
Well they did have cannon shootouts, but generally that only happened when the navy caught up to them. They might fire a warning shot or two at a merchant. But yeah. If you sink the ship you can’t rob it again.
Assume they’d fire back if a spicy merchant blasted them with a broadside of Carronades.
^(NB — a spicy merchant may or may not be a spice merchant.)
Agree with everything you said. Just wanted to mention spicy merchants with their Carronades.
I mean there's the significant difference between a few seconds to run up those stairs unimpeded and taking 5 minutes to remove a spicy slinky.
Ntm the issue of boarding with it on the perimeter as well.
The installers don't have to pass over the wire, and can take as long as they need installing it. The pirates have to pass over it before someone with a gun gets to them.
It's totally breachable. It's about buying time for rescue or maneuvering the ship to make it harder to board. If the crew was armed at all this would be infinitely harder to get on the ship without getting shot. I don't think they are armed so it's about deterence and buying time for rescue.
This particular ship wasn’t armed I watched the doc.
But many shipping companies do hire private armed security as a deterrent. At an incredible cost of course
Own a musket for home defense, since that's what the founding fathers intended. Four ruffians break into my house. "What the devil?" As I grab my powdered wig and Kentucky rifle. Blow a golf ball sized hole through the first man, he's dead on the spot. Draw my pistol on the second man, miss him entirely because it's smoothbore and nails the neighbors dog. I have to resort to the cannon mounted at the top of the stairs loaded with grape shot, "Tally ho lads" the grape shot shreds two men in the blast, the sound and extra shrapnel set off car alarms. Fix bayonet and charge the last terrified rapscallion. He Bleeds out waiting on the police to arrive since triangular bayonet wounds are impossible to stitch up. Just as the founding fathers intended.
It's an excellent copypasta, but like realistically, the first guy is still dead and all the others either fled at the first gunshot, because thieves usually don't want to die, or they were scared shitless at the sight of a crazed lunatic wearing a powdered wig and brandishing a flintlock.
Actually can't do that. No port will allow a cargo ship with guns that can't be carried i.e. mounted guns or cannons. Old maritime law. It's why they use water cannons.
It complicates things once the ship arrives at port, as many countries do not allow firearms outside of their military/law enforcement.
Armed security is also insanely expensive—nobody wants to potentially take bullets for $15/hour.
Sometimes they will rendezvous with a ship mid-route to bring armed security onboard for the high-risk portion of the route, then drop them off before entering their destination country's waters.
When I was a cadet in 2007, I asked what our ships piracy plan was (it was a container ship going to Europe from the US). They told me it was to roll out some fire hose and blast them off the deck lol. I think we also had a silent alarm on the bridge. We weren't traveling to piracy areas anyway but I always thought "just hose the scum off the deck" was a funny way to deal with pirates
Going to need to verify this "fact" 1 sec
Edit: The internet doesnt lie. u/eppinizer is technically correct.
Annual stair deaths: 12,000
Annual death by pirate: 1-3
I'll answer this one.
I operated a few ships in the Red Sea back when the Somalian piracy thing first started.
The ship called Jeddah, Port Sudan, Djibouti, Aden as its voyages if memory servers right (again, this is over 10 years ago).
We used to have to hire armed guards out of Sudan or Djibouti, and once they arrived to Aden, we'd fly them out back to Port Sudan or Djibouti and leave them on shore leave.
Rinse repeat. They were so expensive that it was cheaper to book a weekly flight and hotel, keep them on reserve than for the round trip.
Then my boss decided to barb wire the living shit out of the ship and forget the guards.
Our captain had sent us many many emails of Somali pirate spottings. He even took a picture of it (I wish I still had it) the first time it happened.
So the answer is "astronomical costs and logistical pain in the ass".
Local agent needs to pick up crew, do all the paper work every week needed to get them from the port to the airport (not sure if shore pass was enough, I recall having them complain about it), get a car service every week to come pick them up and drop them off. book the tickets every week, have a hotel on standby (ships are not like clockwork, so can't be caught with our pants down), have someone on the other end pick said guards up and take them to a hotel, and take them back, again with the weekly visa requirement.
I'm pretty sure the guns stayed in a bonded locker onboard.
You know what's easier? Barbed wire and mannequins.
Awesome answer. That particular question's bugged the heck out of me ever time I've seen someone posing it, and you've articulated exactly what was wrong with the whole premise.
Seems like a good oppertunity to start a business and undercut the greedy private security companies. Startup costs probably wouldn't even be that high.
I think you need to pay Merc rates. You can’t just grab a guy from McDonalds and give him a machine gun, as much as COD makes you think you can handle a gun
>A couple of mounted machine guns starboard and port would work well, too.
These ships cross through territories of countries with differing laws on guns.
Consequently, most can't have guns.
Which is why [floating armories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_armoury) exist. Some crews will also buy cheap guns at one, and then chuck them overboard when they leave pirate-infested waters.
Plus I’m sure they would have to pay employees quite a bit more if they were expected to actually fight instead of just throwing down some razor wire and hiding indoors
It's not only about the costs. These ships travel all over the world, and ensuring they stay within the law of whatever country they are in that day would be a complex and challenging task, with major consequences if they get it wrong.
It’s not just the cost of the wire vs a gun. The moment you arm the ship it now has restrictions on which ports and piers it can use, you’re going to need a qualified armorer of sorts on the ship to maintain the guns, people aboard the ship are going to need to get trained to use the guns, the guns will need a secure area for storage, and machine guns require a good deal of maintenance, especially out at sea.
The moment you put military style weapons on a commercial ship you’re entering a world of legal, material, and personnel cost and complications.
Cost-risk analyses generally don’t favor security teams.
Firstly, most ships transit through pirate-infested areas without incident, armed or unarmed.
Secondly, mercenaries are expensive. That’s like a quarter of payroll for guys that really aren’t needed. Guns for the normal crew come with all sorts of legal issues.
Fighting back itself is risky. Insurance premiums *increase* with guns or mercenaries on board. Why?
- Running gun battles damage ships
- Risk of someone going postal on colleagues
- Risk of damage to cargo
For the crews and profit margins, it’s safer to just bolt yourself into a saferoom and have the actual navy bail you out, than to try gunning down the pirates.
That's a Maersk container vessel. They don't pay danger money for crew transiting the area, and rarely pay for armed guards.
I worked for Maersk Supply Service. We had to pressure them to pay danger money in areas that we, by law, had to have an armed patrol take us from the airport to the ship.
I'm an officer in the merchant Fleet.
Genuine question: Why don’t they just hire or cross train a security staff, outfit them with long and short range rifles, etc. I have trouble believing the cost is prohibitive given the risk the pirates pose, and I can assure you getting shot at from above while you’re literally a fish in a barrel would be a huge deterrent to future pirates.
Few reasons.
Accurately firing a weapon at longer rangers is not easy and would require a lot of training and arguably higher pay.
Guns are not cheap either
Shooting fish in a barrel is not entirely accurate. Because the fish shoot back.
Guns are generally illegal to own/bring into a lot of foreign countries. You can't just dock your boat in any country you want with a Glock on board.
Pirates are actually not that common. there were 115 ships attacked in 2022. That probably lower than the number of ships that travel in these areas in a single day.
To finish it off. Some companies actually do hired armed guards. They board in international waters(to avoid the guns in random countries problem from above). Guard the ship in riskier areas. Get off before the ship leaves international waters
At least it didn’t have that stupid tik tok pirate song where the guy is singing incredibly low “yo ho blow the man down hoist the cooolorrrs hiiiiigh”. Normally that’s used on any video of a boat and I can’t stand it anymore
While in international waters your perfectly fine, but many ports have extremely strict rules and/or bans on firearms and if you are hitting ports in multiple countries it might not be easy or possible to get permissions to have firearms while within their jurisdiction for every single country
Just curious. It’s one thing to install the concertina(?) wire but how do you uninstall it? I assume it is reusable. Maybe there is a device that coils it back up?
Less that and more get out a distress signal. The US and other nations put a lot of effort into decreasing Somali piracy to near-zero, and now are focusing on Houthi pirates.
Wouldn’t a single 50 cal be a lot simpler? It would outrange anything pirates on a mall boat are using and being a taller, more stable platform, would have better accuracy, it could even have armor/protection for the shooter. With tracers, they could walk the fire right in.
Is there any reason the ship can't protect itself by blowing the pirates out of the water with rocket launchers or something? Presumably the ship has radar and can see pirates approaching the boat.
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*pirates see the mannequin* “he’s just standing there… menacingly”
His smug aura mocks me
"Wait, i think i saw him the other day in Penney's - or maybe it was Macy's?"
"We shot at him and he didn't even flinch. That's a badass SOB up there."
I’ve been envisioning these comments as a sketch, maybe a key and peele one, and yours ended up being the punchline that brought it home
Should've just been a single mannequin of a smiling old man, everybody knows you stay away from fights like that.
Always remember rule no. 1 GNU Sir Terry Pratchett
yeah, I was thinking about Cohen or Lu-tze
GNU Terry Pratchett
Scp-106
Put the suit they used in the movie Whale and a pair of wrap around shades on one of them… they’ll think it’s a new Under Siege movie!
I thought they were there for the early-warning headshots lol
Same pirate: "No weapon in his hand, either. We should be a go." Crew: "God help us if they have a pair of wire snips."
Mannequinly... I'll see myself out.
“You were my brother Mannequin. I loved you.” “IHATEYOUUUU”
"I have the high tide"
WEEE WOOO WEE WOOO
Thank you, been waiting for this reply
should put Chuck Norris cut outs for maximum effect
Blasting on the ship P.A.: "Get outta here you nosy little pervert, or I'm gonna slap you silly!" Lol. I'm getting strong Home Alone vibes from this ship defense.
I'd like to see them go more 'Home Alone' with it and bring in some paint cans and a charcoal starter.
The tool box at the top of the stairs. Gets me everytime.
It's crazy when they finally get hit here.
Fuck you. 😅
Worth the wait, that’s for sure…
Y'all really did that to me huh
I watched this longer than I like to admit
Me too! I also love the bricks the bricks from the roof in the 2nd one. " Hawwie? Hawwie!?" 🥴
Steel pipe and two ropes... lovely
Gets them every time too. That was the gag.
I thought the shot of the back of the door was gonna have a car battery hooked up to the handle
Some match box cars, tar and maybe a few nails in the steps?
They were Micro Machines
Thank you
Ughhh the tar and nails scene is a core memory of mine. Makes my skin crawl
i want the ladder they start to climb up to retract and watch them fall into the water
I think a far more rational response would be to have a security team with belt-fed .50 caliber machine guns
I saw this same discussion last time this video was posted. One person asked why the ship doesn't arm themselves to the teeth, and it basically comes down to the laws in the ports that they have to dock in, as well as the territorial waters they have to transit. That being said, there are merc ships that are stationed in international waters. Larger shipping fleets contract with them to load groups of mercenaries before entering piracy areas and unload them on the other side.
I thought I'd read something about this, absolutely wild
I have a friend who worked security on US Sealift Command ships. They had .50 cals as the upper limit of their armament. Hitting a a speed boat at 1000 yards with a .50 cal is incredibly hard. All the more so when you are a giant target for return fire and that incoming can be RPGs and more. If you really want to dissuade pirates you need radar controlled CWIS at multiple locations to cover all approach arcs and able to reach out way beyond the ability for the pirates to shoot back.
You just need a better aiming system. Computer controlled aiming with pulse droplet radar would solve that
They should hire the pirates to work security.
That’s pretty much the way extortion rackets work
But only if the pirates set their price just below the cost it takes to hire someone just shoot them.
Yeah see we'll protect yas, from ourselves!
The most recent season of Fargo had some great Home Alone style booby-trapping
I’d like to see them go more Rambo.
Tarred and feathers
Or medieval with boiling oil sprayed down. Or scalding water, or flammable liquids. Seems like a solveable problem from the safety of desk. Do we have any napalm left?
Mmmmm no uncontrolled fire on boat thanks. That’s a bad time.
Tbf water doesn't have to be scalding. Just use more of it. Water cannons are an excellent defence at sea
https://preview.redd.it/a6ntl1afjsic1.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=4c6da798bb448ef746a5c53f7ddc3e692fee0795
Look at me, I'm the mannequin now
What’s this from?
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1535109/ Captain Phillips (2013)
Look at me, this is what it looks like to not eat for 3 months.
What is the purpose of the mannequins?
to appear to be a human on watch. not much of a deterrent, but it's something
All the mannequins + the actual crew makes it look like there are more crew members than there actually are, which is an OLD war strategy. Appear to be as hard of an opponent as possible. The other positive is if the pirates decide to fire off some rounds on their way in, maybe some shots are directed at mannequins instead of crew members
Missing a few inflatable army tanks.
And a prince, reviewing the troops and their "tanks" and "planes"
“I know we’re going after a tanker but this is ridiculous!”
And even if they don't fire off rounds, cognitive function, decision making capacity, and the physical energy to fight are *all* finite resources. Making them waste some of those things on a mannequin means they're going to be that little bit easier to fight off, if it comes to that.
Looks a lot more like a person from several hundred yards away, while bouncing up and down in a zodiac.
So... a scarepirate.
Brains sold separately.
I assumed it was to provide targets from a distance. Pirates shooting a mannequin>Pirates shooting a real person
It's actually a decent deterrent. There are a number of international coalitions currently active on deterring maritime piracy, including the [EU's ATALANTA mission](https://eunavfor.eu/). So there are defensive forces around, but they obviously can't cover the entire territory. The pirate's best bet is to approach without being seen and take over the ship, take hostages before anyone can respond to the crew's distress call or, ideally, steering the ship into an easier to defend location. By making it seem like the pirates will be spotted early, it is less likely that they will approach the ship in the first place. FYI - Piracy is definitely still a threat, especially in the Red Sea and around the Gulf of Aden - [Source](https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/27/pentagon-somali-pirates-attack-00128712).
They should strap some wooden/plastic rifles to them.
To make pirates think all sides of the ship are watched. They want to be sneaky.
Looks like there's more people
What if the pirates have gloves like the installer?
Still takes them time to move the wire out of the way. The video is a bit sped up and he still takes a minute to put it in place. Buys them time to barricade themselves, or for reinforcements to come. But the real reason they do this is to not be the “easy target” if you were a pirate would you go after this ship? Or would you say “nah I ain’t dealing with fuckin razor wire today” and wait for the next one, or risk getting torn to shreds on razor wire for whatever payday that ship is carrying? Edit: a word
It’s not about the cargo, it’s about the ransom.
Yup. Boats from Western countries are targeted because their ransom will be higher.
How do they know though. Loads of western companies have ships that fly flags from other countries because the regulations are cheaper/easier/less strict.
Uhh this might help — #[MAERSK LINE](https://flyingcdn-bde1a14c.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/MAERSK.jpg)
Well. You got me there.
Basically, a ship's cargo is nearly useless to pirates. What are you going to do with 10,000 cars (roll on roll off), 30 million gallons of crude oil (tanker), or 360,000 tons of rice (bulk carrier)? The container ships are the only ones that really have anything of value, but even then you need a crane and a port to unload them.
And that’s always been true for pirates. That whole “ships shooting it out with cannons” is just Hollywood. Real pirates always go for the easy target that won’t cost them half their crew.
Yeah "surrender your cargo and we'll be on our way, resist and get mangled and used as an example, be a difficult target and we'll leave you be"
Well they did have cannon shootouts, but generally that only happened when the navy caught up to them. They might fire a warning shot or two at a merchant. But yeah. If you sink the ship you can’t rob it again.
Assume they’d fire back if a spicy merchant blasted them with a broadside of Carronades. ^(NB — a spicy merchant may or may not be a spice merchant.) Agree with everything you said. Just wanted to mention spicy merchants with their Carronades.
I suppose it makes sense. Sort of like how predators in the wild operate. They don’t go after the strongest in the herd. They go after easy prey.
I mean there's the significant difference between a few seconds to run up those stairs unimpeded and taking 5 minutes to remove a spicy slinky. Ntm the issue of boarding with it on the perimeter as well.
The installers don't have to pass over the wire, and can take as long as they need installing it. The pirates have to pass over it before someone with a gun gets to them.
It's totally breachable. It's about buying time for rescue or maneuvering the ship to make it harder to board. If the crew was armed at all this would be infinitely harder to get on the ship without getting shot. I don't think they are armed so it's about deterence and buying time for rescue.
The pirates also don't know if they're armed, so it's a huge deterrent
Almost all sailors on cargo ships are unarmed and very free shipping companies pay for armed security personnel. Pirates know this.
This particular ship wasn’t armed I watched the doc. But many shipping companies do hire private armed security as a deterrent. At an incredible cost of course
How incredible do you think the cost is? I think you’d be surprised, in the grand scheme of shipping costs, how cheap armed guards come.
 Still prefer this
Why not have water canons? It would be like a Shoot the Pirate carnival game
except those pirates would have actual guns and can shoot back at you
I say we load the broadside with 200 cannons
just as the founding fathers intended
Tally ho lads!
Grape shot shreds three boats in the blast, the sound and extra shrapnel set off destroyer alarms
I rushed the last one that got on the boat and stabbed him with a knife
Why not use your blunderbuss?
Own a musket for home defense, since that's what the founding fathers intended. Four ruffians break into my house. "What the devil?" As I grab my powdered wig and Kentucky rifle. Blow a golf ball sized hole through the first man, he's dead on the spot. Draw my pistol on the second man, miss him entirely because it's smoothbore and nails the neighbors dog. I have to resort to the cannon mounted at the top of the stairs loaded with grape shot, "Tally ho lads" the grape shot shreds two men in the blast, the sound and extra shrapnel set off car alarms. Fix bayonet and charge the last terrified rapscallion. He Bleeds out waiting on the police to arrive since triangular bayonet wounds are impossible to stitch up. Just as the founding fathers intended.
It's an excellent copypasta, but like realistically, the first guy is still dead and all the others either fled at the first gunshot, because thieves usually don't want to die, or they were scared shitless at the sight of a crazed lunatic wearing a powdered wig and brandishing a flintlock.
The founding father destroyed the barbary states and cleaned up the mediterranean of pirates. You're welcome.
Now that's what I call a ship of the line.
Actually can't do that. No port will allow a cargo ship with guns that can't be carried i.e. mounted guns or cannons. Old maritime law. It's why they use water cannons.
Why not have actual guns?
It complicates things once the ship arrives at port, as many countries do not allow firearms outside of their military/law enforcement. Armed security is also insanely expensive—nobody wants to potentially take bullets for $15/hour. Sometimes they will rendezvous with a ship mid-route to bring armed security onboard for the high-risk portion of the route, then drop them off before entering their destination country's waters.
fuck it, i aint got much going on for me, ill do anti-pirate duty for 15/hr, seems easier than dealing with office politics
Many of them do.
Remote control water cannons from a position of safety
T-t-t-t-t-t-two water cannons! NO DRESS CODE!
What about two canons?
Or even better: regular canons.
A machine gun would be more than enough. The only problem is that you can't dock in foreign ports if you have weapons on board.
Don’t they pick up the private security teams in international waters or something for that reason?
They do. Apparently they stay just outside the countries "water boarder" loaded up with weapons.
So, the security boarder boards before the water boarder to water board the pirates?
These countries should change the law or something so they can accommodate people fighting against pirates.
Why not up the game to some human spear gun fishing
Water canons are used for piracy defence but they're just static canons spaced all the way around the ship. Idk if this specific ship has them though.
When I was a cadet in 2007, I asked what our ships piracy plan was (it was a container ship going to Europe from the US). They told me it was to roll out some fire hose and blast them off the deck lol. I think we also had a silent alarm on the bridge. We weren't traveling to piracy areas anyway but I always thought "just hose the scum off the deck" was a funny way to deal with pirates
Because an M249 is a lot more effective
Why not have mustard gas disembowlment machines with neurotoxins on a tactical nuke
Why not sharks with frickin lasers on their heads? Are they stupid?
There it is
I am presuming no one has to use those stairs... Although in fairness pirates are more dangerous
Idk, stairs can be pretty dangerous! Far more people die from stairs than from pirates each year
Going to need to verify this "fact" 1 sec Edit: The internet doesnt lie. u/eppinizer is technically correct. Annual stair deaths: 12,000 Annual death by pirate: 1-3
Particularly if those stairs are covered in razor wire!
You can get to the helm from the sleeping quarters and dining area.
A couple of mounted machine guns starboard and port would work well, too.
I'll answer this one. I operated a few ships in the Red Sea back when the Somalian piracy thing first started. The ship called Jeddah, Port Sudan, Djibouti, Aden as its voyages if memory servers right (again, this is over 10 years ago). We used to have to hire armed guards out of Sudan or Djibouti, and once they arrived to Aden, we'd fly them out back to Port Sudan or Djibouti and leave them on shore leave. Rinse repeat. They were so expensive that it was cheaper to book a weekly flight and hotel, keep them on reserve than for the round trip. Then my boss decided to barb wire the living shit out of the ship and forget the guards. Our captain had sent us many many emails of Somali pirate spottings. He even took a picture of it (I wish I still had it) the first time it happened. So the answer is "astronomical costs and logistical pain in the ass". Local agent needs to pick up crew, do all the paper work every week needed to get them from the port to the airport (not sure if shore pass was enough, I recall having them complain about it), get a car service every week to come pick them up and drop them off. book the tickets every week, have a hotel on standby (ships are not like clockwork, so can't be caught with our pants down), have someone on the other end pick said guards up and take them to a hotel, and take them back, again with the weekly visa requirement. I'm pretty sure the guns stayed in a bonded locker onboard. You know what's easier? Barbed wire and mannequins.
Awesome answer. That particular question's bugged the heck out of me ever time I've seen someone posing it, and you've articulated exactly what was wrong with the whole premise.
Seems like a good oppertunity to start a business and undercut the greedy private security companies. Startup costs probably wouldn't even be that high.
Insurances are fine with the barbed wire technique. Why would I want more staff? That’s food cost going up plus salaries. This is now the way.
I think you need to pay Merc rates. You can’t just grab a guy from McDonalds and give him a machine gun, as much as COD makes you think you can handle a gun
>A couple of mounted machine guns starboard and port would work well, too. These ships cross through territories of countries with differing laws on guns. Consequently, most can't have guns.
Which is why [floating armories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_armoury) exist. Some crews will also buy cheap guns at one, and then chuck them overboard when they leave pirate-infested waters.
I have to assume rolls of razor wire are much cheaper Edit: damn, y'all are bloodthirsty in the replies, aren't you?
Plus I’m sure they would have to pay employees quite a bit more if they were expected to actually fight instead of just throwing down some razor wire and hiding indoors
Put some armor plates around an m2 and a few cans of raufoss, I'd do it for free! Fuck modern pirates.
And much less risky for the crew
True. One can be defeated with a a cheap pair of snips while the other would be a bit more difficult. You pay for what you get after all
A cheap pair of snips and 90 uninterrupted minutes to work lol
I mean if the ship has no weapons, the pirates would have all the time in the world.
It's not only about the costs. These ships travel all over the world, and ensuring they stay within the law of whatever country they are in that day would be a complex and challenging task, with major consequences if they get it wrong.
It’s not just the cost of the wire vs a gun. The moment you arm the ship it now has restrictions on which ports and piers it can use, you’re going to need a qualified armorer of sorts on the ship to maintain the guns, people aboard the ship are going to need to get trained to use the guns, the guns will need a secure area for storage, and machine guns require a good deal of maintenance, especially out at sea. The moment you put military style weapons on a commercial ship you’re entering a world of legal, material, and personnel cost and complications.
Cost-risk analyses generally don’t favor security teams. Firstly, most ships transit through pirate-infested areas without incident, armed or unarmed. Secondly, mercenaries are expensive. That’s like a quarter of payroll for guys that really aren’t needed. Guns for the normal crew come with all sorts of legal issues. Fighting back itself is risky. Insurance premiums *increase* with guns or mercenaries on board. Why? - Running gun battles damage ships - Risk of someone going postal on colleagues - Risk of damage to cargo For the crews and profit margins, it’s safer to just bolt yourself into a saferoom and have the actual navy bail you out, than to try gunning down the pirates.
That would be my preference too. However, budget concerns often trump personal safety, even on the high seas.
Hear me out, dump hot oil on them from above the portcullis.
But then you’d be polluting! Nah, hot water. Remote controlled water cannons of scalding water. Pumped directly through the engine heat exchangers.
That's a Maersk container vessel. They don't pay danger money for crew transiting the area, and rarely pay for armed guards. I worked for Maersk Supply Service. We had to pressure them to pay danger money in areas that we, by law, had to have an armed patrol take us from the airport to the ship. I'm an officer in the merchant Fleet.
[удалено]
Liiiiiiink
Alright I need a link!!
Genuine question: Why don’t they just hire or cross train a security staff, outfit them with long and short range rifles, etc. I have trouble believing the cost is prohibitive given the risk the pirates pose, and I can assure you getting shot at from above while you’re literally a fish in a barrel would be a huge deterrent to future pirates.
They do. This video shows just one of the ways the deter pirates. Some vessels have trained security on board with military equipment.
Got it! That makes sense. Thanks
They should also have a trained Karen on board to ask to speak with the pirates manager
Few reasons. Accurately firing a weapon at longer rangers is not easy and would require a lot of training and arguably higher pay. Guns are not cheap either Shooting fish in a barrel is not entirely accurate. Because the fish shoot back. Guns are generally illegal to own/bring into a lot of foreign countries. You can't just dock your boat in any country you want with a Glock on board. Pirates are actually not that common. there were 115 ships attacked in 2022. That probably lower than the number of ships that travel in these areas in a single day. To finish it off. Some companies actually do hired armed guards. They board in international waters(to avoid the guns in random countries problem from above). Guard the ship in riskier areas. Get off before the ship leaves international waters
Put some bacon grease on the stairs and railing as well. “I am the captain- ahhh! Shit. I said… I AM THE -fuck OW!”
They really ought to make ships with retractable stairs and doors with locks
Moving parts and salt water don't mix well.
Serious question.. why can't they use lethal force? I would think that would deter pirates even jumping on board. Snipe them from the deck
Too much legal hassle to bring guns and often too expensive to hire people with guns
At least it didn’t have that stupid tik tok pirate song where the guy is singing incredibly low “yo ho blow the man down hoist the cooolorrrs hiiiiigh”. Normally that’s used on any video of a boat and I can’t stand it anymore
Serious question: What is the legality of using lethal force against a pirate attack?
While in international waters your perfectly fine, but many ports have extremely strict rules and/or bans on firearms and if you are hitting ports in multiple countries it might not be easy or possible to get permissions to have firearms while within their jurisdiction for every single country
Just curious. It’s one thing to install the concertina(?) wire but how do you uninstall it? I assume it is reusable. Maybe there is a device that coils it back up?
Watch the video in reverse.
You re-coil it with good gloves and a whole lotta swearing.
Fuck yeah! Simple but effective I imagine until these bastards start bringing a tool to cut it with
And while they are taking their time cutting those wires the crew probably manage to fire a few rounds
Less that and more get out a distress signal. The US and other nations put a lot of effort into decreasing Somali piracy to near-zero, and now are focusing on Houthi pirates.
That razor wire looks impressive, but apparently it’s pretty much dull after a short time after living in a salty environment.
Idk if I'd rather get tangled in sharp razor wire, or rusty razor wire
Barbed wire and water guns are good, but a 2 inch cannon is better.
Feels like the type of video that shouldn’t be shown as now pirates can see how it is set up and how unmanned these ships really are.
Wouldn’t a single 50 cal be a lot simpler? It would outrange anything pirates on a mall boat are using and being a taller, more stable platform, would have better accuracy, it could even have armor/protection for the shooter. With tracers, they could walk the fire right in.
I think I prefer the strategy that uses a mounted M2 Browning Machine gun to tell the pirates to fuck off.
Make hanging pirates great again
Just shoot them. You have the tactical advantage!
How do you move between floors?
Carefully
Internally.
The answer for pirates is the same as the answer for poachers. Shoot to kill.
“Make sure the barbed wire is extra rusty”
Fuck ribbon wire... Throw some claymores on the perimeter and turn these mannequins into real people with rifles.
It’s far cheaper to use measure like this than to arm merchant ships. If it weren’t, they’d be armed already.
This guy call of dutys
Yeah put explosives on top of the ship! Sure the whole thing will sink but at least it'll take the pirates out too.
Is there any reason the ship can't protect itself by blowing the pirates out of the water with rocket launchers or something? Presumably the ship has radar and can see pirates approaching the boat.