Marstrike 05 rescues Thai's from Pirates

[Razor61]

A COMBINED British and American raid on pirates in the Arabian Sea has saved the life of 23 Thai fishermen whose boat was hijacked by armed thugs.

A Sea King from 849 NAS operating from HMS Invincible – leading the RN’s Marstrike 05 task group in the Middle East – and a Lynx from HMS Montrose scoured 20,000 square miles of sea after the International Piracy Unit in Kuala Lumpur asked them to help out.

They eventually found two boats, one of them a fishing vessel crewed by Thais which had been seized off Somalia.

Boarding parties from destroyer HMS Nottingham and the US Coastguard cutter Munro then swept in on both vessels, released the captive fishermen and arrested three pirates, all Somali nationals, who carried four automatic weapons.

Task group commander, Rear Admiral Charles Style, said: “Piracy and other illegal uses of the sea are becoming increasingly commonplace. Such activity cannot be tolerated. The swift and successful conclusion of this incident demonstrates the coalition’s commitment to bringing security to the oceans.”

from Navy News.

[hobie]

Well done to all concerned ..... :ok:

only one thing to do with Pirates ..... $$$$ the $$$$$$$$ :p

[SASless]

I just gotta ask....a US Coast Guard Cutter in the Arabian Sea....enforcing american law on US Flagged vessels or something? Counter Terrorism....could we not use gray funnel line vessels like Frigates, Destroyers, or similar? I am sure we could use the SAR coverage in the Gulf of Mexico that coastie could provide.

[gravity victim]

Presumably Nottingham's Lynx was not available to help?! :rolleyes:

[16 blades]

Er.....Piracy is not illegal....sure, it is a bastardly thing to do,but being a bastard is not illegal. It's just a case of superior firepower, n'est-ce pas?

There is no law that applies to inernational waters...surely??

Feel free to correct, but please not with the usual bullsh1t of 'international law' blah blah blah, since there is no such thing.

16B

[MarkD]

hope they were made walk the plank. aar!:E :ok: :uhoh:

[Razor61]

US Coast Guard Cutter in the Arabian Sea

USCG are actively involved in Anti-Terrorism around the US coastline and beyond.
A lot of their cutters are ex-kidd or spruance class Destoyers i believe complete with 5in gun and all the close in weapon systems available when they were navy???

<snip>
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Just north of the Hostess City of the South the Coast
Guard has a new kind of school where its officers and crew members are
training to become a stronger front in the battle against terrorism.

Welcome to the Coast Guard's Maritime Law Enforcement Academy, where the
service has "docked" a small fleet of boats on blocks and erected a small
city of buildings so that trainees from around the country can learn how to
overcome terrorists and enforce federal law.

The Coast Guard secured the boats on blocks to make them stable and wired
them with cameras. That way, trainees can board the vessels safely and Coast
Guard instructors can monitor their students more carefully and show them
how to improve.

The buildings simulate the decks of ships - especially large cargo ships -
the Coast Guard's new maritime "urban jungle" that will have to be boarded
and searched more frequently and carefully.

It's SWAT techniques for swabbies or, in this case, Coasties.

Nowadays, the Coast Guard has more to worry about than rescuing people at
sea or making sure ships meet international safety standards.

"We have to make it more realistic in a post 9/11 world," said Lt. Holly
Harrison, the new school's executive officer.

One of the buildings is equipped with sensors and cameras to pick up the
trainees' movements as they make their way through.

The instructors later will use the record of the trainees' movements to show
what they did right or wrong.

That kind of knowledge should pay off later - when they're back out in the
open sea or near a dock, face-to-face with terrorists or other maritime
criminals.

Since the 2001 attacks, the Coast Guard has been focusing more on security
and related patrols - things like tracking, stopping and boarding vessels.

And danger.

Before, the Coast Guard had separate schools, one for maritime law in
Yorktown, Va., and another for board teams in Petaluma, Calif.

The new Charleston center, which officially opened late last year, combines
the training for both, making it even more realistic when the trainees
return to their boats for their new missions.

Students learn about maritime law, the proper way to conduct a search and
seizure and, often most important, what paperwork to fill out and when
during operations.

Then they go out to the blocked-up boats or through the wired buildings to
practice searches, arrests and other maritime boarding operations.

The first course began Nov. 1. In a typical school year, the Coast Guard
estimates, the school will train and graduate 786 boarding officers and
1,080 boarding team members.

And it's not just for the Coast Guard - 128 state marine resource officers
are expected to attend the school's marine patrol officer course.

The trainees say they love it.

"This institution's squared away," said Brian Godkin, a 32-year-old Coast
Guard reservist and sea marshal - one of the armed human escorts for ships
entering U.S. harbors.

"We get some real effective training."

He was especially impressed with the instructors, who offer real-life
experiences from the world over.

Harrison, the head of the school, was seasoned in some of the rough waters
off the coast of Alaska - and Iraq.

She's slight, but full of what she'd call "officer presence." It's the look
of a state trooper who's just pulled someone over.

Just the kind of attitude that comes in handy when facing down a boatload of
terrorists.

-----------------
Obviously this comes into effect in international waters, especially in the Drug/Piracy lanes of Caribbean and Indian Ocean.

they will be coming to FOST next..... !

[ORAC]

International - Piracy (http://www.bc.edu/schools/law/lawreviews/meta-elements/journals/bciclr/28_1/03_TXT.htm).

On a more general issue, 16 blades, customary international law has existed for many centuries in the same manner as common law, based on past precedence.

[pr00ne]

16 blades,

For goodness sake go and seek some official guidance on International Law! If you are who you claim to be in your profile then your ignorance and stance could place you personally in some serious jeopardy if you ever commit an act based on your total and complete lack of understanding of international law.

I don’t want to go into mind numbingly boring detail here but if you wish to pursue this go and Google “The Rome Convention”

[hobie]

Article 15

Piracy consists of any of the following acts:

(1) Any illegal acts of violence, detention or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed:

(a) On the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft;

(b) Against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State;

(2) Any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft;

and ......

Article 19

On the high seas, or in any other place outside the jurisdiction of any State, every State may seize a pirate ship or aircraft, or a ship taken by piracy and under the control of pirates, and arrest the persons and seize the property on board. The courts of the State which carried out the seizure may decide upon the penalties to be imposed, and may also determine the action to be taken with regard to the ships, aircraft or property, subject to the rights of third parties acting in good faith.

all seems clear to me so let's hope the good guys $$$$$ the $$$$$$$ .... :p