Somali Pirates Fire At US Navy Supply Ship - US Navy

[sabra]

Source: AFP

MANAMA, Bahrain (AFP)--Pirates fired small arms weapons at a U.S. naval supply ship during a high-speed chase off the coast of Somalia, the U.S. Navy said Thursday.

USNS Lewis and Clark was chased for more than an hour Wednesday morning by two pirate skiffs off Somalia's eastern coast, the Bahrain-based Naval Forces Central Command said in a statement.

It said the pirates got within one nautical mile of the Lewis and Clark before its crew conducted "evasive maneuvers and increased speed to elude the pirates."

The security team on board had used a "long range acoustical device" to warn the approaching skiffs.

Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=200905071033dowjonesdjonline000717&title=somali-pirates-fire-at-us-navy-supply-ship-us-navy

[Bozita]

1. "long range acoustical device" ... WTF?

[havocmom]

2. Whale torture?

Yeah, :wtf:

[Bozita]

12. Could it be MEDUSA? - Microwave Ray Gun Controls Crowds with Noise (ABC News)

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/Story?id=5305386&page=1

Microwave Ray Gun Controls Crowds with Noise
By DAVID HAMBLING
July 4, 2008 —

A US company claims it is ready to build a microwave ray gun able to beam sounds directly into people's heads.

The device  dubbed MEDUSA (Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio)  exploits the microwave audio effect, in which short microwave pulses rapidly heat tissue, causing a shockwave inside the skull that can be detected by the ears. A series of pulses can be transmitted to produce recognisable sounds.

The device is aimed for military or crowd-control applications, but may have other uses.

Lev Sadovnik of the Sierra Nevada Corporation in the US is working on the system, having started work on a US navy research contract. The navy's report states that the effect was shown to be effective.

Scarecrow Beam?

MEDUSA involves a microwave auditory effect "loud" enough to cause discomfort or even incapacitation. Sadovnik says that normal audio safety limits do not apply since the sound does not enter through the eardrums.

"The repel effect is a combination of loudness and the irritation factor," he says. "You can't block it out."

Sadovnik says the device will work thanks to a new reconfigurable antenna developed by colleague Vladimir Manasson. It steers the beam electronically, making it possible to flip from a broad to a narrow beam, or aim at multiple targets simultaneously.

Sadovnik says the technology could have non-military applications. Birds seem to be highly sensitive to microwave audio, he says, so it might be used to scare away unwanted flocks.

Sadovnik has also experimented with transmitting microwave audio to people with outer ear problems that impair their normal hearing.

more...

[Soylent Brice]

16. it plays the brown note.

[TheCoxwain]

23. 10000X Amplified voice of DICK CHENEY

That should scare those pirates away

[w4rma]

29. A megaphone? lol. (nt)

[Occulus]

31. Probably directed sound

I just bet it's exactly this.

It's a spiffy new (well- a few years old) invention in audio tech which directs sound at a specific target, rather than in an omnidirectional broadcast, like an ordinary loudspeaker would. You can be completely unaware of any audio being produced at all until you come into its field, and then BAM, you hear it. It's pretty much the exact opposite of the 'cone of silence'.

No, I'm not making it up. You can even buy commercial speakers today using the tech. As I work 2nd shift, I've seriously considered getting a pair, even this early in its development and refinement, because it's just too useful for late-night audio for movies, TV, games...

[truthisfreedom]

32. Exactly.

[Turbineguy]

3. That is a civilian manned vessel.

[panzerfaust]

36. Yes and No. It is an MSC vessel having both Military and Civilian crew

USNS Lewis and Clark (T-AKE 1) is crewed by "approx. 125 civilians and 49 US Navy"
http://www.navysite.de/ake/ake1.htm

[ananda]

4. Would that be an amped up megaphone?

This is a bizarre story.

[redstatelefty]

9. I'm thinking "bullhorn" n/t

[Posteritatis]

26. Basically, yeah

They started showing up in the region a few years ago as an anti-pirate device, and generally work at it. Directs a painfully loud sound pretty precisely; it's hard to pursue and board a ship when you're being deluged in noise loud enough to cause pain and nausea.

[liberal N proud]

5. Huh?

US Navy vessel chased by pirates in skiffs?

[shadowknows69]

6. Why don't our supply ships have some kind of escort?

Plop one destroyer in a convoy and I bet they'd think better of it.

[Posteritatis]

25. What convoys? (nt)

[pdefalla]

7. WTF?

Skiffs "chasing" a U.S. Navy vessel? Naval vessel needing to use "evasive maneuvers to elude the pirates"? Aren't these ships armed?

[Auggie]

8. My question too -- I would expect them to be armed

[Posteritatis]

27. USNS != USS

The latter are the warships, designed and permitted to carry weapons. The former are civilian ships operating under Navy command, usually with civilian crews, and are under a different set of rules as a result. If an American ship's got that "N" in the prefix, it's technically civilian.

[balantz]

10. Somali pirate propaganda, Mexican drug war propaganda. Must be time for some good old U.S. invasions

[anonymous171]

24. Yep. The drug war doesn't exist, neither does Somalia.

The sheeple need to wake up.

[Regret My New Name]

40. OH MY!! You're right...

[anonymous171]

43. .

:spray::rofl:
Nice one! :thumbsup:

[Beavker]

11. Next article should read:

the Pirate ship, "was destroyed by a nearby Naval Sub/Destroyer/F-18".
When these scumbuckets do this, they need to have about 5 minutes remaining in their existance on this planet. They need to KNOW this as fact. Decide your Pirating future from there.

[hayu_lol]

14. Journalists of today appear not to know the...

difference between ships and boats; rowboats and 'skiffs'; or any other pertinent information. They are not well-briefed on Maritime Law and even less briefed on the treatment of pirates on the open sea.

What was that old saying? We, the unknowing, led by the...and you have an apt description of supposed news writers.

***Newsflash: Somali pirate in life vest sinks merchant ship using can opener.***

[tocqueville]

20. you grossly overestimate the power of the US Navy

even if they had two dedicated carriers in the area, they couldn't do that

the naval military presence (EU NAVFOR + CTF-150) is about 35 ships constantly patrolling and a dozen of helicopters and planes of which some are armed. And still there are problems.

[agentS]

13. Do these pirates have a death wish?

I know they're still a little bit raw over the Maersk takedown.
But tangling with a Navy vessel is not gonna win brownie points.
It's just gonna be another pirate ship sunk off the coast.

[Winterblues]

15. A US Navy ship CHASED BY PIRATES

Come on...........Has the USA sunk that far?

[rcrush]

17. OMG PIRATES

Why arent you scared yet?

[POAS]

33. What next? Vikings raiding our villages

and stealing our women?

Say, don't Vikings come from Minnesota? Invade Minnesota before the mushroom clouds appear!

[ManiacJoe]

37. It makes for good headlines,

facts not withstanding.

[sce56]

18. The T-AKE is a new Combat Logistics Force (CLF) Underway Replenishment Naval vessel

Those Pirates don't even know what the color Battleship Grey means!
USNS Lewis and Clark (T-AKE-1)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


USNS_Lewis_and_Clark_T-AKE-1.jpgCareer
Namesake: Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
Ordered: 18 October 2001
Laid down: 23 March 2004
Launched: 21 May 2005
In service: 20 June 2006
Status: Active in service as of 2009
General characteristics
Class and type: Lewis and Clark-class cargo ship
Displacement: 41,000 tons (41,700 t)
Length: 689 ft (210 m)
Beam: 105.6 ft (32.2 m)
Draft: 29.9 ft (9.1 m)
Propulsion: Integrated propulsion and ship service electrical system, with generation at 6.6 kV by FM/MAN B&W diesel generators; one fixed pitch propeller; bow thruster
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h)
Range: 14,000 nautical miles at 20 knots
(26,000 km at 37 km/h)
Capacity: • Max dry cargo weight:
5,910 long tons (6,005 t)
• Max dry cargo volume:
783,000 cubic feet (22,000 m³)
• Max cargo fuel weight:
2,350 long tons (2,390 t)
• Cargo fuel volume:
18,000 barrels (2,900 m³)
(DFM: 10,500) (JP5:7,500)
Complement: 49 military, 123 civilian
Aircraft carried: two helicopters
For other ships of the same name, see USS Lewis and Clark.
USNS Lewis and Clark (T-AKE-1), the lead ship of her class of dry cargo ship, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. The contract to build her was awarded to National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) of San Diego, California, on 18 October 2001 and her keel was laid down on 22 April 2004. She was launched 21 May 2005, co-sponsored by Jane Lewis Sale Henley and Lisa Clark, descendants of the ship's namesakes. She was delivered to the Navy on 20 June 2006.


Description
The T-AKE is a new Combat Logistics Force (CLF) Underway Replenishment Naval vessel that will replace the current capability of the Kilauea-class ammunition ship, Mars-class and Sirius-class combat stores ships, and when operating in concert with a Henry J. Kaiser-class oiler, the T-AKE will replace the Sacramento-class fast combat support ship. The T-AKE Program will consist of 11 ships with a budget of approximately $4 billion.


Features
As an auxiliary support ship, the T-AKE will directly contribute to the ability of the Navy to maintain a forward presence. The T-AKE's primary mission will be delivering supplies to Navy ships from sources of supply like friendly ports, or from sea using specially equipped merchant ships. The T-AKE will transfer cargo — ammunition, food, limited quantities of fuel, repair parts, ship store items and expendable supplies — at sea to station ships and other naval warfare forces. In its secondary mission, the T-AKE may be required to operate in concert with a Henry J. Kaiser-class (T-AO-187) oiler as a substitute on-station ship, providing direct logistic support to ships within a single carrier strike group.

The primary goal of the T-AKE program is to provide effective fleet underway replenishment capability at the lowest life cycle cost. To meet that goal, the ship is being built to commercial specifications and standards and will be certified/classed by the American Bureau of Shipping, the United States Coast Guard and other regulatory bodies. The ships will be operated by Military Sealift Command with civilian mariners crews (123 personnel) augmented by a military department (49 personnel).

This ship was featured in the History Channel's Modern Marvels episode on copper.


Background
The Navy awarded National Steel and Shipbuilding Company of San Diego, Calif., a $406.9 million competitive contract October 18, 2001, to build the first ship of the class, USNS Lewis and Clark. The Navy also exercised a $301.6 million dollar option in the contract for the construction of the second ship of the class, USNS Sacagawea.

The U.S. Navy had previously fielded a ballistic missile submarine named USS Lewis and Clark (SSBN-644).


Deployment
In February 2009 the ship was deployed off the coast of Somalia as part of Operation Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa. The vessel was fitted out to be used as a prison ship for captured pirates until they could be extradited to Kenya for trials. 16 pirates have so far been sent to Lewis and Clark after being captured in two different actions by the USS Vella Gulf.<1>

[tocqueville]

19. it's obvious...

That they must carry some kind of arms. Then they have two helicopters. Even is those aren't armed with missiles, why not chase the pirates with them and snipe some of them ?

Trying to abduct a ship is piracy, but this was direct hostility.

Maybe they thought it wasn't worth it, but it gives bad PR...

[IndianaGreen]

28. Beautiful ship!

What were the pirates thinking when they atttacked it?

[One_Life_To_Give]

21. Unarmed so she is Classified as a Non-Combatant under Geneva Convention?

Granted having a Seal Sniper on board would be tempting. But I suspect the lack of weapons has to do with the larger issue of how she would be classified under other treaties etc.

[Beavker]

22. Yep, in Nebraska you can have a concealed weapon in a state park

But our Navy has ships that can't...Sweet.

[KillCapitalism]

30. So, why don't they try and attack on of our cruisers or destroyers?

Oh yeah, the pirates are big cowards, that's why.

They attack supply ships, but run away when one of the big dogs come around.

[ManiacJoe]

38. Cowards yes, stupid no.

[Regret My New Name]

41. Wouldn't you skip the warships and go for the unarmed ships?

Not defending the pirates, of course... But really, if they did try to attack a destroyer, we'd be calling them idiots instead of cowards or whatever.

[Posteritatis]

42. Some brain donors tried to jack a French frigate earlier this week (nt)

[slackmaster]

34. They should ditch the LRAD and go with Ma Deuce or R2D2 with a hardon

[panzerfaust]

35. "Frightened Frogs Capture, Brave Americans Flee Somali Pirates"

True, she is an MSC (Military Sealift Command) vessel (thus has both military and civilian crew) and has no mounted weaponry; however, unless the modern Navy is even lamer than I imagine she should have small-arms - which would look very big to a few guys in converted fishing boats.

Even if there were no small-arms (which is unthinkable to me) given that she was faster than the "attackers" she could have turned towards the skiffs and maneuvered to swamp them. An embarrassment to the traditions of the US Navy.

Would not want to be a crewmember of Lewis & Clark when she makes her next liberty port ...

[ManiacJoe]

39. A problem with your suggestion is that

when you are sitting on a pile of ammo and munitions, you really do not want the Bad Guys shooting anti-tank RPGs at you, even if you can shoot back.

Plus, after running over the skiffs, you now need to repaint the hull due to the scratches! :evilgrin: