World's Dumbest Pirates
March 18, 2010
 

This is a Danish Air Defense Frigate. The HNLMS Tromp was patroling the waters off of East Africa's Somali coast when pirates in two skiffs decided to hijack the ship.

See that dome shaped thing mounted on the front deck?
That is a 5 inch gun.

The Tromp also is equipped with a 32-cell Mk. 41 VLS, allowing carriage of 48 quad-packed ESSM missiles and 16 SM-2s or SM-3s. Twin Harpoon launchers on deck add an anti-ship capability. Torpedo tubes offer snap-response anti-submarine capability whether or not a helicopter is in the air, and their 2 Goalkeeper 30mm CIWS systems offer an impressive and lethal defense option.

Bottom line? Wrong ship to try to hijack Mr. Pirate.

After the pirates realized they had made what spokesman Cmdr. John Harbour called a "rather silly mistake," they turned around and fled. EU Naval Force personnel tracked down the two skiffs and a third suspected mothership, finding ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades on board, said Harbour, a spokesman for the EU Naval Force.

The two skiffs were destroyed and the pirates were set free on the mothership after it had been cleared of weapons.

Experts say piracy will continue to be a problem until an effective government is established on Somalia's lawless shores. It has not had a functioning government since a socialist dictatorship dissolved into civil war 19 years ago. The current administration is too busy fighting an Islamic insurgency to tackle the well-armed and well-funded pirate bases along its 1,900-mile (3,100-kilometer) long coastline.

The London-based International Maritime Bureau says Somali pirates captured 47 vessels last year and launched 217 attacks. More than 100 crew are still being held.

[In my opinion, when one lacks the will and moral courage to resolve the problem, the problem will remain. A pirate without a skiff or 'mothership' is a pirate, on shore, in name only. A dead pirate is a pirate that cannot hijack a ship.]