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by OutOfHere 51 days ago
Many but not all tankers these days do have defensive equipment, e.g. jet sprays, but these probably can't stop too many boats, or if the tanker doesn't have such protection.
1 comments
ceejayoz 51 days ago
If I have a hose and the other guy has an RPG I’m probably not starting shit.
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AnimalMuppet 51 days ago
If you have a hose that you can fire from a fairly protected position and the guy with the RPG is completely exposed because he's trying to climb up the side of a tanker, yeah, I might.

See, the hijackers can't actually sail the ship. So they can't kill the crew, or at least can't kill very many of them.

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gpm 51 days ago
> See, the hijackers can't actually sail the ship. So they can't kill the crew, or at least can't kill very many of them.

Sailing the ship safely takes some skill.

Sailing the ship at all takes about 5 minutes of watching youtube worth of learning.

And they can certainly sink the ship as a warning to the next ship. Indeed attacks in the area have a history of sinking ships: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houthi_attacks_on_commercial_v...

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bayarearefugee 51 days ago
> If you have a hose that you can fire from a fairly protected position and the guy with the RPG is completely exposed because he's trying to climb up the side of a tanker, yeah, I might.

In this scenario you are standing on a ship that is full of highly flammable oil.

There are more outcomes than just the hijackers gain control of the ship or they leave you alone.

If gaining control is no longer an option they could decide "fuck it" and just fire into the side of your hull.

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nradov 51 days ago
Fire is always a risk, but crude oil is not "highly flammable". Some refined products and LNG are more problematic.
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dotancohen 51 days ago
That might cause the oil to leak out. It's unlikely to start a fire unless the tank is fairly empty.
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ceejayoz 51 days ago
> the guy with the RPG is completely exposed

No, he isn’t. He’s sitting in the speedboat with the guys with rifles protecting the guy on the ladder.

> See, the hijackers can't actually sail the ship.

You think Somalia has zero people with experience working on a cargo ship?

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tokai 51 days ago
>See, the hijackers can't actually sail the ship

Its pretty dumb to assume that.

Somali commercial sailors and merchant mariners do exist. Information and simulator software is available also in Somalia.

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toasty228 51 days ago
> guy with the RPG is completely exposed because he's trying to climb up the side of a tanker

Uh? Stay 100m away and send a "park your tanker over there or we fire at you" message.

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