Late last week, pirates stormed a Liberian-flagged cargo tanker, the MV Biscaglia, which was carrying a cargo of palm oil. This ship wasn't completely defenseless, however. A team of three private guards from AntiPiracy Maritime Security Solutions (AMPSS) were aboard. They didn't have firearms -- it's "almost impossible to carry firearms through Customs and on to vessels in most countries," as the Times of London notes. But they did have a sonic weapon. The LRAD shoots out a concentrated blast of 150 decibels worth of noise; vessels have used the machine to send pirates running, before. The U.S. Navy already has 45 of the sonic blasters, and is in the market for more.
On board the Biscaglia, however, the blaster didn't work. The pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s at the weapon; the guards jumped off of the ship, and into the Gulf of Aden. "It now seems that the failure of the company's LRADs was a major factor in its seeming inability to prevent the capture of the ship. It is now openly being asked whether or not they are up to the job," writes Lloyd's List, the influential shipping journal.
I'm gonna stick with what I wrote back in April. Yes, I've been following this for that long.
The Naval Aristocracy of Hellenistic Rhodes would have taken care of this lickity-split. Sure, this would have required construction of the Suez Canal or bringing their ships overland to fight pirates that posed no threat to their commerce or security, but I like to believe they would have done it out of sense of adventure and honor.
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