Somali pirate error ends with 5 in French brig

[lord_feldon]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091007/ap_on_re_af/piracy

Somali pirates in two skiffs fired on a French navy vessel early Wednesday after apparently mistaking it for a commercial boat, the French military said. The French ship gave chase and captured five suspected pirates.

[The Fourth Man]

I can't help but laugh, is it bad? Serves them well anyway.

The Fourth "this must be the definition of EPIC FAIL" Man

[Ali Infree]

In the BBC story on this, it was mentioned that taking pirates captive has been problematic because of the questions of jurisdiction and legal proceedings. Seems to me that the French have been very willing to capture and hold pirates, so the bad luck of these guys is especially clear.

Ali "Arrghh, ooops!" Infree

[A Turtle Named Mack]

Originally Posted by Ali Infree

In the BBC story on this, it was mentioned that taking pirates captive has been problematic because of the questions of jurisdiction and legal proceedings. Seems to me that the French have been very willing to capture and hold pirates, so the bad luck of these guys is especially clear.

Ali "Arrghh, ooops!" Infree

It seems to me that if someone fires on a ship, especially a warship, they should be relieved if they are only captured, rather than blown out of the water immediately. I can see no reason that any ship should have to tolerate being fired upon for fear of jurisdictional problems. Grab 'em, write 'em up, and let the diplomats sort it out while the riffraff rot in cells.

[Squirt]

This was all so much easier in the olden days, when pirates caught red handed could be summarily executed and no one would raise an eyebrow.

[Ravenhull]

Well, the was an auxilary (specificly a fueler) and not a 'warship'. From a casual look the ship looks like any other mechant vessal unless you know what you are looking for, and I doubt that the pirates are carrying ship recognition flash cards.

Doesn't detract from the amusement factor though.

Makes me wonder if it would be worth it for a couple of navies to revive the Q-ship concept. A merchant ship that has a few hidden gun emplacements to act as bait. The ship could even be able to carry legitimate cargo in the process, especially since we aren't talking about any armaments greater than a 30mm or so to take up room and weight.

[llewtrah]

Originally Posted by Squirt

This was all so much easier in the olden days, when pirates caught red handed could be summarily executed and no one would raise an eyebrow.

I can't remember when we last had a good keelhauling.