Join a Navy MMO and Fight Somali Pirates?

[eric_hinkle]

Hi all --

I just got what may well be the weirdest link I've seen in a long time here: US Navy creates MMO wargame to fight Somali piratesBasically, you jump in and provide (hopefully) useful ideas on how to deal with piracy in Somalia. Beyond, presumably, the most natural course of "hunt down and kill the pirates IRL", that is

Comments

[headnoises]

Sounds like a PR stunt.

OTOH, a lot of the counter-boarding training that the Navy uses right now was thought up by lowbie enlisted guys during wargaming type inspections. But most of that stuff was by going outside of the assumed "limits," which doesn't work in an MMO-- your paladin can't swing from a chandelier.

Reading more closely, it doesn't look like it's an actual "game" (much less an MMO) except in the "war gaming" (ie, scenario and strat) sense-- that is, play book, work it out. Sort of like when the military colleges come up with plans to defend the nation from a hostile takeover by the girl scouts.

I have to rather disregard the site that you link since they make a really dumb assumption-- that there's no way to prevent piracy besides "fixing" the nations that the pirates come from. Historically, kill the pirates worked relatively well by making the risk too high for the profit involved. (see also, law enforcement

[eric_hinkle]

I have to rather disregard the site that you link since they make a really dumb assumption-- that there's no way to prevent piracy besides "fixing" the nations that the pirates come from. Historically, kill the pirates worked relatively well by making the risk too high for the profit involved. (see also, law enforcement)

I have to agree with this. It definitely brought The Golden Age of Caribbean Piracy to an end.

[mauser]

How about this. Convoy the ships through the pirate zones with escort ships.

Or ARM the merchanters.

[eric_hinkle]

Those are both good and simple ideas, so of course no one will use them.

[mauser]

Well, I understand the issues with Arming the merchant ships is a) insurance companies don't want a death on their hands (Because they have no faith that arming the crews would prevent piracy) but even more so b) many ports forbid the practice because they fear arms smuggling.

So change the laws.

[anonymous]

Or put aboard each merchant ship the modern equivalent of the WWII naval gunfire parties that were carried to fight surfaced U-boats. A couple squads of marines armed with a pair of .50cal machine guns and a anti-tank guided rocket launcher or two on each ship would end the piracy very quickly after they blasted a few pirate launches and a mother ship or two out of the water. And the marines would be much cheaper than using warships as escorts. Economically, convoys would be expensive since ships would have to wait until a convoy is assembled (time is money) and the convoy has to travel at the speed of its slowest member, which probably is not the most economical speed of most of the ships in it. Then there's the operating cost of the escorting warship(s) and the fact that they're tied to the convoy. Better for them to be roamers within a set patrol area, ready to respond upon call.

Brock