Sunday Ship History: International Ice Patrol

Yesterday, May 19th, marked the 95th anniversary of the founding of the North Atlantic Ice Patrol, founded in 1912. The precipitating event for the founding of the Patrol was the sinking of HMS Titanic on April 15, 1912, with the loss of over 1,500 passengers. A popular folksong of the time, sung by my grandfather laid the disaster out:

Oh, they built the ship Titanic, to sail the ocean blue.
For they thought it was a ship that water would never go through.
It was on its maiden trip, that an iceberg hit the ship.
It was sad when the great ship went down.

It was sad, so sad.
It was sad, so sad.
It was sad when the great ship went down (to the bottom of the....)
Husbands and wives, little children lost their lives.
It was sad when the great ship went down.

As noted below, the response to the sinking of the Titanic was the establishment of the North Atlantic Ice Patrol, designed to keep and eye on the icebergs floating south from Greenland and into the great circle sea lanes used by the shipping comapnies to minimize the travel time between Europe and North America.

The North Atlantic Ice Patrol became the International Ice Patrol:

After the TITANIC disaster, the U.S. Navy assigned the Scout Cruisers CHESTER and BIRMINGHAM to patrol the Grand Banks for the remainder of 1912. In 1913, the Navy could not spare ships for this purpose, so the Revenue Cutter

Service (forerunner of the Coast Guard) assumed responsibility, assigning the Cutters SENECA and MIAMI to conduct the patrol.


At the first International Conference on the Safety of Life at Sea, which was convened in London on November 12, 1913, the subject of patrolling the ice regions was thoroughly discussed. The convention signed on January 30, 1914, by the representatives of the world's various maritime powers, provided for the inauguration of an international derelict-destruction, ice observation, and ice patrol service, consisting of vessels, which should patrol the ice regions during the season of iceberg danger and attempt to keep the trans-Atlantic lanes clear of derelicts during the remainder of the year. Due primarily to the experience gained in 1912 and 1913, the United States Government was invited to undertake the management of the triple service, the expense to be defrayed by the 13 nations interested in trans-Atlantic navigation.

As the convention, when ratified, would not go into effect until July 1, 1915, the government of Great Britain on behalf of the several nations interested, made inquiry on January 31, 1914 as the whether the United States would undertake the patrol at once under the same mutual obligations as provided in the convention. The proposition was favorably considered by the President, and on February 7, 1914, he directed that the (then) Revenue Cutter Service begin as early as possible in that month, the International Ice Observation and Ice Patrol Service. Each year since then, with exception of the wartime years, a patrol has been maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Risk:

While icebergs are a constant navigational hazard in the Arctic, the cold Labrador Current carries some of them south to the vicinity of the Grand Banks and into the great circle shipping lanes between Europe and the major ports of the United States and Canada. Vessels transversing this area try to make their voyage as short and as economical as possible. Therefore, ships in the vicinity of the "limit of all known ice" normally will pass just to the south of this boundary. Vessels passing through Ice Patrol's published ice limit, run the risk of a collision with an iceberg and insurance concerns. In this area the Labrador Current meets the warm Gulf Stream and the temperature differences between the two water masses of up to 20 degrees Celsius, produces dense fog. The combination of icebergs, fog, severe storms, fishing vessels and busy trans-Atlantic shipping lanes makes this area one of the most dangerous.

The cost of maintaining the Ice Patrol is borne by the users of the service:

The thirteen nations signatory to the 1915 SOLAS Convention agreed to share costs in accordance with a formula approximating their degree of individual benefit. This sharing arrangement has been updated over the years as shipping patterns changed and as additional nations acceded to the treaty. Financial relations are handled by the Department of State which does the actual billing of each nation for its share of the cost. In the early days this share was a fixed percentage changed infrequently by treaty revision. In recent years, the cost share has been based on each participating nations percentage of the total cargo tonnage transiting the patrol area during the ice season.

The Ice Patrol has evolved over time:

From its inception until the beginning of World War II, the Ice Patrol was conducted from two surface patrol cutters alternating surveillance patrols of the southern ice limits. In 1931 and thereafter a third ship was assigned to Ice Patrol to perform oceanographic observations in the vicinity of the Grand Banks. After World War II, aerial surveillance became the primary ice reconnaissance method with surface patrols phased out except during unusually heavy ice years or extended periods of reduced visibility. Use of the oceanographic vessel continued until 1982, when the Coast Guard's sole remaining oceanographic ship, USCGC EVERGREEN, was converted to a medium endurance cutter. The aircraft has distinct advantages for ice reconnaissance providing much greater coverage in a relatively short period of time.

Today, the IIP boasts a proud record:

Except for the years of the two World Wars, the International Ice Patrol has conducted each season since 1913. During the period the Ice Patrol has amassed an enviable safety record with not a single reported loss of life or property due to collision with an iceberg outside the advertised limits of all known ice in the vicinity of the Grand Banks. However, the potential for a catastrophe still exists.

How important is the mission of the IIP?

Of all the peacetime threats of the sea, none are more fearsome, unyielding, and treacherous than icebergs. Despite ingenuity, resourcefulness, and almost a century of experience and technical advances, this natural wonder has resisted our efforts to control, regulate, and avoid it.

Breaking off from hundreds of West Greenland glaciers, frequently as long as a city block and towering up to 100 feet above the sea surface, icebergs are steered by ocean currents. Their enormous mass and the tremendous environmental forces acting on them render ineffective efforts to restrain or destroy them, or significantly alter their course.

Effects on shipping? In 1945, a large ice island (for definition of "tabular" re icebergs, see here) caused some wartime problems:

An interesting and enlightening story regarding an ice island occurred in May of 1945 and was reported in Bulletin No. 32: International Ice Observation and Ice Patrol Service in the North Atlantic Ocean - Season of 1946:

Several very large flat-topped bergs were reported, an example of which was the berg reported on the 27th in position 43�08'N / 49�18'W. This berg measured about 4,500 feet long, 3,300 feet wide, and its above-water height was approximately 50 feet. Growlers and debris from the huge block of ice were scattered over a radius of 5 miles. One of the last of the large North Atlantic convoys approached this great floating mass while in dense fog of the 27th and in the confusion that followed 21 ships were damaged. Two of these ships were reported to have suffered damage in collisions with ice and the remaining 19 to have suffered damage in collisions with each other. � All ships were able to proceed under their own power and no loss of life resulted.

The impact from the ice island, both figuratively and literally, was immediately felt as the Admiralty and Chief of Naval Operations issued, on May 28, 1945, a joint order that abolished convoys and forced all merchant ships to burn navigation lights at full brilliancy and not darken ship.

Additionally, even though North Atlantic ice patrol services had not been officially re-established, the United States Atlantic Fleet inaugurated twice-daily broadcasts from Argentia, Newfoundland at 0200 and 1400 GCT to shipping commencing on 8 June, 1945 as well as detailing a surface vessel patrol to the Grand Bank region (GPO, 1947).

Growlers? See here:

You might think that big icebergs are more dangerous, but that is not the case. Big icebergs can be seen easily by people on ships. The smaller icebergs (called growlers) can hide in the waves, making them difficult to see and more dangerous.

Very large icebergs are more common off Antarctica than from Greenland, but they do appear:

Exceptionally large icebergs, commonly referred to as ice islands, came again into the public eye recently with the breaking loose of a portion the Antarctic ice sheet roughly ten times the size of the island of Manhattan (Dykstra, 2002). The glaciers of the North Atlantic, specifically along the western coast of Greenland, are not as conducive to very large iceberg generation as southern hemisphere ice fields, but do occasionally produce "Antarctic" size icebergs.

Ice Season 2002 (February 17, 2002 through July 15, 2002) saw some of the largest North Atlantic icebergs on recent record. These icebergs were actively tracked for a period of approximately two months during the summer, were photographed, and were even examined with side-scan sonar instruments.

As noted here, icebergs are resistant to destruction except by natural means:

We have tried to destroy them by shooting them, bombing them from planes, and using explosives. We have even tried to paint them black. We have found that the safest way is to let the icebergs melt on their own.

Not only does the IIP work to warn shipping of ice hazards, they also provide invaluable oceanographic information to the world's scientists. See here. This includes providing data on the ocean currents propelling the icebergs.

The IIP is a small unit:

With just 16 members, today’s International Ice Patrol in many ways is a microcosm of the Coast Guard itself: a small (even by Coast Guard standards) unit of men and women committed to excellence in the performance of their duties.

The "ice season" lasts about 6 months, from February to July.

Since 1962, the HC-130 has been the primary patrol aircraft for the Ice Patrol, but other aircraft used ranged from B-24s to B-17s to Catalina PBYs and HU-16 Albatross. The HU-16 was used in experimental bombings of icebergs.

The main product of the Ice Patrol:

All the iceberg data are fed into a computer model at the IIP Operations Center along with ocean current and wind data. Using this information, the model predicts the drift of the icebergs. Every 12 hours, the predicted iceberg locations are used to estimate the limit of all known ice. This limit, along with a few of the more critical predicted iceberg locations, is broadcast as an "Ice Bulletin" from radio stations around the U.S., Canada, Europe and over the World Wide Web. This is for the benefit of all vessels transiting North Atlantic. In addition to the Ice Bulletin, a radio facsimile chart of the area, depicting the limits of all known ice, is also broadcast twice daily.

In addition, the historical record serves as a database to detect patterns of iceberg activity:

An interesting animated producted made from the Ice Patrol reports can be found here: Described as:

This animation not only tracks the speed and distance travelled of individual icebergs, but symbolically distinguishes their relative sizes by keeping growlers, bergy bits, and small icebergs small, while bigger icebergs are sized larger.

More on the IIP here and
here.

Interesting work. A salute to all those who have served with the IIP!

UPDATE: How many icebergs per season cross into the sea lanes?

The mean number of icebergs passing south of 48 N is 473 icebergs with a standard deviation of 492 icebergs. Therefore, yearly totals are highly variable and are subject to highly variable climatic factors.

See the chart immediately above which, like most of the art contained herein, gets bigger if you click on it.

Armed Forces Day

May 19, 2007: Armed Forces Day:

President Harry S. Truman led the effort to establish a single holiday for citizens to come together and thank our military members for their patriotic service in support of our country.

In case you haven't been mad at the UN lately

Read this.

Puntland releases mislabeled "Finnish" fishermen

Seems those allegedly "Finnish" fishermen (see here) captured by Puntland were mostly Yemeni, as set here, and now they'v been released:

A group of 130 mainly Yemeni fishermen arrested by authorities off Somalia's breakaway northern region of Puntland more than two weeks ago have been released, a maritime official said on Friday.

Puntland officials detained the fishermen on May 2, in what was initially reported as a pirate attack, and charged them with illegal fishing on May 11, said Andrew Mwangura of the Kenyan branch of the international Seafarers Assistance Programme.

The fishermen, including one Tanzanian and nine Egyptians as well as 120 Yemenis, were "sent home after Yemeni and Puntland officials talked over the issue," Mwangura said.

They had been fishing in three large European-owned, Yemen-based boats and nine small Yemeni boats. The European vessels were not Finnish, as initially reported, Mwangura said.

Latest ICC CCS Piracy Report (to 15 May 07)

Latest ICC Commercial Crime Services Piracy Report (to 15 May 07) is found here. Highlights include lots of thefts at anchorages and this:

10.05.2007: 1830 LT: Posn 03:18.0N - 123:33.0E, Indonesia.
A small-unidentified craft followed a bulk carrier, underway, at a distance of 2.5 miles. The small craft had its search light on and aimed at the stern and bridge preventing the crew from identifying the craft. The craft closed to eight cables and contacted the ship via VHF Ch 16 informing they were an Indonesian navy patrol boat. They asked the ship to slow down and asked what type of cargo was onboard. The master asked the craft to illuminate herself for identification. The craft replied that they only wanted to know what type of cargo was onboard. The master refused to slow down as he suspected a piracy attack. The master raised the alarm. The crew mustered and took anti-piracy measures. The craft closed to about six cables, then slowed down, and moved away.

USMC Commandant Brief

Saw this on C-Span. Well worth a read:DefenseLink News Transcript: DoD News Briefing with Gen. Conway from the Pentagon

You can watch the C-Span video by going here and clicking on the link titled "Defense Dept. Briefing on Marine Corps Issues".

Ah, mediation!

So many snakes...

so little time.

India reacts to Tamil Tiger "Flying Corps"

Reported as Flying LTTE Tigers Help Spur India's Aerostat Radar Buy from Israel:

In spite of an interview in which Air Chief Fali Homi Major called the situation an irritant to India rather than a threat, the Indian military's reaction suggests that they are not taking the Tigers lightly. Part of their response includes a follow-on buy from Israel of very advanced surveillance radars mounted on tethered aerostat blimps...
***
Daily India reports that the attacks in Sri Lanka have raised "serious concerns" among the Indian defence forces "since there are greater chances that the high-range RADARS used by military might fail to detect the intrusion." This is very possible, given horizontal scan limits imposed by the horizon against low-flying aircraft.

The Times of India adds: "...especially with central and peninsular India being quite devoid of medium-level and low-level radar coverage, as reported by TOI earlier."

In response, The Indian Navy plans to press more UAVs into service around nearby coastal areas, and also plans to send 2 more ships into the region. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has reportedly mobilized small mobile Russian radars around strategic installations, including the nuclear plant at Kalpakkam.

More here.

Maldivian Coast Guard sinks 'LTTE' vessel

Reported here:

A trawler which the Maldivian Coast Guard sunk on Thursday, on suspicion that it was an LTTE gun-runner, was registered in Kerala, the Sri Lankan Navy's spokesman Com DKP Dassanayake told Hindustan Times on Friday.

The vessel bearing the name Sri Krishna ( registration number KFO 7339 ALP 2749) had set sail from Kollam (Quilon) in Kerala on March 7, Dassanayake said.

The Indian Coast Guard had last seen the vessel on March 12, near the India-Sri Lanka maritime boundary off Pamban near Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu. It reappeared on Wednesday May 16, south of the Maldives chain of islands. Trouble arose when it fired on a Maldivian fishing boat and invited the attention of the Maldivian Coast Guard vessel Huravee. After a 12-hour stand off, the trawler was sunk early on Thursday.

Four of the nine-member crew were captured, one surrendered, and four were killed, reports said. The man who surrendered was Simon Soza, the vessel's engineer, Dassanayake said. The others were apparently Tamils.

The suspicion that Sri Krishna was a gun-runner for the LTTE arose because of the kind of resistance the crew offered and also the explosions which could be heard as it sank. Reports said that the vessel, which started off as an innocent deep sea fishing trawler, was hijacked by the LTTE to do some gun-running for it.

There is a suspicion in diplomatic circles that the vessel was to rendezvous with an ocean going LTTE arms vessel in the high seas off south Maldives, and take on board a part of the lethal cargo for delivery in Sri Lanka. This could be the reason why the engineer of the vessel, the Malayali Simon Soza, had jumped ship and surrendered to the Maldivians, it is said.

The LTTE are also known as the Tamil Tigers. More here.

Friday Reads

It's Friday! And that may mean open line for Rush Limbaugh, but it also means that a couple of Navy guys push a little history at you. First, there's CDR Salamander with his Fullbore Friday, today featuring a Gearing class minesweeper. Then there's Steeljaw Scribe with his Frightdeck Friday- this time on the land-based air assets of pre-Midway.

Good stuff and only a couple of clicks away.

Stark attack remembered

By Lex at Twenty years ago today

Civil Air Patrol and Coast Guard Auxiliary to do joint operations

Reported here, an example of synergy between two auxiliary forces:

Civil Air Patrol's Raleigh-Wake Composite Squadron and members of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary met recently at Raleigh-Durham International Airport to discuss future joint training missions, beginning with the first such operation May 19.

For a number of years the Raleigh-Wake squadron has flown Sundown Patrols of the area lakes beginning Memorial Day and continuing through the Labor Day Weekend. The patrols' purpose is to attempt to spot boaters who may be experiencing difficulty or distress, then relay information to local authorities.

This year, several upcoming weekends will include coordination with the Coast Guard Auxiliary and will be conducted during peak activity hours as well as at sundown.

Capt. Dion Viventi, Raleigh-Wake squadron commander, said the patrols have provided an excellent training medium for CAP aircrews and ground support personnel.

Now, "by coordinating this activity with the Coast Guard Auxiliary, assistance to boaters in distress will be expedited," Viventi said.

Capt. Victor Lewis, the squadron's emergency services officer, said flights will be launched from Raleigh-Durham International about 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. May 19.

"One Coast Guard Auxiliary member will fly with each aircrew, and CAP members will join the Coast Guard flotilla on the lakes," Lewis said.

Capt. Tim Tessin, squadron communications officer, said CAP aircraft radios are capable of communicating with the Coast Guard Auxiliary's boats.

Great idea. Well done!

Navy training goes Hollywood

Reported as Setting the stage for survival at sea:

Looming several stories high and stretching more than 200 feet, the Navy's newest "destroyer" is, in fact, meant to create -- by turning uncertain recruits into confident sailors through a 12-hour simulation of the numbing tedium and spontaneous terror of life at sea.

The USS Trayer, a mock-up created by civilian special-effects wizards, is the centerpiece of the $82.5 million Battle Stations 21, located at Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago, home of the Navy's only boot camp. Battle Stations, which all recruits must pass to graduate, puts dog-tired sailors-to-be through 17 scenarios, from taking inventory of a storeroom and watching generator gauges to an early-morning missile attack and firefighting.
***
In a scenario based on the terrorist bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, crews have to fight fires (real ones, though controlled by a facilitator), deal with flooded compartments and mass casualties, McKinley said. Lifelike dummies equipped with MP3 players moan amid the wreckage of a collapsed deck, smoke and flames.

The lesson is, "Bad stuff happens when you're least prepared for it," McKinley said.

Always.

Nuclear shipping fleet gets new ship- with guns?

Reported here:

A NEW “gun boat” which will ship radioactive materials from Sellafield has been launched amid pomp and ceremony in Japan.

The Pacific Heron has been built in Japan by Mitsui Engineering to the highest security specifications and this, The Whitehaven News understands, includes fixed naval guns as a terrorist deterrent while at sea.

It becomes part of the nuclear shipping fleet operated by Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd (PNTL), a subsidiary of British Nuclear Group, the Sellafield operators.

The Pacific Heron will eventually replace The Pacific Teal, which along with its sister ship The Pintail carries Mox fuel and plutonium from Sellafield to Japan. Both are armed with canon along with “other additional physical protection systems only some of which are visible from outside”.

There is also security to protect against potential acts of sabotage. These include the presence on board of armed officers of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary who are specially trained to protect nuclear materials.

More here.

More on Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited here.

Singapore hosts 19 navies for a security seminar and exercises

Reported here:

Singapore is hosting a series of multilateral maritime security activities that include a two-day weekend sea exercise involving 18 warships and a seminar, the city-state said.

The events are being attended by navies from countries including China, Japan, Russia, the United States and France, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

The navies will use simulators in a tactical training exercise to establish procedures in dealing with maritime security threats, the ministry said.

The maritime exercise, which starts Saturday in the South China Sea, will enable the participants to practice these tactics, the ministry said.

"The maritime security challenges we face together are multifaceted and trans-boundary in nature," said Singapore's Chief of Defense Force, Maj. Gen. Desmond Kuek, in a statement.

"They cut across traditional sectoral boundaries of navies, coast guards, port authorities and other maritime security agencies."

Aside from Singapore, the other participating countries are: Australia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Tonga, Malaysia, Brunei, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand.

Empress of the North Grounding: Update

An explanation- of sorts- for the grounding on a charted reef found here:

Higgins said the third mate, who was navigating, and the helmsman, who was steering, were the only people on the bridge at the time of the accident. She said the ship was southbound in the Lynn Canal making a right turn into Icy Strait when the crew saw a problem.

"It's our understanding that they realized that they were not going to be able to successfully navigate that 90 degree turn, so they attempted to make a correction and weren't able to make a correction successfully. So that's when they struck Rocky Island," Higgins said.

NTSB officials could not say why the crew could not make the turn. They said they would be able to piece together a clearer picture of events when they have analyzed the ship's voyage data recorder, a device that is similar to an aircraft's black box.

Cruise ship crimes

Crimes on cruise ships do occur, as set out here. The question is what can be done to make sure they are handled properly. The problem is enhanced because the cruise ships are, for the most part, not U.S. flagged nor U.S. crewed.

Naturally, there is Congressional concern and a hearing:

Other hearing witnesses said crimes committed aboard cruise ships raise complex questions.

Most cruise lines are foreign owned and operate with foreign crews. While they sail freely in and out of U.S. ports, they typically spend little time in U.S. waters. Rarely, if ever, do they have law enforcement officials on board, and security guards often are not properly trained in investigations or evidence handling.

The FBI puts on cruise line training programs to teach things like evidence preservation, said the Deputy Assistant Director Salvador Hernandez. "It's difficult to do more than we've done," he said. "It's a huge industry."

While the Justice Department and the FBI hailed the new reporting agreement with the cruise industry at the hearing, witnesses for crime victims said they don't trust the industry to self-report information that might discourage vacationers. "I don't think voluntary is good enough," said Miami lawyer John Hickey.

In 1999 the cruise industry responded to reports of shipboard crimes with a "zero-tolerance" policy, but there are doubts about how forthcoming it's been.

At a hearing last year, for example, the industry said there were 178 reports of sexual assaults during a three-year period. But the Los Angles Times, citing court records, reported in January that four times as many Royal Caribbean passengers had reported sexual crimes or unwanted contact as had been revealed for the company at the hearing.

It's not just sexual crimes, either. Cruise passengers disappear — sometimes because they get drunk and fall overboard but also because they get into arguments and fights and are tossed into the sea.

The cruise ship industry is trying to be self-regulating in this, but there probably needs to be an industry "czar" in charge of getting a handle on offshore crimes and investigations.

Some hints on cruise safety here, with this warning:

Although you boarded a ship in a US port doesn’t mean that you are protected by our justice system. Most ships are registered in non-US countries and travel in territorial waters where US laws might not apply. The cruise industry does not report crime data consistently, if at all, to the FBI or have a database of ships with the most crime problems. Shipboard crimes sometimes fall into a "no man's land" of law enforcement. A crime can occur between two people of different nationalities, on a ship from a third country, and in the territorial waters of a fourth country. The governing law is the International Maritime Law and is not as well developed as US law. Reporting a crime on board a cruise ship doesn't mean anything will be done or that the crime will ever be investigated. The FBI is the only US law enforcement agency that can investigate a major crime but only if it occurs in International waters, otherwise crimes are reported to the jurisdiction of the closest foreign country and to the embassies of the parties involved. Prosecution of crime, in many cases, will be left in the hands of the local port authority where no one can predict the outcome.

NPR coverage here.

Remember that there is crime everywhere, and cruise ships are not immune to it.

Seabees help Marines with safer tanks

Reported as Seabee Monster Garage Turns Marine Force Protection Idea into Reality:

The Seabees of 30th Naval Construction Regiment (NCR) provided the 2nd Marine Tank Battalion with an armor upgrade May 1 to help keep the gunners safe during their operations in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq.

On a tank crew, the loader feeds ammunition into the machine gun and is often exposed to small arms fire from opposing forces. To stay safe, the loader has to close to the tankís access hatch. But if he does that, he can no longer do his job.

"ì[The new armor] lets us leave the hatch open," said Marine Staff Sgt. Ceasare Williams, of the 2nd Marine Tank Battalion. "This allows the loader to stay in the fight."

"It will also help [protect us against] IED (Improvised Explosive Device) shrapnel," added Marine Sgt. Brad Nevitt, also of the 2nd Marine Tank Battalion, as he referred to IED often placed in the road by insurgent forces.
***
The Seabees' heavy machine shop, more commonly referred to as the "Monster Garage," took the battalion's idea of a protective shield, fine-tuned it and built four prototypes for installation.
***
It was important that no modifications be made to the tanks themselves, as military regulations generally discourage permanent changes to expensive equipment. Instead, the new shield, composed primarily of ballistic-grade glass and steel, is designed to fasten through existing bolt holes in the tank.
***
"I am amazed at the ingenuity and work ethic of your Sailors," wrote Marine Capt. Timothy Doran, commanding officer of 2nd Marine Tank Battalion, in a letter to 30 NCR. "I honestly can not find an expression of our gratitude that can equal the effort put forth by those folks."

You did pretty well, Captain.

And so did the Seabees.

BZ!

Pirates take two ships -230 miles off Somalia

Reported here, an aggressive attack on and capture of two vessels well off the coast of Somalia:

Gunmen attacked three ships off the Somali coast, seizing two and taking scores of Asian crew members hostage in the latest raid off one of the world's most dangerous coastlines, a Kenyan official said on Wednesday.

Andrew Mwangura, director of the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme, said the vessels were attacked 370 km (230 miles) off the coast of Somalia on Tuesday afternoon.
***
He told Reuters the vessels were registered in Tanzania, and owned by Koreans in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa.

"Reaching the high seas, a group of about 12 gunmen hijacked the two fishing vessels," Mwangura said.

"Currently they are under captivity, but we don't know their exact position. Crew members on board are about 30 and are composed of Koreans, Chinese, Vietnamese and Indians."

I'm beginning to get irritated with this guy: John Edwards the A$$hat

John Edwards will never, ever in a billion years get my vote for anything and has just gained an implacable foe because of stuff like this:

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is calling on his supporters to turn this year's Memorial Day into a day of antiwar activism, saying that the best way to honor the troops is to demand an end to the Iraq war.
***
"We must take responsibility and take action together -- as citizens, as Americans, as patriots. To support the troops. To end the war."

Edwards, who has never served in the military, wouldn't know a "troop" to support unless said "troop" bit him on the a$$.

Armed Forces Day was for "supporting the troops" currently serving this great country, Pretty Boy.

Memorial Day honors those who have given their lives for the freedoms you enjoy, including the freedom, apparently, to be a jackass.

By turning Memorial Day political, you insult every member of every family who lost a son or daughter in America's wars. By not knowing that, you prove you are an ignorant, self-centered jerk. Again.

So, Mr. Edwards, I will be calling all my friends who assert they are members of your party and letting them know exactly what sort of an a$$hat you are.

I'll suggest they show their support for your campaign by voting to send you home. You know "honoring" you in the same way you "honor" our men and women in harm's way.

Go primp yourself.

"It Hasta Be Shasta"*

Right place, right time, with the right people: USNS Shasta Rescues Five After Fire Strikes Cargo Ship:

Civil service mariners aboard Military Sealift Command ammunition ship USNS Shasta (T-AE 33) rescued all crew members aboard a disabled commercial cargo ship May 12 in the Western Pacific near Saipan.

Good job, Shasta!






*"Hasta be".
Image shows Shasta before she joined the Military Sealift Command.

Must read

Greyhawk is right. You must read about Sgt. Darrell Ray Griffen, Jr.

Maritime Security: Mines, Small Boats of More Concern than Shipping Containers?

A "Coast Guard expert" tells Congress it has its priorities for maritime security mixed up here:

Members of Congress should be more concerned about the threat of terrorists using mines and small boats to attack multiple U.S. ports and disrupt the economy, according to a U.S. Coast Guard expert.

Lawmakers should grant more funding to port surveillance to counter the threat, Guy Thomas, science and technology adviser for maritime domain awareness at the Coast Guard, said in an interview.

Instead, lawmakers are focusing port security spending on scanning shipping containers for a nuclear bomb, which most experts in the Coast Guard and intelligence community agree should be less of a priority than maritime domain awareness, he said.
***
Lawmakers have preferred to fund container scanning technology because “it’s visible and your congressman gets points for doing something” that is more dramatic and TV-friendly than installing cameras, radars and sensors, according to Thomas.

A scenario that greatly troubles him is that terrorists might use multiple small boats — carrying chemical, biological or nuclear weapons and coordinated via inexpensive satellite radio — to attack several U.S. ports at one time. Or the terrorists might use the boats to disperse anthrax all over a city, he said.

Terrorists “could also drop mines in the harbor as they entered to really slow seaborne relief operations to the port,” Thomas said.

He was reluctant to talk about a multiple port attack scenario until recently, when he found others openly discussing it.

He is concerned about mines because there are “hundreds of thousands” of them potentially available to terrorists. The mines could be easily hidden underwater and “lie in wait” until a ship passes by and is hit, leading to closure of a port.

An attack by mine on a port would be harder for authorities to manage than an attack by an improvised explosive device or truck bomb near a port, as it would be harder to know if additional mines had been planted, Thomas said.

After witnessing several war games, Thomas believes the Navy lacks the mine dispersal capability to deal with more than one mine attack on a port. However, it might be able to handle two such attacks if they were located close together, he added.
***
Thomas favors using airships such as blimps, aerostats, or tethered lighter-than-air aircraft, and satellites to surveil ports.

Airships and aerostats can be used to monitor up to 100 miles from shore at a lower cost than manned aircraft.
***
Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, has said he wants to focus on increasing the security of small vessels.

The Coast Guard will hold a summit in June on improving security of small boats.

“We’ve done a great deal in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to secure our ports from potential threats posed by commercial ships, but we know very little about the 77 million U.S. boaters or the 13 million recreational vessels that ply U.S. waters,” Allen said in March.

“This leaves us extremely vulnerable to a U.S.S. Cole-style attack within one of our ports or waterways,” Allen said.
***
The National Strategy for Maritime Security summarizes a variety of tactics commonly mentioned as maritime security risks:

“Terrorists can also develop effective attack capabilities relatively quickly using . . . explosives-laden suicide boats and light aircraft; merchant and cruise ships as kinetic weapons to ram another vessel, warship, port facility, or offshore platform; commercial vessels as launch platforms for missile attacks; underwater swimmers to infiltrate ports; and unmanned underwater explosive delivery vehicles. Mines are also an effective weapon. . . .Terrorists can also take advantage of a vessel’s legitimate cargo, such as chemicals, petroleum, or liquefied natural gas, as the explosive component of an attack. Vessels can be used to transport powerful conventional explosives or WMD for detonation in a port or alongside an offshore facility.”

The United States has more than 360 ports.

Of course, there is an argument that the Port of Bullfrog, LA is at less risk than a spectacular hit in Los Angeles or New York, Cheasapeake Bay, Houston and the other big ports. An analysis of such risks is available here in a paper titled "A Critical Vulnerability, A Valid Threat. U.S. Ports and Terrorist Mining" by CDR Michael Sparks, USN. CDR Sparks sets the scene of multiple mine hits in geographically distant ports and notes:

The U.S. is again the target of terrorism. What is different is that this time, it is not the rampant loss of life and the devastating images of planes crashing into the World Trade Center or the buildings crumbling to the ground that will impact our way of life. We will not see the smoldering rubble or the countless pictures of people in mourning the loss of loved ones. It is the second and third order effects caused by the terrorist mining that would have an impact on every citizen of the country by straining resources and the economy.

Why the economic effect?

The volume of goods and trade imported and exported through United States ports is expected to more than double over the next twenty years. Currently, fifty ports in the United States account for approximately 90 percent of all the cargo tonnage shipments while twenty-five ports account for 98 percent of all container shipments

History should guide us in assessing the risk- the mining of U.S. ports is not a new idea:

...over the period 14 May 1942 to 1 April 1944 German U-Boats planted a total of 338 mines in the approaches to Western Atlantic ports running from St. Johns, Newfoundland to Panama. Of these, 130 were planted in the approaches to U.S. East Coast ports inflicting 9 ship casualties and closing ports for a combined total of 30 days (New York - 2 days; Chesapeake Bay - 3 days; Jacksonville, Charleston and Savannah - 3 days; Wilmington and Charleston - 8 days). In their attempt to stem the flow of critical materials to England and then Europe, the Germans elected to concentrate on torpedo attacks against East Coast shipping and the Atlantic convoys instead of continuing the mining operations. And yet, with only 11 submarine sorties and the expenditure of 120 mines they inflicted 9 ship casualties and interrupted the vital flow of war materials for a total of 30 days (A Misplaced Strategy).

CDR Sparks' piece with its recommendations can be downloaded and read as an Acrobat document. In sum, though, he asserts that the Department of Homeland Security lacks the assets to "do" counter-mining operations and would have to call upon the Navy. When the thesis was written, Navy assets were not located in the optimal ports to provide quick services to the DHS and the US Coast Guard. CDR Sparks makes some sensible suggestions to rectify these imbalances. While there is some cost involved, the old slogans "Be Prepared" and "An Ounce of Prevention' come to mind. The Commander also points to the possibility of "IED" type improvisation for creating mines for use in U.S. ports -- whihc might rely on decidely unsophisticated "command" detontation instead of fancy electronics - but command detontations work just fine.

Discussions by a vendor of equipment to locate sea mines, the Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS). Discussion of UUV in mineops here,

Wikipedia article on Naval mines here.

Aviation Week article on Naval mine threat here:

The U.S. Navy, for example, is embracing new concepts such as modular capabilities incorporated as an organic part of the combat system of major warships and submarines, while getting rid of many dedicated mine countermeasure (MCM) vessels, particularly the Italian-designed Osprey-class. Most European navies, on the other hand, still put their money on the proven 1980s concept of the dedicated minehunter, despite the complexity and expense, on a cost-per-ton basis, of these vessels.

Meanwhile, industries in various parts of the world are proposing their own concepts and technologies for the detection, classification, identification and destruction of mines. Some even claim that a small support vessel and a rigid-hull inflatable boat are all that's needed to take a containerized MCM system to sea and operate it effectively. In all these approaches, unmanned and autonomous underwater vehicles are emerging as critical components of operations.

Whichever approach prevails, the threat of naval mines is real.

Lots of options, but the need to do something is upon us...

UPDATE: Of course, Congress is busy with other matters, like taking care of victims of the Japanese occupation of Guam in WWII.

UPDATE2: And then there's the Wal-Mart issue.

Pirates shooting at ships well off Somalia

Pesky pirates blazing away at cargo ships - as set out here:

Pirates fired grenade launchers and machine guns at a cargo ship in the Indian Ocean far off the coast of Somalia, sparking concerns that key shipping routes are threatened, a Malaysia-based maritime watchdog said Tuesday.

The Qatar-flagged cargo ship, Ibn Younus, managed to escape during an hour-long chase as it headed from Durban in South Africa to Jebel Ali in Dubai after it was attacked Monday, said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur.
***
Three men in a speed boat, armed with machine guns and grenade launchers, approached the ship and ordered it to stop, he said.

"They started firing with machine guns toward the bridge of the ship. The emergency alarm was raised and the ship took measures to prevent the pirates from boarding," Choong told The Associated Press.

"The pirates then opened fire with the grenade launcher and successfully hit the crew's cabins, causing severe damage," he said.
***
The attack — Somalia's seventh at sea so far this year_ occurred 180 nautical miles off the coast, compared to previous raids that took place close to the shoreline, Choong said.

"We are concerned about this latest attack which happened so far off the coast of Somalia. It appears the old warlords are coming back. This trend is dangerous because it could disrupt shipping routes," Choong said.

Somalia lies close to crucial shipping routes connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean, where valuable cargo and carriers must pass.

NATO to guard oil facilities?

Maybe, see NATO eyes naval patrols to secure oil facilities:

NATO is talking to oil and gas producing companies and countries about how it could help combat security threats to energy infrastructure, a senior NATO official said on Monday.

Jamie Shea, Director of Policy Planning in the Private Office of the NATO Secretary General, said the likely measures would involve providing sea-borne rapid reaction forces to combat attacks on facilities, hostage taking and piracy in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
***
Other areas NATO could be able to help included fighting hostage-taking in Nigeria where workers are being seized from oil facilities on an almost daily basis and piracy in Asia.

Interesting, though my experience with NATO was of a "low speed, high drag" organization, not well suited to rapid reaction. But my experience was limited and I hope my impressions are wrong.

And credit must be given to NATO for the anti-terror patrols of Operation Active Endeavor.
Photo caption:

NATO air and maritime assets during patrol and escorting operations in the Strait of Gibraltar.

H/T: NOSI.

Ship grounding off Alaska: Crew handled it well

Admidst the chaos of putting your ship on the rocks, some good news for the ship and its owner, found here. The crew kept its cool, a sign of good training:

When the Empress of the North ran aground, the band played on — as everyone disembarked in a safe and orderly fashion.

Passengers jolted awake by the ship hitting a charted reef 50 miles southwest of Juneau early Monday were ordered to don lifejackets and gather in the ballroom, where a singer and piano player entertained them with songs including Take Me Out to the Ball Game as they waited for rescue.

Passengers praised the ship's crew for taking charge.

"They just seemed to know what they were doing. They were caring, courteous, the whole thing, and I think that's what kept everybody calm," said Mary Crosby, 83, of Seattle.

Good on them.

New York New Jersey Port Terminal Sold to Foreign Interests

Which should remind you of the ruckus over the Dubai Ports management issue, except in this case the terminal was sold by one foreign group (Hong Kong) to another (Canadian), as set out here. Not that there are any double standards involved or anything.

The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan will pay the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey US$51 million for allowing tenant Orient Overseas International Ltd (OOIL) to sell its Staten Island terminal to the Canadian investment firm.
***
The news will have been received with a huge sense of relief at OOIL's Wan Chai headquarters in Hong Kong. With a net profit of more than $1 billion riding on the successful completion of the deal, any hitch was bound to bring about a severe case of the jitters.

Talks stalled when the port authority demanded OOIL pay a $37 million consent fee that came with a guaranteed $17 million from the pension fund to prevent the lease from being sold again for a quick profit.
***

I'm waiting for Senator Schumer to say something.

More info on the Howland Hook Marine Terminal here

Whoops

What happens to ships sometimes is they are run aground: Cruise Ship Hits Rock. More here:

A riverboat-style cruise ship ran aground off the Alaska coast early Monday, forcing an evacuation of more than 200 passengers before it could move again with a Coast Guard escort.

All passengers had been evacuated from the Empress of the North by 7 a.m., Chief Petty Officer Barry Lane said. There were no reports of injuries.

The ship left under its own power and arrived in Juneau with a Coast Guard escort about 10 hours after the grounding, Lane said.
***
It wasn't immediately clear why the cruise ship ran around, McLaughlin said. It was drizzling in Juneau but the seas were calm.

The National Transportation Safety Board was to investigate.

Let's see, the possibilities are: poor navigation, some sort of engineering casualty or simple stupidity.

Not the first time for this ship:

This is not the first time Empress of the North has run into trouble. Almost exactly a year ago, the boat hit a sandbar in the Columbia River and passengers were offloaded onto Queen of the West, another paddlewheeler owned by Majestic America Line. In 2003, the year it debuted, Empress of the North also was grounded in the Columbia River.

Shifting sandbars might be one thing, but a charted reef?

UPDATE: Map of Alaska cruise routes, including the Icy Strait from here:


UPDATE2: Another look at the area, with the arrow pointing to the Icy Strait near Glacier Bay.

Maritime Monday 59 at Fred Fry International

Fred laughs at the dangers of LNG with a bit on an LPG tanker and much more sea going stuff at Fred Fry International: Maritime Monday 59.

Well worth a visit.

More Sea Robbery off Guyana

Reported here:

Four armed and masked pirates terrorized fishermen in the Corentyne River on Tuesday and escaped with a 48 HP Yamaha outboard engine and other items and kidnapped a crew member from a boat belonging to a fisherman from the East Coast.
***
The bandits who were reported to have been armed with pump action and single barrel shotguns in addition to a handgun robbed the four boats consisting of five crew members each. Using a green boat with deep red stripe to carry out the raid, the pirates escaped with the engine and other articles belonging to Omeshchand Dineshchand of Crabwood Creek, while they threw an engine and a quantity of fish belonging to another fisherman, Clent Nathoo, overboard. They also stole a quantity of fish glue, groceries, wristwatches and flashlights.

Oil theft in Nigeria: A $15 Billion Problem and worse?

What makes oil and even oil tankers disappear in Nigeria? There are pirate-like groups kidnapping oil workers, but there is also a lot- by which I mean- a whole bunch- of corruption going on, as set out in Oil theft: Experts advocate chemical tag on legal oil:

Experts, who spoke to Business Day on condition of anonymity, wondered why the government was yet to implement the proposal which could discourage refiners from buying illegal crude.

They maintained that stopping oil theft would require the same effort employed in stopping trade in contraband, adding that a total crackdown on both the buyers and sellers remained the best option.

They decried the increasing cases of crude oil theft in the country, barely two years after the disappearance of the MT African Pride, an oil-smuggling ship that vanished, while in the custody of the Nigerian Navy.
***
The smugglers tap into the pipelines and pumping stations across the country, using sophisticated equipment, the stolen crude oil is then pumped directly from pipelines through hoses onto barges.

Some of these barges, according industry sources could hold as much as 5,000 barrels each.

The oil could also be pumped into containers on smaller boats, and then transferred at sea to larger ships, such as the African Pride, which was cut by eagle-eyed naval personnel on routine patrol.

Business Day gathered that much of the crude sold to refineries in Ivory Coast, Cameroon and other nearby countries, were mostly stolen products.

Some oil company workers have been found to be involved in this crude theft in the country.

The Shell study said that "endemic corruption" among the nation’s police, political class and the military is aiding the oil thieves.
***
Experts say that the large volume of stolen crude suggests that the entire tankers may be loaded at export terminals in a normal fashion, and later, records of the transactions will simply disappear.

This shows that those involved in bunkering are very highly placed people. Residents of the Niger-Delta region defend oil theft to take what is rightfully theirs.

The militants and other criminal gangs operating in the area fund their activities through bunkering and sometimes trade oil for weapons.

Security experts allege that proceeds from the illegal crude may also be financing rebellions and terrorist activities in West Africa and elsewhere.

Sunday Ship History: Breakaway music

At sea generally the idea is to keep ships far enough apart that they pose no collision risk to each other.

The exception for the Navy is the process of underway replenishment, when massive ships steam in parallel 100- 150 feet apart while one ship (the replenishment ship) transfers fuel or ammunition or food or supplies or some combination thereof to a ship in need of such material.

Underway replenishment (UNREP) is a broad term applied to all methods of transferring fuel, munitions, supplies, and personnel from one ship to another while the vessels are underway. Two general methods of UNREP are used - connected (CONREP) and vertical (VERTREP). They may be used singly or at the same time. In connected replenishment, two or more ships steam side-by-side and the hoses and lines used to transfer fuel, ammunition, supplies, and personnel connect the ships.

The topic of underway replenishment is not new to this blog, I have mentioned it several times and described it before here. The key to understanding how the process works is knowing that one ship (usually the ship that will transfer the fuel or whatever) will steady on a specific course and the ship (or ships) needing to be replenished will drive up along side and steady on the same course and speed. Then the replenishment process begins. When the ship needing supplies has what it needs, the line, hoses, etc connecting the ships are disconnected and the ships break off the engagement and go their separate ways. In Navy terms, the disconnection process is called a "breakaway."

Normally, the replenishment ship will maintain its course and speed and the other ship will increase speed, gaining distance from the replenishment ship until it is safe to turn off the base course and go carry out its mission.

But there is more to the process than the physical connection between the ships. During each unrep, sailors are exchanging information about their ships, themselves and, in sort of a "Six Degrees of Separation" way, talking about people they know that know people known to the other sailor... if you understand what I mean. There is an element of gossips and rumor and more going on.

Remember, most of the time, sailors on ships get to talk only to sailors on their own ships, so the chance to talk to someone outside that somewhat limited circle is appreciated.

Another form of communication comes at the end of the replenishment, when ships might offer up "breakaway music"- - some bit of music that might be able to be connected to the ship. The music is played over the external loudspeakers as the ships move apart, loud enough so that the other crews of the ships can hear it.


For example, the destroyer John S. McCain used to play during the breakaway the song "Big John."

Big John
Big John
Big bad John
Big John

USS Wichita's breakaway theme was "Wichita Lineman." The lyrics were a very appropriate for a replenishment oiler, which spent lots of time at sea, refueling and replenishing ships:

I know I need a small vacation but it don't look like rain
And if it snows that stretch down south won't ever stand the strain
And I need you more than want you, and I want you for all time
And the Wichita Lineman is still on the line

I seem to remember off Vietnam that the destroyer Richard B. Anderson would play the "William Tell Overture" as its theme - her voice call sign was "Masked Rider" (as in the Lone Ranger) so it made sense. Ships that were new and modern might, in their day, play the theme from "Star Wars" (see here). You know, "new" 30 years ago...

In any event, choosing a breakaway theme has lead to some familiar choices like those set out in Wikipedia's
Breakaway music:

* "On the Road Again" by Willie Nelson
* "Cheeseburger in Paradise" by Jimmy Buffett
* "Rock and Roll" by Led Zeppelin
* "Hells Bells" by AC/DC
* "Takin' Care of Business" by Bachman-Turner Overdrive
* "Life in the Fast Lane" by The Eagles
* "Little Deuce Coupe" by The Beach Boys
* "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor
* "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne
* "I Feel Good" by James Brown
* "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)"
* "Ride of the Valkyries" by Richard Wagner
* The William Tell Overture
* "Panama" by Van Halen

Some choices are simply more appropriate than others. USS Pyro (AE-24), an ammunition ship, adopted for a part of a deployment the song "Fire" from "The Crazy World of Arthur Brown."

Pyro in 1972, spent nearly 11 months on the line in a record setting deployment described here:

During her 1972 deployment, Pyro set another Navy record by servicing 364 ships and transferring over 36,000 tons of ammunition.

For her final unrep off Vietnam before heading back to her homeport near San Francisco, the breakaway music included: "If You're Going to San Francisco," "I left My Heart in San Francisco," and "Homeward Bound." And it may well be that the song "Going Home" by the Rolling Stones was heard over the waters as Pyro turned to the East

Spendin' too much time away
I can't stand another day
Maybe you think I've seen the world
But I'd rather see my girl

I'm goin' home, I'm goin' home
I'm goin' home, I'm goin' home
I'm goin' home, bome, bome, bome-bome-bome,
Home, bome, bome, bome, back home
Yes, I am

All those letters ev'ry day
Maybe alright in their way
But I'd love to see your face
When I get home in their place

I'm goin' home, I'm goin' home
I'm goin' home, I'm goin' home
I'm goin' home, bome, bome, bome-bome-bome,
Home, bome, bome, bome, back home
Yes, I am
Alright

I don't think you had to be there to get it.

Breakaway songs are a great tradition and, in many ways, a salute to the ships on which so many have served.

What's it like to be...Captured by Somali Pirates

Reported here, a Sri Lankan captured by Somali pirates lives to tell the tale. The "Portland" referred to in the piece is more likely "Puntland," commonly referred to as "a semi-autonomous" area of Somalia.

According to Mr. Ranasinghe, in the midst of the firing the pirates forced them to steer the ship away to an area that didn’t come under the purview of the Portland coast guards. He said the pirates then grabbed their communication equipment and ordered them not to go to certain parts of the vessel.

“They did not physically harass us but the Kenyans were harassed. However they took the captain’s money and some other belongings. They also said we would be allowed to go back but not the Kenyans. The crew had shared whatever food stocks they had with their captors too. But towards the end of their captivity they were surviving on water and rice.

Mr. Ranasinghe said they hardly slept for fear of being killed by their armed captors. “We tried our best to be friendly with them for our own survival and some of them were quite friendly. We even played cards to remain calm but we could never relax,” he said. He said sometimes during the night the hijackers would for no reason at all fire into the air, just for fun. During the day they would divide themselves in to two groups and fight each other. He said one day the pirates brought aboard two tribal leaders to settle a dispute among them.

The 24/7 at sea

As set out here, a report that Navy sailors at sea work 24/7.

I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you.

They shoulda been there when things are really busy.


UPDATE: Ensigns say the darnedest things:

“At sea, a workday can be 12, 13, 14 hours a day,” Ensign Rick Chernitzer says. “And that’s mainly because there’s nothing else to do at sea.”

And I always thought all those watches and things were because somebody had to drive the ship when everyone else was sleeping. Silly me. I guess the Midwatch is held just to give idle hands something to do between midnight and 0400.

Not gone, just "involved"

No, thanks for asking, just involved in a time-eating project.

Indonesia says IMB piracy counting is way off

Indonesia dipsutes that there were 42 cases of piracy in the Strait of Malacca in 2006, claiming that the number is much lower, as set out here:

Indonesia today refuted there were 42 piracy cases in the Melaka Straits in 2006 as stated by the Kuala Lumpur-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

According to its own data, there were only two piracy cases in the Melaka Straits last year and its Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono said his ministry would send an official letter to the bureau on the vast difference.

"We have a different figure. The situation is not as bad as that reported by the IMB. That report is misleading," he told reporters after attending a convocation ceremony at Universiti Pancasila here today.

He was concerned that the IMB's statement could affect Indonesia's competitive edge internationally.

The data indicated that the Indonesian armed forces and police could not control the area although piracy in the world's busiest straits continues to decline," he said as reported in the official website of Indonesia's Ministry of Communications and Information.

He said according to data from the Indonesian navy, there were 38 piracy cases in 2004, 15 in 2005, two last year, and so far this year there had been no case considered big enough to be included in the IMB data.

Indonesian navy commander Admiral Slamet Soebijanto said the IMB statement was influenced by foreign interests which wanted to take part in guarding the Straits.

Sovereignty issues, anyone? Perhaps Admiral Slamet Soebijanto for $1000, Alex?

Pirates hijack ship off Somalia

Somali pirates have apparently grabbed another cargo ship off the Somali coast in search for ransom money, as set out here:

Pirates have hijacked a cargo ship headed for Mogadishu, the third attack since January this year, a maritime official said on Thursday.
***
"Negotiations are going on between representatives of the Somali businessmen, the ship owners and the pirates," the official of the Kenyan-based organisation told Reuters.

Proof that what you pay for, you get more of.

Problems of the rich

Reported as Palm Beach tycoon's mega-yacht still marooned off Key West:

The 158-foot Legacy, once one of the five largest sailing ketches in the world, is mired in sand and mud, in ankle-deep turquoise water 3 miles away from the docks at Mallory Square, exactly where she was thrown by Hurricane Wilma a year and a half ago.

Halmos, 63, and seven crew members nearly lost their lives on Oct. 23, 2005, when Wilma tossed his ship "like a leaf in 25-foot waves" a mile deep into the Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge, 200,000 acres of some of the most pristine and protected property in the federal government's control.

Since then he has battled pirates, pesky sightseers and bureaucrats while trying to free the $30 million ship.

In February, he finally reached an agreement with the government to begin salvage operations. The plan was to use a new technique: build a 1,000-foot-long, 50-foot-wide canvas wall around the vessel, fill it with water, then float her out. But that effort - which cost $20,000 a day for two months - failed, Halmos says.

"Floating her out was really elegant. There's nothing elegant about dragging her out."

Halmos says he's been reluctant to use traditional salvage methods, which involve large barges and cranes, because that might tear up the fragile ecosystem. His new plan is to spin Legacy so she is facing in the same direction that she entered the preserve, then pull her out.

Legacy photo from here. Interesting thread, with more photos in it.

Name that Poison: Pick a type of terrorism

Well, what follows is from the HuffPo, so take it for what it's worth. But it does lay out, in between sniping at "unwinnable wars," a distinction between "Big Terrorism" ("Nagasaki") and "Little Terrorism" ("low intensity terrorism") or, as I prefer to think of it, Home Run Terrorism versus Small Ball Terrorism.

See Terrorism According to a Low Intensity Guy**:

The "Nagasaki" theory of terrorism is based on Osama Bin Laden's instructions that each attack needs to be bigger than the last one and that the important scoreboard is body count. The name is based on chatter in which a high ranking Al-Qaida commander suggested that the next attack on US soil be not only bigger than 9-11 but will also cause more death than the atomic bombs that ended World War II. In short it is terrorism perpetrated -- and taken very seriously -- by "Big Bangers"

In contrast, the "low intensity conflict" view steals a term from the British army who fought such guerrilla battles in India, Palestine and Ireland. In the words of Michael Collins and Martin McGuiness (who ironically joined the British government this week) the "job of a terrorist is to terrorize." A hit and run, blowing up a rail road line, shooting an agent at home in his bed (or even better in bed with his lover), can be more damaging than the Big Bang. The disruption of way of life, the impact on commerce can be far more destabilizing than the occasional Nagasaki blast, goes the theory.

Of course, even in baseball, "small ball" teams will take the home run if it's available. The terrorist menu is a continuum - the very concept is to take what your opponent gives you.

The secret to fighting the terrorist is to not provide him space in which to operate. The "Dix Six" discovered, perhaps because they aren't all that bright, that an ordinary American citizen can spot unusual activity and put the kibosh on it if made aware of the threat. Unlike the friendly confines of some Middle Eastern countries, the sea* in which would be "domestic terrorists' would swim is not that fiendly to them.

See also Flight 93.

*Although it pertains to guerrilla warfare, Mao had it right:

The guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea.

**The author of the HuffP piece:

James Mulvaney is president of Tactical Intelligence Services, Inc., a New York based company that provides risk, security and intelligence services to entities around the world. Over the past year he has given anti-terrorist briefings to high ranking intelligence officials from Asia, Africa and Latin America. He is a former journalist and foreign correspondent who won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in 1996.

Mr. Mulvaney's Pulitzer apparently was:

Awarded to the staff of The Orange County Register, Santa Ana, Calif., for reporting that uncovered fraudulent and unethical fertility practices at a leading research university hospital and prompted key regulatory reforms.