You Don't Bring Super Sonic Missiles to a Gun Fight

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Well, I suppose you could put the hovercraft on large transport ships, and launch them closer to the Somali coast....but, then again that would mean that we'd have a group of ships all together, which is something Gawd thinks is just way over the top.

Amphibious Assault Group. We did it in WWII. Nothing new there except the hovercraft.

[Don't Panic]

I have a better idea...

Submarines. Put 7 or 8 fast attack boats into the IO tasked with sinking the pirate ships, it'll be easy and there won't be any big task force floating around for anyone to complain about.

[Don't Panic]

Or better again, the CIA can get Mossad(who are really a secret operations group of the zionist controlled US administration) to sneak into the pirate bases with corkscrews and make holes in the bottom of the pirate ships.

[Ian]

Hoo-boy, did Gawd throw a hissy-fit!

Gawd, you made yourself into a complete arse by babbling stuff about hovercraft and "patrol boats", and then you deride anyone who points out, in some detail, how naive and ill-informed those ideas are as "elitist". Sometimes we elitists actually have an idea what we're talking about. You have no idea whatsoever. You just keep responding because you don't like the idea that your opinions on this haven't garnered much respect. Guess what? They SHOULDN'T. You mentioned something about me not listening, but the reverse is true. I listened to your ideas about hovercraft and patrol boats, and then I took the time to explain, in modest detail and in layman terms for your benefit, why those ideas weren't worth a wet poo. A word of gratitude might be in order.

To evoke a semi-famous quote: "I have plenty of tolerance for stupidity, but none for when it is proud of itself." Are you mentally capable of admitting that sometimes, perhaps, you don't know what you're talking about? FFS - if you can't do so in this thread, I don't think it's possible for you.

[laklak]

Hovercraft? I sneer at hovercraft. We have Jetmarine.

The Jetmarine, the second great invention of Tom Swift Jr., takes the young inventor into a desperate battle with bold modern pirates who have been ravaging the sea lanes off our southern coast.

The atom-powered, two-man submarine is launched just in time for Tom and his pal Bud to set out to rescue Tom's father, who has fallen into the hands of the pirates.

See? It's designed to fight pirates.

"Hovercraft are so 20th century", Tom said historically.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I have a better idea...

Submarines. Put 7 or 8 fast attack boats into the IO tasked with sinking the pirate ships, it'll be easy and there won't be any big task force floating around for anyone to complain about.

Say hello to my little friends.

[Ian]

In all fairness, there is no perfect solution (although there are one or two remarkably bad ideas...) to Somali piracy. But 2011 might be the year that the maritime task force in charge of mitigating the problem changes its strategy. So far, a tougher line hasn't really been warranted: about 20,000 ships pass through the Bab Al Mendeb each year, nevermind all the other sea lanes as far east as India and as far south as Madagascar, but only a tiny percentage are actually hijacked, and the vast majority of those are ultimately ransomed and released without violence. But some of the pirates have recently begun to get more aggressive, resulting in incidents like the four hostages that were killed last month for no obvious reason. Thus far, the task force's mandates have been to escort some high-interest ships, investigate and identify possible pirate contacts when possible, and respond to incidents. Further steps, like setting up an ad hoc naval blockade line along Somalia's eastern coast to screen any and all suspected motherships, have not yet been implemented for a variety of reasons. But if more incidents like the Quest occur, and Somalia can't get its own house in order, tougher action might be seen as necessary and inevitable.

[laklak]

... like the Quest ...

You mean like Jonny Quest? They had hovercrafts. Coincidence?

[Don't Panic]

I have a better idea...

Submarines. Put 7 or 8 fast attack boats into the IO tasked with sinking the pirate ships, it'll be easy and there won't be any big task force floating around for anyone to complain about.

Say hello to my little friends.

Now that is an idea. How well did it work in the delta?

[Gawd]

You guys have no imagination nor are able to visualize the benefits of a mass deployment of hovercraft versus most centralized warships consisting of thousands of people each. And if you think it would take decades to even get started building hovercraft in numbers, then might I suggest you stop using American contractors.

[Ian]

You guys have no imagination nor are able to visualize the benefits of a mass deployment of hovercraft versus most centralized warships consisting of thousands of people each. And if you think it would take decades to even get started building hovercraft in numbers, then might I suggest you stop using American contractors.

We're elitist and have no imagination, whereas you're able to "think outside the box".

The hovercraft idea is actually a good one. If hovercraft had anywhere near the range and oceangoing endurance that combatant ships have, but they don't. And if their rubber air cushions were able to survive even small arms gunfire (they're designed for unopposed beach landings), but it can't. And if they had any decent surveillance systems, but they don't. And if they had any helicopters available tolaunch and respond to situations like the one two days ago, but they don't. And if there were huge numbers of them somewhere, but there isn't. So if you want to take it upon yourself to design and fund and produce huge numbers of an entirely new kind of vessel that does not currently exist, then hovercraft is a wonderfully creative idea.

[Don't Panic]

You guys have no imagination nor are able to visualize the benefits of a mass deployment of hovercraft versus most centralized warships consisting of thousands of people each. And if you think it would take decades to even get started building hovercraft in numbers, then might I suggest you stop using American contractors.

There are plenty of countries making hovercraft, but for the US military to start deploying them would take decades.

Read up on the development of the Bradley sometime.

[Gawd]

You guys have no imagination nor are able to visualize the benefits of a mass deployment of hovercraft versus most centralized warships consisting of thousands of people each. And if you think it would take decades to even get started building hovercraft in numbers, then might I suggest you stop using American contractors.

We're elitist and have no imagination, whereas you're able to "think outside the box".

The hovercraft idea is actually a good one. If hovercraft had anywhere near the range and oceangoing endurance that combatant ships have, but they don't. And if their rubber air cushions were able to survive even small arms gunfire (they're designed for unopposed beach landings), but it can't. And if they had any decent surveillance systems, but they don't. And if they had any helicopters available tolaunch and respond to situations like the one two days ago, but they don't. And if there were huge numbers of them somewhere, but there isn't. So if you want to take it upon yourself to design and fund and produce huge numbers of an entirely new kind of vessel that does not currently exist, then hovercraft is a wonderfully creative idea.

Difficult problems require innovation, not old timers that can't adapt.

BTW, hovercraft are not balloons. They don't lose all their air when shot at since they use open skirts and not bladders.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Gawd, why don't you go over and solve the problem. Put your own ass on the line for once. REMF.

[Gawd]

You guys have no imagination nor are able to visualize the benefits of a mass deployment of hovercraft versus most centralized warships consisting of thousands of people each. And if you think it would take decades to even get started building hovercraft in numbers, then might I suggest you stop using American contractors.

There are plenty of countries making hovercraft, but for the US military to start deploying them would take decades.

Read up on the development of the Bradley sometime.

Stop building 1 single aircraft carrier and you would have all the resources needed to build vast numbers of hovercraft. The hovercraft isn't the problem, it's the American military.