PIRACY [CONTINUED FROM PAGE 59]
in the region. Denmark and Turkey
have joined the U.S. and Great Britain;
others are expected to do the same.
How do they do it?
For all its notoriety, piracy overall is
unsuccessful. According to the Navy,
an estimated 33,000 ships transit
the Gulf of Aden each year. During
2008, there were 92 piracy events, but
only 32 boardings (35 percent) were
successful, putting the success rate
for all shipping at just 0.09 percent.
Through the end of March 2009 there
were 41 events and no successful
boardings. (Review recent, unverifi ed seas smash-and-grab, stealing what Sailors aboard the USS Vella
piracy reports at
www.icc-ccs.org.) they can on deck and below and then Gulf conduct bridge operations as
Though the rate of success for disappearing. Targeted merchant suspected pirates are apprehended.
would-be Blackbeards is low, pirates vessels have been at the mercy of the
know their craft, and apprehension pirates, and while few expect these the law-enforcement capability nec-
can challenge the best waterborne ships to take lethal measures that essary to patrol its sovereign waters.
professionals. According to Mc- could endanger the crew as well as In June 2008, U.N. Resolution 1816
Knight, pirates work with a mother the cargo, actions as simple as posting allowed foreign warships to enter So-
ship that supports them so they can a lookout can make all the difference. malia’s territorial waters to fi ght pira-
“patrol” an area for an extended peri- McKnight agrees early detection cy. In October, Somali Prime Minister
od without having to head into shore. is vital and refers to the “golden 30 Nur Hassan Hussein welcomed NATO
Their small vessels are deceptively minutes.” He explains if warships involvement, reiterating an earlier
nimble and well-armed and have for- or one of their aircraft can get to a plea to the U.N. According to former
midable electronic surveillance gear. vessel in distress within 30 minutes, JAG offi cer Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Swift,
Pirates swoop in on their prey, they normally can avoid a boarding. USN-Ret., the obligation to pursue
approaching astern and in the black- “We’ve had a lot of success in ward- pirates is understood, even without a
ness of the nighttime sea. Their craft ing off the pirates,” says McKnight. U.N. go-ahead. “Under the Law of the
rarely are picked up on ships’ radar, Sea on the High Seas, all navies have
and even the most seasoned lookout Legal challenges an affi rmative duty to stop piracy. This
can be challenged to see them. The counterpiracy mission has had duty permits a naval vessel, in addition
Once upon their target, pirates use to navigate legal waters warships to aiding vessels under attack, to stop
grappling hooks to carry crude rope do not often encounter. Interna- vessels that they suspect are involved
ladders up the side and are on board tional law maintains piracy is an in piracy and take other offensive ac-
in seconds. This low-tech approach act in international waters, which tions against piracy,” Swift says.
has been enough to score a tanker begin 12 miles off shore. Narrow A larger legal question, and one
or two. If a merchant ship’s small straits, like those found in Indone- that has given the international com-
crew is lucky, it will repel the attack sia, generally are understood to be munity fi ts, has been what to do with
with hoses, water cannons, or the oc- international waters and thus fall high-seas detainees. Once upon a
casional acoustic device. Otherwise, under international law. Territorial time, they would have been bound
pirates board and ransom the ship waters — those inside the 12-mile and tossed overboard to a watery
and crew, a process that can take days demarcation — are the responsibil- death. But gone are the rules classify-
until an agreed-upon sum is dropped. ity of the adjoining nation. However, ing pirates as irregular fi ghters, which
Possibly because of pressure from a country such as Somalia, which allowed for trials in admiralty courts.
warship patrols, some bandits have has not had an effective government Human rights concerns for the pi-
engaged in the equivalent of a high- in nearly two decades, does not have rates have taken on greater weight.
72 MILITARY OFFICER JULY 2009 PHOTO: MASS COMMUNICATIONS SPC. 2ND CLASS JASON R. ZALASKY, USN
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