Helpful protip for all of those pirate organizations operating off the east coast of Africa: firing on US Navy warships, even lowly Frigates, is a Very Bad Idea (TM):
U.S. naval forces say they’ve captured five pirates after exchanging fire with them, sinking their skiff and confiscating a mother ship.
The USS Nicholas came under fire early Thursday from pirates in an area west of the Seychelles.
The U.S. Africa Command said the five pirates seized would remain in U.S. custody on board the frigate for time time being. The Nicholas is home-ported in Norfolk, Va.
I can only assume the pirates in question mistook the figlet for something else (though how I am not entirely sure), and realized the error of their ways about the time massive holes started appearing in their “skiff”. Perry-class ships may be one of the smallest combat vessels the Navy puts in the water these days, but they typically ship out on deployment with at least four (and, these days, more) M2s and two Mk 38s (and, yes, the guy in the left picture is smiling for a reason). Between those weapons, very large holes can be remotely installed into thin-skin vessels with relative ease… at least from the “operator” side of the device.
And those are just the figlets – larger ships have even more, and even more exciting, ways of perforating targets. You would think pirates would know that, but since they apparently do not, here is to hoping it takes them a few more exchanges like this one to figure it out. Bravo Zulu to the Nicholas and her crew, though, for successfully removing some scum from the surface of the ocean.
What’s with sandbags in the Mk 38 picture?
So I am going to have to dig up my pictures of my figlet’s Mk38 and M2 installations – basically, most Navy ships do not offer any protection or armor for those individuals manning the fixed emplacements, aside from being 10-50 feet off the ocean, sometimes having the mounts behind solid-metal railings, and the occasional armor plate attached directly to the mount. Captains and Admirals have been trying to change this over the years, but the simple fact is that not enough ships in the Navy exchange enough face-to-face fire any more to warrant a change.
I am not 100% certain that picture is of a US ship, but, in any case, something tells me that the CO/Gunner’s Mates did not exactly like the exposed nature of the 25mm’s position, and decided to do something about it. Look like they might even be rice bags, which would have to be stored somewhere anywise…
[...] response to a previous question from Weer’d Beard, here is the Mk38 25mm “chain gun” arrangement on my old [...]