By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 20:06:31 +0000

I was involved with the security planning for a large cruise line before the latest pirate crisis began receiving a lot of media attention. The “sonic gun” carried on some cruise ships is called the LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device). I helped put those devices on our ships. It was not designed by the Defense Department but developed by American Technology Corporation (ATC) in San Diego in response to the attack on the USS Cole in October 2000. The LRAD repelled the attack on the Seabourne Spirit in November 2005. Even though the LRAD help repel the pirate attack, the other cruise lines were not interested in putting them on their ships. The two brave security members who manned the LRAD and saved the ship and all its passengers were dismissed by the cruise lines after the attack. They were later awarded bravery medals by the British government. If you think that the cruise lines are really concerned about pirates, any more than terrorists, think again.
The cruise lines wish this whole pirate-cruise ship threat would go away, but it will not. Fortunately, most cruise ships do not transit these pirate infested waters. There are bigger security issues facing the cruise industry such as crime and the real threat from international terrorism. As opposed to piracy which is confined to a few geographic areas of the world, terrorism can strike anywhere in the world and is bound to do so at some point. In August 2005, the single greatest attack on Western cruise ships was less than 48 hours away by the same al-Qaeda terrorist who had bombed two Jewish Synagogues and the British Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey in November 2003. Those bombs remarkably were meant for cruise ships but were diverted at the last minute to attack the Synagogues and the British Consulate when the cruise ships failed to show up in the Turkish port of Antlaya. The bombs killed over 60 people.
Oh, and by the way, cruise ships security personnel will never carry weapons anymore than cruise ships will stop serving alcohol to passengers.
Be vigilant when booking a cruise, where they are heading, what port calls they are making and what the State Department is saying about the crime in that country and what the terrorist threat currently is. I personally would not take a cruise to any itinerary transiting the East Coast of Africa right now. Not just because of the pirates, but because this is al-Qaeda’s backyard. This less than 500 miles where the oil tanker M/V Limburg was blown-up while underway in October 2002. Considering that al-Qaeda has just issued a degree to attack Western / Christian targets anywhere in the world, (because of the recent Israeli/Gaza attacks), cruise ships would fit the bill quite nicely.

By: Captain Ben

Captain Ben — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 05:36:04 +0000

ShipTalk doesn’t produce any content of their own, they steal others and “forget” to attribute the authors. At least Somali pirates have the decency to hold a knife to your throat. -CJ

By: tun tun

tun tun — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:58:00 +0000

very good and very interesting

By: mikel

mikel — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 17:11:00 +0000

really it’s useful interesting and informative. thanks

Comments on: Cruise Ships & Pirates: How Safe Are You?

By: Mark

By: Captain Ben

By: tun tun

By: mikel