Somali Pirates

By Bob Gariano

Last week five Somali pirates were convicted in federal court in Norfolk, Virginia and were given life sentences for various counts of piracy, assault with dangerous weapons, and the use of firearms during the commission of a crime of violence. The five were part on a contingent of eleven captured Somali pirates who were brought to the United States in April 2010 to stand trial for their crimes.

These eleven men were involved in two separate incidents off the horn of Africa that involved two different US naval vessels that were attacked in those waters. The March 31, 2010 incident involved an attack on the USS Nicholas and another pirate attack involved the USS Ashland on April 10. The crew of the USS Nicholas captured the pirates on the small skiff that attacked their vessel and also seized the pirates’ mother ship that lay some distance off. The New York Times reported that the trial that concluded on November 24 was the first successful conviction of pirates in United States federal court since the American Civil War.

Piracy Trials

We may see more of such piracy trials in the future. The United States Department of State indicated that the Kenyan courts are overloaded with piracy cases and that the department was initiating a new policy would require pirates seized in such attacks on American vessels to be brought to the United States to stand trial.

This sad event and resulting trial would be unremarkable unless one considers the objective of the convicted pirates in this case. The ship that they attacked was a fully armed United States ship of the line, a combat ready frigate that was sent to this area to help protect commercial shipping. As the specifications and capabilities of this ship are examined, any person of even moderately sound mind would have to ask the well worn question, “What were they thinking?”

Hardened Target

Even on a dark moonless night in March, the pirates approaching the USS Nicholas must have had second thoughts. The Nicholas is named after Major of Marines Samuel Nicholas, a considerable man in his own right, and a person whose personae seems to perfectly match the disciplined and combat ready state of this fine ship.

The USS Nicholas (FFG47) is a frigate in the Navy’s Oliver Hazard Perry class of ships. It is 453 feet long and has a beam of 47 feet. Displacing over 4000 tons, the ship can use its two GE LM 2500 gas turbine engines to cruise at over 28 knots, easily a match for all but the most sophisticated power boats on the water. The Nicholas has a crew of 17 well tested officers and 198 enlisted men. It has been in service since its commissioning in 1984 out of Maine’s Bath Iron Works.

The Nicholas comes to a fight well armed. In addition to its two SH-60 Sea Hawk helicopters that can take a fight to the enemy, the ship is armed with torpedoes, one Mark 75 three inch rapid firing gun, and one Phalanx CIWS. The Mark 75 gun fires 76mm projectiles at a rate of 80 rounds per minute and has a range of over ten miles.

R2D2 Gun

In some ways, the Phalanx CIWS is even more impressive. Labeled the CWIS or close in weapons system, this gun system is sometimes called R2D2 by veteran sailors after the Stars Wars robot character, which it physically resembles. It is a vertically configured gun and guidance system that is used against both incoming missiles and aircraft and against enemy vessels threatening the ship.

The CIWS gun fires up to 4500 shells per minute or a steady hail of 75 projectiles per second. This gun’s armor piercing tungsten bullets are guided by one of the most sophisticated radar guidance systems in the Navy’s arsenal. The gun is particularly effective against high speed incoming ship to ship missiles, having the capability of knocking them down before they reach the target. The CIWS projectiles can penetrate guided missile nose cones and the accuracy of the gun’s radar guidance system creates a halo of protection for the Nicholas against such attacks.

Capable Crew

The crew of the Nicholas is distinguished and well tested. Since commissioning, the ship has been deployed primarily in the middle east, the Adriatic, and in the waters around the African continent. When Gulf War hostilities broke out in January 1991, the Nicholas was cruising in the extreme northern Persian Gulf and was called upon to be an advanced combat search and destroy vessel. Operating often more than 70 miles forward of the nearest allied ships, she distinguished herself in action.

The Nicholas attacked Iraqi positions off the coast of Kuwait. She and her crew captured the first Iraqi prisoners of war while sinking or damaging seven Iraqi patrol boats and clearing mines in the shipping channels. She also rescued a downed American F-16 pilot from the ocean off the Kuwaiti coast.

During subsequent United Nations actions enforcing sanctions against Iraq, the crew of the Nicholas safely conducted 174 boardings of merchant vessels to inspect for illegal cargo shipments and the potential smuggling of contraband. The Nicholas conducted similar interdiction duties against the former Republic of Yugoslavia in the mid 1990s.

The Somali pirates are driven by grinding poverty to embrace a desperate life of piracy and violent crime. It may be time for them to think about a more irenic and constructive occupation. The presence of sophisticated US naval combat vessels with well trained and tested crews should give pause to any pirates who are determining their next targets. To attack these superbly equipped and run vessels is a suicide mission at best.

Bob Gariano is President of RGA, an executive search firm that recruits senior executives and board members for public and private companies. Bob can be reached at [email protected]