On Thu, Oct 23, 2008 at 7:25 PM, Tom B <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The hulls in most sailboats that are transatlantic capable are fairly > substantial. There's also a lot of hardware and inner content within those > boats. I'm pretty certain a hit would detonate. The impact of the hit would > be dependent on the warhead type. I believe some RPGs are HE, others are > more into the armour piercing realm, and still others may have fancier > warheads.
I'd be inclined to say 'it depends' on a lot of factors. RPGs as transported, stored, and operated by third-world savages tend to fail to go off greater than half the time. I doubt Somali pirates hopped up on qat are any better than Arabs. And that's shooting at actual armored vehicles. A fiberglass hull may or may not detonate the pizeoelectric fuze. > HE would be bad news - hull damage, maybe sinking, plus possible blast > effects or shrapnel (even if just from your boat!) affecting crew members. > If they happen to hit the right place, they could dismast the boat (maybe). > At the very least they could damage static and running rigging that may > render the boat incapable of maintaining way or incapable of steering. And > you could end up shipping water (maybe even a lot of it). > > HEAP or the like might just punch a small hole through the boat. But then, > what might it hit on the way? Propane tank? Gas tank? Diesel tank? Various > other critical pieces? Batteries? etc. It would be less serious, but could > still leave you shipping water. My concern on a fiberglass hulled vessel would be the probability that the jet of copper would be at some really silly temperature (I'm sure OA could give a precise reading) that would tend to ignite the boat. Not to mention unused rocket fuel, etc. > The pintle mounted DShK would also be bad news for the average sailboat (as > would an M2HB or even a good old RPK or the like). > > And all they have to do is blow off your rudder, shred your sails, knock off > a mast, or wreck some rigging and you're out of commission and they're > madder. And bullets would tend to make the task of sailing the boat more > challenging. Not to mention the possibility of killing crewmen. > As to hitting: If they are in a motor launch, they'll be able to get up > alongside and there isn't much you can do unless you have one of those > superfast cats or a huge monohull. And then you've probably got a big enough > crew and maybe small arms of your own. If they get alongside, it isn't > *that* hard to predict where a sailboat will be. It might take 2 or 3 > volleys, but they may well have the ammo for that. RPG accuracy and precision is not all that great, they are intended to hit slow-moving armored targets at close range from a stationary platform (ie, the ground). However, as has been demonstrated, fire enough of them at almost anything, and you can hit a helicopter. I doubt a sailboat is going to be more difficult to hit than a Blackhawk. > Sailboat, the choice is tough. I think I might well let them board and then, > if I though I had to have a go, take it when they're aboard and they've got > their people interspersed with yours and potentially weapons at hand to be > acquired. Definitely in the 'rather never try that, thanks!' end of things. I've got a better idea. Don't go sailing around the Horn of Africa without an anti-piracy PLAN that is more than "hope they don't board my boat". John M. Atkinson -- "Thousands of Sarmatians, Thousands of Franks, we've slain them again and again. We're looking for thousands of Persians." --Vita Aureliani _______________________________________________ Gzg-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://vermouth.csua.berkeley.edu:1337/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gzg-l --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ground Zero Games" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/gzg-group?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
