I remember a sailing vessel I saw at a Harbor Days event. The owner dressed in 17th century grab and gave tours. He told the story of being boarded by the US Coast Guard as he came north from Baja California and the inspector jokingly asking if he had ammo for his 2pdr deck gun. The owner's straight faced answer was "yes". Piracy only thrives when the pirates think they can get away with it.
Michael Brown [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------------------------------- From: "Adrian1" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, October 24, 2008 3:13 PM To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [GZG] Slightly OT - Hypothetical weapon question > It's more than likely that the same RPG is involved in each attack. > > Most civilians get nervous around pistols. Someone points a well known > rocket launcher at them and they'll bet flashes of every war movie > they've ever seen. Grenades that go off like 500lb bombs, pistol shots > that blow a man off his feet and 5 feet away, RPGs that blow up entire > buildings. > > The pirates want the vessel afloat so they can robit. If they want to > sink it, it's easy to hit a boat your stood on. > > It's damned easy to make civilians surrender if you point an RPG at them. > > The psychology behind it is MUCH better than the weapon. > > Bill Brush wrote: >> I was discussing the pirate situation off Somalia with some sailors >> (civilian) and someone made a comment that an RPG at 100 yards would >> be sufficient to cause an immediate surrender. >> >> Now ignoring the psychological component of having an RPG fired at you >> let's consider the effectiveness of an RPG vs. a sailboat. >> >> My thoughts: >> >> Would an RPG warhead detonate against a fiberglass boat? I'm unclear >> on the necessary impact needed to detonate one, but I wonder at >> whether or not a warhead designed for impact vs armor would even >> notice a plastic boat hull on it's way through. >> >> Assuming the warhead detonated, what would be the probable effect of >> the blast? Small hole? Big hole? What would be the difference if it >> was a steel hull boat? >> >> Assuming the attackers were operating from some sort of comparatively >> small powerboat, would it be safe to fire an RPG from it? I >> understand they have a significant backblast, which could endanger >> their own vessel. >> >> Could you even hit a moving boat, from a second moving boat, under >> open sea rollers? They're a comparatively low-velocity weapon with a >> limited range. I think it would be exceptionally difficult to get a >> solid hit that was anything other than luck, unless the firer was very >> well trained (unlike most pirates/terrorists.) I mean the analog >> would be firing at a moving vehicle, from a moving vehicle while going >> over small hills. >> >> FWIW, my comment was that I would be much more concerned by an >> automatic weapon on a pintle , rather than an RPG as it's much harder >> to dodge 400-500 rounds/minute (or more.) A Ma Deuce would make short >> work of any small craft, and an M60 or M249 would also make for a very >> bad day. >> >> I know we have a lot of current and former military here, as well as >> one combat engineer who is probably ready to go test this out. :-) >> >> Bill >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Gzg-l mailing list >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> http://vermouth.csua.berkeley.edu:1337/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gzg-l >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> >> No virus found in this incoming message. >> Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >> Version: 8.0.175 / Virus Database: 270.8.2/1741 - Release Date: >> 23/10/2008 07:54 >> >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Gzg-l mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://vermouth.csua.berkeley.edu:1337/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gzg-l > _______________________________________________ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
