Helpless in Somalia

I really don’t understand the confusion about how to deal with the pirates off the Horn of Africa. It seems so obvious to me.

The news reports assure us that there are so many millions of square miles of water to patrol that it is impossible to be find those speedy little pirate vessels. In the case of the hijacking of the “Maersk Alabama” this past week, the USS Bainbridge had to travel hundreds of miles to reach the attacked vessel.

Unfortunately, it isn’t true that the navies of the world don’t know where the pirates will attack. The pirates will attack where the commercial ships are. To keep the pirates away from these ships, all you have to do is provide escorts.

This, of course, is a ridiculous notion. There are not enough navy ships in the region to escort every tanker, cargo ship, or cruise liner.

But, wait a minute. Wasn’t there a similar kind of problem several years ago -- a problem that was even worse but for which a reasonable solution was found? Let’s see -- what was that problem called?

Oh, yes. It was called WORLD WAR II, and it involved U-boats attacking the ships that carried needed supplies across the Atlantic to Europe. And what was the solution? CONVOYS.

Would it be convenient for the ships that want to travel through the waters off Northeastern Africa to assemble at certain points, wait until certain times, and then travel in groups escorted by small, fast protective vessels like PT boats? Perhaps not, but it might be a lot more convenient than being hijacked and held for millions of dollars in ransom.

Would it be convenient for the navies of the countries whose vessels ply the African waters to work together to set up a coordinated program to provide protective escorts to convoys? Perhaps not, but it might be a lot more convenient and less expensive than sending larger numbers of military ships to wander around the region aimlessly.

Think about it. In order to protect the African shipping lanes, you don’t need large, expensive ships capable of launching ballistic missiles, dropping depth charges on submarines, or carrying aircraft. All you need are small, fast, well-armed boats that are much better designed for fighting than the pirates’ own boats, and are kept near the pirates’ targets.

In the final analysis, which is better -- to spend millions having a large ship with a large crew patrol the empty sea out of reach of the commercial ships they’re supposed to be protecting, or to have a couple of smaller boats with smaller crews spend far less actually accompanying several ships grouped together?

It’s a no-brainer.