Something tells me the last time we dealt with high levels of piracy, we didn't treat them as independently functioning criminals. We treated them as agents of a hostile state and treated both accordingly. Or we simply summarily send ship & crew to the bottom of the ocean.

I don't think we have the resolve to do that anymore so expect large scale piracy to be a growing business.

Jay, while I agree with your assessment I was hoping you could point me to your source on the Soviet Navy. The only thing I could find is this from Globalsecurity.org and it doesn't agree with your quantity vs quality depection:

During the Cold War the Soviet Union embarked on a naval construction program which, at least at its inception, was apparently designed as a defensive force. At the same time, the security and naval policies of the United States and the Soviet Union were totally different. During the Cold War era the Soviet Navy never sought full parity with US naval forces. Although a superpower, the Soviet Union was never a peer competitor of the United States. Rather, it was [in the post-Cold War terminology] a near-peer asymmetric competitor. Rather than seeking to simply replicate the US Navy ship for ship, the Soviet Navy sought to offset perceived American naval capabilities by the development of appropriate response measures.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/mf-intro-s.htm

I would be interested in reading further information if you can point me to it.
DKK

LifeTrek, I was actually thinking about the Soviet submarine fleet. They had scads of boats that were older -- both in actual age and technology -- that they kept just to keep their numbers up. When did they finally retire the last of the HENs?

J.

I think they started retiring them in 1989 and finished in 1991. When they were introduced they were quieter then our Skipjack and Skate classes, but we were rolling out the quieter Thrasher class about the same time.
DKK

I can see it now...harry reid with her panties in a wad over us killin muslim pirates.

Jay -

You might want to work backwards more from the mission.

That is, 8" guns don't seem to be the weapons system one would want to attack small, fast, wood and fiberglass pirate craft. 6" and probably even 5" are also too much. Heavy guns require a lot of tonnage and support.

I don't fancy myself much of a naval architect, mind you, but I'd guess the anti-pirate design might end up in a couple classes. One would be a fast and shallow draft vessel with a fast-firing gun (perhaps 76mm) and some light missile capability - a Pegasus variant? Another might be a flagship with no more guns but more missile and electronics, and a lot of helo-deck space for gunships and Marine transport.

For the first, if not a Pegasus, maybe a somewhat enlarged Type 143A Gepard Class, say, increase it to 600 tons or more for range and habitability. One would want to be able to land a helo on it.

For the second, maybe a DDH or DEH would be good. I once saw a Shirane class DDH and was quite impressed, and HMCS ALGONQUIN (DDH 283) looks good. The USN FFG classes do not have the same helo capacity, perhaps because the hull began with a different mission concept.

Jay,

BAD IDEA

1)WWII or even Vietnam era ships require more crew than todays ships because they had very little automation in those older ships.

2) Bunker fuel ain't cheap to turn the screws.

3) Small craft can be overwhelmed just like that cruise ship.

No, what we need is a CinC who says, "Laws of the Seas apply, Mr Navy Secretary. Those observed in the act of piracy are to be shot on sight. Use facial recognition software hooked up to UAV sweeping the coast."

These aren't ideological pirates most likely, rather economic ones. Sink a couple dozen boats, publish a few high seas trials, the rest will get the message.

Course we would also have to have the balls to tell the hanky stompers to f*ck off.

Jay:

Most modern pirates are operating off of small boats using small arms (assault rifles) as weapons. Using a WWII-era 8-inch gun to deal with them is like shooting fleas with an elephant gun.

We already have a paramilitary solution to piracy -- the US Coast Guard. They have the right types of ships and crews to deal with a quasi-law enforcement role like piracy supression. The only thing they lack are numbers and logistics.

Perhaps a better solution would be to expand the Coast Guard, build a few flotillas of seagoing Coast Guard cutters, and providing each flotilla with a tender (mother ship) that can carry a flotilla to an area beset by piracy.

The tender would provide the bullets, beans and fuel while the cutters are on station. When the pirates go away (as they do when the cop is on the beat), the tender can relocate to the next hot spot.

The Coasties are good at maritime law enforcement.

Quad fifties on bass boats.

Make that BIG bass boats.

I don't think there really are any of the old destroyer classes like Adams and Gearing left. The better ones in mothballs were sold off to allies like Pakistan decades ago. I doubt any could be refurbed for any reasonable cost and their operating costs are high.

Actually amphib assault ships are - while expensive - great pirate patrol ships because their helicopters are great sensor and weapons platforms. With small anti-ship missiles like Penguin, they can destroy any of the expected pirate vessels and they have a large enough range to allow one amphib to control an enormous amount of ocean.

My solution would be to rent out some of these luxury yachts as R&R for our troops. Most of the time would be fun and games, but if pirates approach, out come the .50 cals and maybe a Javelin or two. Come to think of it, sending pirates to Davy Jones' Locker is kinda fun and games, too. More fun than skeet shooting off the poop deck, I should think.

We never captured Tripoli, just blockaded it and subjected it to bombardment. We did capture Derna, a city in Cyrenacia(sp?) that Tripoli owned after a march from Egypt.

Between the DD(X) class destroyers and their new techs, and the Littoral Combat Ship designs, the new and improve US Navy will once again have the anti-piracy capabilities we need.

This may be a little off-topic, but to read an account of Tripoli, here's a gem I accidentally stumbled upon.

http://www.amazon.com/Pirate-Coast-Jefferson-Marines-Mission/dp/B000JGWE5Y/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207590444&sr=8-1

Pirate Coast - Thomas Jefferson, The First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805

Most people don't really realize we've been in conflict with the Middle East for 200 years now.

What would a light cruiser or a destroyer use for missile defence? They generally layer those toys on the big ships.

Letters of marque, anyone?

I'm surprised no one has suggested this yet.