NationStates Jolt Archive

COMMENTARY: "Oh noes! Teh US Navy suxorz!"


Captain praises response of crew
to pirate skirmish


By JACK DORSEY, The Virginian-Pilot
© March 20, 2006

When suspected Somalian pirates opened fire on two small Navy boats just after dawn Saturday, the captain of the cruiser Cape St. George, waiting a few hundred yards away, had his gunners lay down covering fire long enough to allow the Navy crews to escape.

“From there, it evolved into a surface action, where the suspected pirates started shooting back at us, raking down our side,” Capt. James Russell Yohe said by telephone Sunday from the Indian Ocean near the Somalian coast. That was where the attack on the Norfolk-based Cape St. George and destroyer Gonzalez, along with two small boats the Gonzalez had sent out to investigate the suspected pirates, took place.

Yohe said he ordered his ship to full speed to get ahead of the three pirate vessels and gain an angle advantage so as not to hit the destroyer Gonzalez or its two small boats.

Nine sailors were in each of the 24-foot rigid hull inflatable boats, or RIBs as they are known.

The Gonzalez also fired at the larger pirate vessel, a 40-foot diesel boat, hitting a 55-gallon drum of fuel and setting it on fire, Yohe said. The crew aboard that boat dove off, he said.

At the same time, the Cape St. George was engaging the two smaller, high-speed gas-powered boats with its machine guns, he said.

“I was simply amazed they were firing at us, to be so bold as to actually continue the engagement,” Yohe said as he discussed the open-sea battle that left one suspected pirate dead and 12 under arrest. Five of those arrested were wounded.

Of the injured, two are in critical condition, two are in serious condition, and one is in good condition, said Chief Petty Officer Patrick Modglin, one of two hospital corpsmen aboard the Cape St. George who initially treated the injured.

The 12 suspects have since been transferred to the Norfolk-based amphibious assault ship Nassau, which has a full medical staff.

No one on the Navy vessels was injured.

What began as a routine inspection attempt became the latest in a growing series of exchanges between suspected pirates and the U.S. and coalition navies patrolling that part of the world.

Saleban Aadan Barqad, a spokesman for the Somalian militiamen involved in the incident, on Sunday told The Associated Press that the U.S. Navy opened fire first.

Twenty-seven militiamen, had been “in an operation to protect the country’s sea resources from illicit exploitation by foreign vessels ” before the battle, Barqad said on two-way radio from the central Somalian town of Harardhere.

Geraad Mohamud, of the same militia group, said the militiamen would kill any hostage they capture and attack any ship unlawfully plying Somalian waters unless their men were released.

Yohe denied that the U.S. ships fired first.

“I can tell you, we have some footage that I think will resolve that,” he said . “… It will clearly show the suspected pirates firing at the Gonzalez RIB crew first.”

Yohe said his ship spotted the larger diesel boat towing the two smaller skiffs in the pre-dawn darkness Saturday. The decision was made to await sunrise before inspecting the vessels, Yohe said, and the Gonzalez and Cape St. George shadowed the suspects from a distance.

Yohe said he did not think the suspects knew that the Navy was there until just after sunrise.

“When the Gonzalez RIB crews approached, the suspected pirates started brandishing rocket-propelled grenade launchers, and they opened up on the RIB crews,” Yohe said.

“The RIB crews returned their fire and maneuvered. At the same time, gunners on our ship actually laid down covering fire to keep the pirates’ heads down so the Gonzalez RIBs could get out of the way and keep clear.”

It wasn’t long before the pirates surrendered.

“I was very proud of my crew today,” Yohe said Sunday . “They responded with what I considered appropriate force, and once the suspected pirates started waving their arms and we could tell they were giving up, they ceased firing and everyone stopped firing.”

Just as quickly, the Cape St. George launched its small boats to recover the wounded and arrest the other suspects, Yohe said.

“Despite having people shooting at them, they did their jobs and did them quite well,” Yohe said of his crew.

Modglin, of Suffolk, the senior corpsman aboard, said Sunday that he got about 30 minutes of sleep during more than 30 hours of treating the wounded.

Modglin said he set up a triage area on the fantail of the Cape St. George while eight stretcher bearers carried the wounded to the ship’s sick bay.

The Navy has confiscated all three suspected pirate boats, along with a number of grenades, launchers and automatic weapons as evidence in the case.

It wasn’t until the inflatable boats returned to the Cape St. George that Yohe learned some rounds had hit his ship.

“One of the crews said, 'Hey, there are bullet holes on the hull,’” Yohe said.

“You could see the paint chipped off and little dimples in the steel.”

The Cape St. George and Gonzalez were conducting maritime security operations in the area as part of Combined Task Force 150, a maritime coalition task force led by Royal Netherlands Navy Commodore Hank Ort.

Last Wednesday, the U.N. Security Council encouraged naval forces operating off the coast of Somalia to be vigilant and take action against piracy.

Pirate attacks against aid ships have hindered U.N. efforts to provide relief to the victims of a severe drought in the area.

Somalia has not had a coast guard or navy since 1991 when warlords ousted a dictatorship and then turned on each other. The troubles facing Somalia’s fledging 17-month-old transitional government, including piracy, will be discussed at a regional leaders’ meeting today.

The Gonzalez and Cape St. George have been at sea since early November, when they left Norfolk as part of the Nassau Expeditionary Strike Group.

That'll teach them to file-share.

That'll teach them to file-share.
LOL! Yeah! Frakkin' pirate haxorz! :D

Wow, pirate just blew straight past clown and professional wealthy snob as what I want to be when I grow up....erm, rather, when I, er.....when I get out of college.

Simonist']Wow, pirate just blew straight past clown and professional wealthy snob as what I want to be when I grow up....erm, rather, when I, er.....when I get out of college.
Drop out now and join ... save yourself or your parents some money! :D

The coast is clear no more!!!
Oh-woes!!

The coast is clear no more!!!
Oh-woes!!
:mp5:

Drop out now and join ... save yourself or your parents some money! :D
Bitch, please.....I'm paying for most of college anyway. The money they're paying is in my name so I pay them back independently anyway.

And besides, I need the degree to fall back on if I ever get bored of the pirating gig, which I probably will....

:mp5:

PIRATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RUNNNNN!!!

I want to see the footage they talk about in the article. Haven't seen a good ocean battle in years! Should be some fun stuff.

too bad there were arrests-they should have all been shark food.

This is the perfect place for Navy Seals to train. Stalking, watching and taking down pirates.

this story has been the hot topic at my house for days

every now and then the husband will come out of his office to give me more details

"somali pirates tried to take a couple navy cruisers"

"they tried to hit the cruiser from their shoulder held rocket grenade launcher, but the grenade couldnt shoot that high"

"the local pirate association is demanding reparations!"

it amuses us to no end. kinda like the story of the housecat that tried to scare the mountain lion out of its back yard, they thought they could TAKE a US navy ship!

the local pirates union is filing a grievance! (i figure its calle UPS united pirates of somalia) if they get paid, theyll have made more for that day than the get in a year of pirating!

the local pirates union is filing a grievance! (i figure its calle UPS united pirates of somalia) if they get paid, theyll have made more for that day than the get in a year of pirating!
So maybe they could kick back and work on their tans.

Where do pirates go for vacation, far inland?

how do pirates have a union? :confused:

oh wait. . . .


hardyharhar!!!

Simonist']So maybe they could kick back and work on their tans.

Where do pirates go for vacation, far inland?
hmmmmm for something totally different, maybe they spend a week at a university library.

I wrote a sonnet about Pirates today...

I want to see the footage they talk about in the article. Haven't seen a good ocean battle in years! Should be some fun stuff.
Bah, this wasn't an good ocean battle, unless you think a 3' child fighting two 7' basketball players is a good fight :D

Bah, this wasn't an good ocean battle, unless you think a 3' child fighting two 7' basketball players is a good fight :D
more like a retarded person with no limbs strapped to a chair against the top 10 strogest men in the world

Bah, this wasn't an good ocean battle, unless you think a 3' child fighting two 7' basketball players is a good fight :D
"Fair fights" exist only in fiction and in the minds of those who have never been in any real fights.

Bah, this wasn't an good ocean battle, unless you think a 3' child fighting two 7' basketball players is a good fight :D

Oh I dunno ... how scrappy is this 3' child? ;)

"Fair fights" exist only in fiction and in the minds of those who have never been in any real fights.

True ... never seen a fair fight in my life. There's always one who clearly dominates. Though sometimes that whole David and Goliath thing happens and that's when it's interesting.

True ... never seen a fair fight in my life. There's always one who clearly dominates. Though sometimes that whole David and Goliath thing happens and that's when it's interesting.
True.

BTW ... I noticed that you and several others have added the Skype icon beneath your "Location" line. How can I add that?

True.

BTW ... I noticed that you and several others have added the Skype icon beneath your "Location" line. How can I add that?

Go to skype.com and grab their prog. Nice way to talk to very distant friends via voice rather than messenger without incurring all those nasty long distance charges.

It's free. :)

Once you get it set up, just edit your profile and add your skype name.

True ... never seen a fair fight in my life. There's always one who clearly dominates. Though sometimes that whole David and Goliath thing happens and that's when it's interesting.
Like when the Viet Cong kicked Eut's ass back to America?

Yeah, you got to love it when the underdog bites back.

I wrote a sonnet about Pirates today...
Share it with us! :)

Go to skype.com and grab their prog. Nice way to talk to very distant friends via voice rather than messenger without incurring all those nasty long distance charges.

It's free. :)

Once you get it set up, just edit your profile and add your skype name.
I already have Skype. I was asking how, exactly, do I add the icon. :p

Like I always said, the US Navy kicks major ass.

Like when the Viet Cong kicked Eut's ass back to America?

Yeah, you got to love it when the underdog bites back.
Not too surprising a comment ... when you consider the source.

Not too surprising a comment ... when you consider the source.
And yours is none too surprising an outlook - when you consider all the cultural programming.

So Eut, was Vietnam that very rare thing (in your estimation, that is) - a "fair fight"? Or did David kick your giant's ass after all? 'Cause no way in Hell are you ever going to persuade me that America was the underdog in all that.

Well?

Like when the Viet Cong kicked Eut's ass back to America?

Yeah, you got to love it when the underdog bites back.

I'm guessing that was before 1968, when they were all but destroyed during Tet.

I'm guessing that was before 1968, when they were all but destroyed during Tet.
I'm guessing you're a literalist. Quel dommage. One trembles at all the jokes you surely miss. The ones not involving banana peels, that is.

:rolleyes:

Share it with us! :)

Follow the link in my sig, it's the last one :D

Follow the link in my sig, it's the last one :D
I like them! :)

I like them! :)

thanks, I was very proud of the ending :D

thanks, I was very proud of the ending :D
Me too. I've been known to write poetry now and then, but most of it has to do with the military. No big surprise there, eh?

Me too. I've been known to write poetry now and then, but most of it has to do with the military. No big surprise there, eh?

I think everyone has one theme or another. All of mine teach some sort of philosophical lesson, overtly or covertly, and usually have examples of failures as warnings... yeah, I'm not an optimistic philosopher.

Yar, I be Black Pete, Scourge of the Seven Seas..errr..Roads. That's right, I'm a road pirate, the navy can't get me!!

Cool stuff, don't really hear about sea battles and such these days. As Keruvalia said, some footage would be sweet.

I think everyone has one theme or another. All of mine teach some sort of philosophical lesson, overtly or covertly, and usually have examples of failures as warnings... yeah, I'm not an optimistic philosopher.
Son, after all the crap I've been through it was either become an incurable optimist or shoot myself! :D

Take a look at this and let me know what you think: http://paradigmassociates.org/ParadigmHeart.html

As Keruvalia said, some footage would be sweet.
I'd like to see that too. I wonder if Military.com will have it soon?

CNN has some pictures (http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/03/18/pirates.somalia/index.html) and a video of the report I guess (doesn't work on my machine).

CNN has some pictures (http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/03/18/pirates.somalia/index.html) and a video of the report I guess (doesn't work on my machine).
Heh! I always thought pirates were noted for their cleverness. These guys were just plain stoopid!

Son, after all the crap I've been through it was either become an incurable optimist or shoot myself! :D

Take a look at this and let me know what you think: http://paradigmassociates.org/ParadigmHeart.html

Is the scrolling poem in the center of the page yours? Very nice!

Like when the Viet Cong kicked Eut's ass back to America?

Yeah, you got to love it when the underdog bites back.

????am i misreading your comment as some snarky elitist "openminded" know it all jab at america....cause your sooo openminded and freed from programming from your culture..lol..like the vietcong and nva werent programmed by their culture....twit

if i am,i apologise for taking offence.

my uncle died over there,so did lots of people,(french,korean,brit,soviet..not too mention the vietnamese themselves)but i guess if you can jab america..thats cool.

kinda contradicts the notion i am sure you have of how worldly and peacefull you are.
you know why you look down your nose at us,cause your so enlightened!!!yet you gloat at the loss of life,i guess as long as it's american,then that is somehow acceptable.

i aint violent,but people like you make me wish i could have a day in the bush with you,not that i am saying all life aint of some value.

my uncle..the only adult figure i had to relate too was killed there,cause he was drafted,but to the likes of you enlightened holier then thou know it all elitists(who look past the torture and inhumane treatment of our men by the animal so called freedom fighters)i guess it is okay,since if it hurts america...it is good.

better recheck your motives child...cause that aint openminded or enlightened thinking,allthough i bet your the rage at the cafe bar,wearing your che tshirt and spouting off attacks at people you have never met!

real intellectual you are...lol..at least at the cafe your politically correct...go buy a beret.

better yet..join alquida,or to the point of the post...the somali pirates..err i mean freedom fighters,you know,the ones raping and robbing and killing for their freedom...haha..they dont like america,so whatever they do is justified in your narrow vision,as long as it is anti american.

funny how the vc horribly treated our prisoners,tortured/murdered/dismembered/mutilated..and did if even humanly possible..worse to their own.
daily i might add.
but again..it's ok since it is americans,same with how people like you justify beheadings on tv...but go nuts cause a handful of gi's denigrated some jihadists..but i have video of them tossing bound people off of roofs.thats ok,but if we (americans put a step wrong..we are evil incarnate,but true evil is ok,as long as it is directed towards americans..

guess you missed the part where they attacked our ships,we shot em up,then fished them out of the water and cared for them...not like they did to our injured soldiers..you know..broke all the bones and didnt set them,hung them from ceilings from wires with broken bones..but i keep forgetting..it's ok to be inhuman to americans,because we are some evil monolithic thing,not people.

your about as enlightened as a mushroom.

if you need some money to buy a clue..let me know..your a complete hypocrite and bigot...kinda goes against what you parade yourself as though doesnt it?

to lower myself to your pathetic level..i would add...we won in vietnam...the people of vietnam lost..we unfortunately killed about 3 million people versus our loss of 55,000..and then the innocent people had the pleasure of the nva(communists)taking over and killing a bunch more.

we could have won that war in about 2 days,like we could in iraq..but contrary to your opinion..we arent evil..win at any cost kinda people.

and for you to pass over the atrocities commited by them,just to be able to take a cheap shot at america speaks volumes about you.

oh,i was against vietnam and iraq you creep.

Is the scrolling poem in the center of the page yours? Very nice!
Thank you. I don't write very often, since my Muse is a bitch, but sometimes I get it pretty much right. :)

A whole page devoted to poetry doesn't alter the fact that you got seriously pwned, Eut. Hung out to dry with your own words.

Secret aj man: like I give a rat's ass about causing injury to your aggrieved sense of nationalism. You lost. Cope with it. Everybody on the planet knows you lost to a bunch of rice-farmers except for you and Eut.

A whole page devoted to poetry doesn't alter the fact that you got seriously pwned, Eut. Hung out to dry with your own words.

Secret aj man: like I give a rat's ass about causing injury to your aggrieved sense of nationalism. You lost. Cope with it. Everybody on the planet knows you lost to a bunch of rice-farmers except for you and Eut.
What the hell are you on about now? You truly are a very strange little person.

What the hell are you on about now? You truly are a very strange little person.

I think it's mainly Secret aj man's post...they do tend to ramble on and not make much sense...

I think it's mainly Secret aj man's post...they do tend to ramble on and not make much sense...
Maybe, maybe not, but how can I be held responsible for someone else's posts? :confused:

(I knwo this is off topic but im curious)

Eutrusca, may I ask what those capital letters after, what I assume is, your name?

The ones in bold
Forrest Lee Horn, Sr. ( B.S.B.A.M.A. )

(I knwo this is off topic but im curious)

Eutrusca, may I ask what those capital letters after, what I assume is, your name?

The ones in bold
Forrest Lee Horn, Sr. ( B.S.B.A.M.A. )
Batchelor of Science, Batchelor of Arts ( concurrent ), Master of Arts.

Batchelor of Science, Batchelor of Arts ( concurrent ), Master of Arts.

Oh ok, cool

Maybe, maybe not, but how can I be held responsible for someone else's posts? :confused:

Because you're an evil, imperialist American former soldier, of course. Don't try to deny it, we know you are behind every bad thing that ever happens in the world.

I think it's mainly Secret aj man's post...they do tend to ramble on and not make much sense...


yes i do tend to ramble..sorry everyone.

i have great difficulty trying to convey my words to type/paper so it does come out a bit disjointed.
i also suck at typing due to a wrist injury...so my spelling also suffers.

i was just trying to convey my disgust with his seeming glee at the deaths of many people(not just americans..."my misplaced nationalism") just to take a jab at america.

i suppose it is pointless to try and convey my feelings on an issue i feel very strongly about.especially to someone that seems to gloss over the atrocities committed by others so they can take a jab at americans...rightly or wrongly.

does that make sense?:(

his seeming glee at the deaths of many people(not just americans..."my misplaced nationalism") just to take a jab at america.

Perhaps you ought to try getting in the habit of quoting the people you're pissing and moaning about. At least then there'd be less chance to misquote them - which, when compounded with your misapprehension - chiefly, that I was "gleeful" at the deaths of anyone - make you out (correctly, from I've read to date) as an utter nincompoop.

America (the previously-mentioned Goliath archetype) lost (as in didn't win) to (I don't think this one needs further explanation, do you?)the Vietnamese. (the previously-mentioned David archetype)

THAT IS FACT. IT'S NOT LIKE I HAVE TO MAKE UP HISTORY AS I GO ALONG, HERE.

So PUT UP or SHUT UP, Secret aj man. Show me - SHOW ME - exactly where I seemed gleeful "at the deaths of many people".

And for the record, I said "aggrieved" nationalism - and by God, you've proven me so Goddamn right it's a wonder I don't change my name to 'Newt'.

And now, I'm spent.

Perhaps you ought to try getting in the habit of quoting the people you're pissing and moaning about. At least then there'd be less chance to misquote them - which, when compounded with your misapprehension - chiefly, that I was "gleeful" at the deaths of anyone - make you out (correctly, from I've read to date) as an utter nincompoop.

America (the previously-mentioned Goliath archetype) lost (as in didn't win) to (I don't think this one needs further explanation, do you?)the Vietnamese. (the previously-mentioned David archetype)

THAT IS FACT. IT'S NOT LIKE I HAVE TO MAKE UP HISTORY AS I GO ALONG, HERE.

So PUT UP or SHUT UP, Secret aj man. Show me - SHOW ME - exactly where I seemed gleeful "at the deaths of many people".

And for the record, I said "aggrieved" nationalism - and by God, you've proven me so Goddamn right it's a wonder I don't change my name to 'Newt'.

And now, I'm spent.


i said "seeming glee" and i prefaced my first admittedly disjointed rant with ,"i may have mis interpeted you"

i was trying to say..no more or no less,that your jab at eut was in my mind(could be wrong) akin to a kid happy to see someone put in their place no matter the result..i may have mis read your intent,and if i did..you have my apologies.

i lost a close family member there,and i do tend to get upset when it seems someone is trying to get cheap points off the war to jab at the u.s.,ignoring the many people that died there doing what they were told.

i think i may have jumped to conclusions about your intent after some thought..and for that i do apologise...

"Fair fights" exist only in fiction and in the minds of those who have never been in any real fights.

Never said anything about a "fair fight" but a good sea battle ;) I wanna see massive fleets trading shots with each other, not a puny trawler taking on warships, damn it! :D