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POPSRed Teeth the Pirate...I Mean, Environmentalist And that those "80 luxury automobiles crowded the shore as friends and family members of pirates clamored to get a share of the ransom money" have nothing to do with real motives. We've seen this before. We've seen Al Sharpton call them the "voluntary coast guard." And we've seen the "white Rat," an Idi Amin henchman, describe them as "brave...fisherman...seamen and navigators. They had no choice but to take revenge on foreign shipping and earn a living by ransom demands." Seriously. Is this where we break into "Gee, Officer Krupke"? Colleague Howard Nemerov made another telling observation about all this in yesterday's Austin Gun Rights Examiner column: The New York Times downplayed the fact that guns were aboard the Alabama, hiding it within one paragraph among other methods employed in the ship’s defense: "But a security team on board the Maersk Alabama responded with small-arms fire, long-range acoustical devices painful to
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POPSUSS New York Sets Sail: Commissioning Ceremony in November --photos, slideshow, video
The USS New York will soon be defending freedom and combating terrorism around the globe, while also ensuring that the world never forgets the evil attacks of September 11 and the courage and strength New Yorkers showed.” This morning, the ship departed the Mississippi River to make her first journey. The ship departed from Avondale this morning at 7:00 a.m. and headed for the Gulf of Mexico. The ship’s journey has been met with fan fare, salutes, and glorious praise. Beginning with a New Orleans style farewell, the ship passed through Gretna and was met by firefighters and a police honor guard who sowed their honor and respect to those who died heroically on 9/11. As the ship continues to make its way to New York, she will be greeted by those who choose to remember and honor the nearly 5,000 who tragically lost their lives on September 11, 2001. The ship’s motto is “Strength Forged Through Sacrifice. Never Forget.” View photos-slideshow and videos at website
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POPSNavy Destroyer Named After Marine Medal Of Honor Winner Jason L. Dunham In a solemn ceremony punctuated by talk of courage, service and sacrifice, the mother of a Marine corporal on Saturday christened a warship honoring her son, who died after covering an exploding grenade to protect his comrades in Iraq. After composing herself and taking a deep breath, Deb Dunham smashed a bottle of champagne over the bow of the 510-foot warship Jason Dunham, then held the bottle aloft before a cheering crowd of more than 1,500 people. She was joined by the Marines who served with her son, by her husband, Dan Dunham, and their daughter Katelyn Dunham. Two other Dunham boys also were in the audience. Retired Gen. Michael Hagee, a former Marine commandant who was with the Dunhams when their son died at Bethesda Naval Hospital days after the explosion, said Jason gave the “gift of valor.” Hagee said the warship will serve as a reminder that freedom “is paid for by the men and women who wear the cloth of this nation.”
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POPSI Sank The Bismarck 1 of only 3 pilots to initially attack the Bismarck and his was the torpedo to damage the rudder. If the Bismarck hadn't lost its rudder it would most likely have made it to a naval base on the French coast. Which at this time was under German occupation....
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POPSUS Navy Ship Cancels Pacific Voyage After Swine Flu Diagnosed "We are not having the Dubuque on it. So the navy is looking at a range of options," he said, while not excluding the possibility of sending another ship on the mission. The 16,500-ton Dubuque usually travels with a crew of 396 sailors, 24 officers, 90 staff and a detachment of 840 Marines, according to the ship's website. Nine A(H1N1) cases have been confirmed so far among the armed forces, including five with the navy. All of the people who have been infected are in the United States, according to the Pentagon. -Dow Jones Newswires, 201-938-5500
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POPSAmerican Ship Survives Somali Hijack Attempt No vessel, sailing that that vacinity, should be without arms and the ability to destroy these mauraders. Somali may be rudderless with no government, but the seas & trading must not be a treasure-trove for bandits. Make *them* walk the plank.
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POPS Captain Richards Phillips is Unharmed and Free When Phillips' crew heard the news aboard their ship in the port of Mombasa, they placed an American flag over the rail of the top of the Maersk Alabama and whistled and pumped their fists in the air. Crew fired a bright red flare into the sky from the ship. A government official and others in Somali with knowledge of the situation had reported hours earlier that negotiations for Phillips' release had broken down.
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POPSWhy Don't We Hang Pirates Anymore? Severe as the penalty may now seem (albeit necessary, since captured pirates were too dangerous to keep aboard on lengthy sea voyages), it succeeded in mostly eliminating piracy by the late 19th century -- a civilizational achievement no less great than the elimination of smallpox a century later. Today, by contrast, a Navy captain who takes captured pirates aboard his state-of-the-art warship will have a brig in which to keep them securely detained, and instantaneous communications through which he can obtain higher guidance and observe the rule of law. Yet what ought to be a triumph for both justice and security has turned out closer to the opposite. Instead of greater security, we get the deteriorating situation described above.And in pursuit of a better form of justice -- chiefly defined nowadays as keeping a clear conscience -- we get (at best) a Kenyan jail.
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POPS Booty and the Beasts “A lightbulb went off and they realize they can get ransoms by taking unarmed ships,” said Robert Rotberg, a Harvard University Kennedy School professor. Here are some Somali pirate particulars: • Khat, pronounced like “caught,” is a mild stimulant that can have a euphoric effect. It’s grown mainly in Yemen, but is wildly popular in the lawless East African nation. • It took 206 years, but the Bainbridge name has been avenged. The USS Bainbridge, the American warship dispatched to rescue the crew of the Maersk Alabama, was named for the last American naval commander to lose his ship to pirates. Commodore William Bainbridge was at the helm of the USS Philadelphia when Barbary pirates captured it off the coast of Tripoli in what is now Libya. He also commanded the USS Constitution during the War of 1812, when the ship earned the moniker “Old Ironsides.” HT jules crittenden
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POPSGen. Petraeus Implements Military Surge Against Four Somali Pirates in a Lifeboat Think this is an ONION story? Nope just USAnian overkill... "We want to ensure that we have all the capability that might be needed over the course of the coming days," Petraeus said. Seriously, who needs the Onion? But the plot is thickening. While the US Navy rushes in its reinforcements (it really seems so silly to write this), it looks like the pirates may be calling in back-up of their own: two pirate ships had left Eyl on Wednesday afternoon. He said a third -- the German cargo ship Hansa Stavanger -- had sailed from Xarardheere, some 230 miles south along the Somali coastline, and a fourth -- a Taiwanese fishing vessel seized Monday that was only 30 miles from the lifeboat -- was also on its way. The man said there were a total of 52 hostages aboard the ships floating toward the scene.
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POPSAmerican Captain Tries Daring Escape from Somali Pirates by another warship, the Halyburton, which carries two helicopters. The pirates also claim to be sending reinforcements, hijacked ships with their captured crews as human shields. "The pirates have summoned assistance -- skiffs and motherships are heading towards the area from the coast," a Nairobi-based diplomat told the Associated Press. "We knew they were gathering yesterday." A Somali pirate identified as Mohamed Samaw in the pirate stronghold in central Eyl, told the AP that among the ships heading to their colleagues' rescue was a Taiwanese fishing vessel seized Monday and the German cargo ship Hansa Stavanger, seized earlier this month. "They had asked us for reinforcement and we have already sent a good number of well-equipped colleagues, who were holding a German cargo ship," said another pirate. "We are not intending to harm the captain, so that we hope our colleagues would not be harmed as long as they hold him," Badow said.
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POPS History Repeats Itself “The Algerine depredations,” as these outrages were called at the time, continued with more and more hostages taken and ransoms paid. Finally, Congress was spurred to allocate money for a proper navy. George Washington signed “an act to provide a naval armament” and ax men were hired to fell trees from New England to Georgia. Up to 100 American merchantmen were plying the Mediterranean at any time in those days, and when Thomas Jefferson was elected the U.S. was paying one-fifth of its annual revenue in ransoms and to guarantee safe passage to Morocco, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli. Tribute went beyond mere money. The United Sates built a warship for the Barbary pirates, named “Crescent,” which was launched in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, while Old Ironsides was still being built. The U.S. tried treaties with the Barbary states of North Africa, but they didn’t solve the problem.
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POPSSomali pirates A lot of these pirates in the news lately, makes you afraid of even going on a sea voyage now!
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POPSCanada's first female warship commander takes helm Kurtz holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Ottawa and a Masters in Defence Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston. She is also a graduate of the Joint Command and Staff Program at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto. Kurtz lives in Halifax with her husband and daughter. The first woman commanding officer of a Canadian Navy ship was Lt.-Cdr. Marta Mulkins who took command of a Maritime Coastal Defence Vessel, HMCS Kingston, in July 2003.
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POPSChinese heros save the day!!! The crew on the Chinese ship, MV Yandanghai, had prevented the pirates from boarding by taking evasive manoeuvres and training their fire hoses on their skiff. Two of the Yandanghai's crew were reported to be lightly injured in the attack.
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