Comments:US crew retakes ship hijacked by pirates; captain held hostage

1804 Thomas Jefferson's answer to  "Millions for defence, not one cent for tribute!'

Gun crews for US flag ships
During WW2, merchant ships heading into hostile areas made extensive use of convoys and US Naval Gun crews. Merchant ships were armed with a variety of weapons usually running in size from 5inch cannon to machine guns. While I doubt convoys are needed, except in special situations for special cargos,a small military detachment could be put on board ships sailing in hostile areas. I would imagine a small detachment of US Navy or Coast Guard carrying small arms and four to six strategically mounted .50 caliber machine guns placed on board the ship could handle just about anything the pirates could locate. This also solves the thorny issue of armed civilians crossing international boundaries engaging in combat operations. Since a US flag ship is always subject to US law, that should not be an issue. When the ship clears the hostile zone, the military crew is picked up along with it's weapons and moved to another ship entering the zone. The only thing they would leave behind would be the gun mounts welded to the deck.-Lighthousekeeper (talk) 13:37, 10 April 2009 (UTC)Lighthousekeeper