r/CombatFootage • u/tomina69 • 13d ago
In 2006, Somali pirates attacked the USS Cape St. George and USS Gonzalez Video
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u/ExaminationRich6913 13d ago
Probably not the best life choice to attack a U.S. warship in a 10 foot wood boat.
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u/StuRap 13d ago
Sure. Maybe it doesn't work 99 times out of a 100 but... lol
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u/Reverendbread 13d ago
I have a good feeling about it this time guys
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u/imapieceofshitk 13d ago
They probably thought Under Siege was as real as all the other things Steven Seagal did.
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u/Meltedmfer 13d ago
I think you could try this an infinite amount of times with the same results but I get your point
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u/Barbarossa_25 13d ago
They were probably high on khat and watched the Leroy Jenkins clip.
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u/serr7 13d ago
There was actually an exercise in 2002 I think where the guy commanding the “opposing” force managed to sink a considerable amount of US navy ships with speedboats, so much so they had to restart the exercise and restricted the opposing teams actions.
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u/pm0me0yiff 13d ago
Not speedboats, I think?
If I remember correctly, they were each given a certain amount of make-believe capital to invest in a fleet, and while one side used a traditional fleet of large warships, the opposition just built a shitload of small, fast torpedo boats. Enough torpedo boats got through to really ruin the other fleet's day.
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u/ActualWhiterabbit 13d ago
It was actually a submarine disguising itself as a fishing vessel during war games. There was a documentary about it.
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u/StonedGhoster 13d ago
That was Lt Gen Paul Van Riper during Millennium Challenge 2002. First, the small boats were used to figure out where Blue force's ships were. Then Red (Van Riper's team) used a ton of cruise missiles and destroyed sixteen ships, including an aircraft carrier. Lastly, the small boats swarmed the remainder ships and destroyed a bunch more. The exercise was restarted and Van Riper was prevented from doing pretty much anything. I've taken part in exercises in which entire recon teams were destroyed and then, by my next shift, fairy dusted back into existence. Some officer I heard said, "My recon teams would never be destroyed like that, the enemy wouldn't be able to find them." I was like, "Well, sir, you stuck them in the middle of a god damned field because you paid zero attention to the terrain at the outset."
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u/Weary_Statistician35 13d ago
When was the point that they realized they fucked up? Lmfao
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u/FormerPatrolJockey 13d ago
Most likely when they started actually taking return fire lol
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u/Ceramicrabbit 13d ago
Not too long after this most merchant ships were armed as well there's a lot of first person combat footage of private security companies fighting off pirates
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u/IlluminatedPickle 13d ago
I think even at this point it was pretty common for them to run with armed guards.
The security companies board the ships outside of ports, in international waters, so they don't have to follow the gun laws of whatever port they'd be getting onboard at.
So they come packing some serious heat.
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u/_BMS 13d ago
I remember reading something about how these private security companies maintain boats/ships that are basically floating armories in international waters so they can arm the security guards as they board merchant vessels, then take the guns back before they enter a country's territorial waters. Otherwise they'd have to just chuck the guns overboard which isn't very economical.
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u/IlluminatedPickle 13d ago
Yep.
I've even seen photos of the security guys carrying RPGs.
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u/MembershipThrowAway 13d ago
I believe it, I once was able to sneak into a building because the security guard was distracted playing Fallout 3
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u/banned_after_12years 13d ago
High jacking one of those floating armories sounds like a good plot for a movie.
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u/K1lledByAmerica 13d ago
I was in the Navy and we did a personnel transfer like this inside the Suez Canal.
The spooks said "yeah this is illegal but they're not going to do anything about it" lol
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u/IlluminatedPickle 13d ago
they're not going to do anything about it
"Did somebody say Suez crisis 2.0?"
"N-n-n-n-no?"
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u/Nokneemouse 13d ago
I've seen one video where they attempt a boarding, and an entire boat full gets slaughtered. Full auto fire from both rifles and a belt fed weapon.
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u/kahek5656 13d ago
Huh. All videos I've seen ends in warning shots.
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u/SoLongSidekick 13d ago
Most are just warning shots, but there is one video I'm aware of that sounds like what he's talking about. Entire skiff gets murked then collides with the side of the "target" ship because no one is alive to pilot it.
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u/Weary_Statistician35 13d ago
Those merchants are shooting holes in our boats! Keep fighting!
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u/Deadbird80 13d ago
Why the fuck would they do that? 😂
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u/auge2 13d ago edited 13d ago
The real story behind this:
The US warships trailed them in the night and sent a boarding crew to the pirates "mothership" at dawn.
The boarding crew got fired upon, they withdrew and the pirates chased them back to the warships and opened fire with RPGs.Thats what you can see in this video.
Since the pirates had 3 small vessels, at least one of the small boats in this video should be one of the US boarding boats.And before you ask: the "battle" was too close for the main guns.
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u/Ron-Swanson-Mustache 13d ago
Too close, switching to Ma Deuce!
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u/ViolentEncounter 13d ago
Remember, switching to your M2 Browning is always faster than reloading CIWS
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u/anormalgeek 13d ago
Aww man... I wanted less "tuktuktuktuktuk" and more "BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRP".
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u/SeaworthyWide 13d ago
R2D2 of death, looking all around silly like then turns into a Chad A10...
God I love it
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u/LikesTheTunaHere 13d ago
Once that fat lady starts singing it really is over.
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u/Ron-Swanson-Mustache 13d ago
There's a reason the last M2 gunner has yet to be born.
As I said before, the battle for independence of the colonies on Mars will be using a M2. And an e-tool.
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u/Squrton_Cummings 13d ago
The Legion of the Damned books are set 800 years in the future and every mech still mounts an air cooled .50 cal mg. on one arm.
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u/banjowashisnamo 13d ago
A Coast Guard officer once told me he admired the .50 cal's ability to turn a 40 ft boat into two 20 ft boats and flotsam.
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u/Milkslinger 13d ago
On March 15, the United Nations 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 UN efforts to provide relief to the victims of a severe drought in the area.
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u/Moon_Atomizer 13d ago
Interesting. So basically:
Out doing pirate shit.
Oh shit a whole ass battleship is onto us. Play it cool guys.
Oh shit they're sending dinghies. Play it cool... too close too close... Fire?? Fire!!
Ok we're real fucked now. Go out and try to take hostages from the boarding boats it's our only hope!
(bald eagle noises and rain of fire)
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u/improbablywronghere 13d ago edited 13d ago
Two whole ass battleships by the end of it. Gotta respect the balls on engaging like that just…. Wow…
Guys obviously they aren’t battleships I am responding to the comment above me which is making a joke. Let your hair down and relax for fucks sake.
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u/Kindly-Biscotti9492 13d ago
And before you ask: the "battle" was too close for the main guns.
Also probably a waste of 5 inch (main gun) ammo.
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u/GumbysDonkey 13d ago
Man we fired off the 5inch for fun on the USS Normandy. I still have 3 shells in my garage 15yrs later.
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u/marcus_lepricus 13d ago
You miss 100% of the shots you don't take ¯(ツ)/¯
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u/Burnsie92 13d ago
They missed a good percentage of the shots they did take.
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u/crockett5 13d ago
Warning shots, the point they decided to hit the target they destroyed it.
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u/xbearsandporschesx 13d ago
yah, directly after you see a muzzle flash come from the pirates skiff, they got lit up like a christmas tree
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u/Inigo93 13d ago
Heh... I recall stories of the US Navy hanging lights on cruisers and such to make them look like freighters at night. Come on, boys... let's play.
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u/JustaRandomOldGuy 13d ago
Didn't pirates attack a Navy supply ship? Not realizing it's still a Navy ship and can fight back.
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u/Icemasta 13d ago edited 13d ago
Nope, nothing like that at all.
USS Gonzalez spotted a larger skiff towing 2 smaller skiffs, fitting the profile of a pirate mothership configuration. They stalked it for a day. At dawn, they sent 2 small boats to board under the cover of darkness, but were found out and fired upon. The boarding team fled back to the US ships while returning fire, the 3 skiffs followed, then the pirates engaged the US ships.
You can see 5 small boats in the water in the first half of the video, 2 of those are US boats.
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u/IlluminatedPickle 13d ago
I've heard a different story, that the Cape St George and the Gonzalez were chasing down the pirate mothership, and these chucklefucks thought this would work as a distraction to pull them off the chase.
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u/G-T-L-3 13d ago
Ok. That explains it.
I wonder why the US ships allowed them to get that close though? Why not blast them a little out farther? Or maybe the Americans didn’t see them as well until they were that close?
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u/Zdrack 13d ago
From my time doing security in that area of the world, a lot of times the pirates hide their weapons until the last moment, and the US blasting some poor innocent fisherman's boat doesn't look good on a news headline
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u/Gryphon0468 13d ago
If they’re hiding weapons until last moment, they would have been close enough to see the bug fuck off cannons in the fore and aft of the ship no?
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u/MisterSergeant 13d ago
Wonder what time of day it was? Can’t see shit in that 6am gloom. Conditions might’ve been bad too
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u/Fresh-Concept77 13d ago
Surface search goes out over the horizon depending on the height of the radar. At night those destroyers are masking as fishing boats or yachts during counter piracy operations. Somalis doesn’t know better and take every opportunity to hijack what comes close to their waters.
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u/nrtphotos 13d ago
That was my first thought as the video begins and you can’t even see the full silhouette of the American cruiser that is dwarfing the pirate vessels. It’s kind of hilarious that the pirates actually engaged the Americans.
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u/Magnum2XXl 13d ago
Wait, they attacked a warship with fishing boats????
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u/StalkySpade 13d ago
Who won?
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u/theforbinprojects 13d ago
Some will tell you the US Navy, but in their hearts, the pirates won
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u/Overwatcher_Leo 13d ago
Their hearts, which can be seen scattered all across the sea.
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u/pistcow 13d ago
YOU DECIDE
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u/MrOwnageQc 13d ago
Jesus christ, what a throw back
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u/pistcow 13d ago
but that came out in 2010...which was 13 years ago...
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u/MrOwnageQc 13d ago
It would have cost you nothing to not make me realize that 13 years ago is not, in fact, 2000. 😭
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u/Fluffiebunnie 13d ago
I can understand mistaking a military supply ship for something to be looted. But those are a fucking US Navy cruiser and a destroyer.
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u/SexMasterBabyEater 13d ago
"That cargo ship is transporting massive guns! Let's steal them!"
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u/BeltfedOne 13d ago
That day, they learned...
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u/Dozerdog43 13d ago
Learned a lot that day- what a Navy Cruiser and Destroyer looks like, learned how to swim, learned how to fuck around and find out……
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u/Trowj 13d ago
This is literally the stupidest fucking target they could’ve gone after
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u/Insolent_redneck 13d ago
I can't think of anything worse than a US Destroyer to try and strong-arm... like c'mon guys, use your heads. Preferably on something other than piracy, but if you're gonna be a pirate, at least be a good one. Or join a merry crew that has cheeky adventures instead of fucking around with the most technologically advanced warships in human history lol.
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u/RrtayaTsamsiyu 13d ago
IIRC there's basically no decent way to earn income in Somalia, ridiculous amounts of weapons, lots of people with nothing to lose, and billions of dollars of stuff just floating by a few miles offshore. Place is designed to create piracy lol
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u/Current-Scratch4973 13d ago
Did they want to die? I'm so confused.
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u/FormerPatrolJockey 13d ago
They were confused, didn’t know it was a military ship.
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u/Big_Turd_Sniffer 13d ago
The massive guns weren’t a clear indicator lol
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u/FormerPatrolJockey 13d ago
Probably low visibility, dark outside. That’s my guess. These guys are professionals I tell you what.
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u/Twin_Turbo 13d ago
Yeah it was night outside
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u/Shrek1982 13d ago edited 13d ago
They were confused, didn’t know it was a military ship.
Apparently they did: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_18_March_2006
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u/AggressiveSloth 13d ago
I love these Wikipedia match ups
Srength
1 Cruiser, 1 Destroyer
VS
3 Skiffs
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u/iLike2Teabag 13d ago
So the pirates had the upper hand in number of vessels, and still lost. Smh my head
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u/Grand-Ad4235 13d ago
What a bunch of dolts. Attacking 2 US Navy warships in some wooden fucking boats 🤣
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u/KneeDeep185 13d ago
The wiki article is absolutely hilarious.
Result: American victory
Belligerents: 1 cruiser, 1 destroyer vs 3 skiffs
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u/lostmesunniesayy 13d ago
I'm reminded of a famous quote by Winston Churchill: You done fucked up son.
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u/joelingo111 13d ago
"Tis better to cum in the shower, rather then, to shower in the cum."
John Fortnite Kennedy
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u/no_melody 13d ago
Full story here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_18_March_2006
The pirates did not mistake the boats for merchants as many have commented.
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u/Kowboy_Krunch 13d ago
Okay, that makes more sense. The 2 boats firing at the beginning of the video were US RIBs withdrawing after taking fire.
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u/SpaceCage 13d ago
The beligerent sides comparison made me lol. 1 cruiser, 1 destroyer vs 3 skiffs
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u/WombRaider47 13d ago
In 2007, Somali pirates were fish poop at the bottom of the ocean.
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u/timmy_deeznuts 13d ago
“You are without a doubt the worst pirates I’ve ever heard of” -US Navy
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u/mtgdrummer13 13d ago
Lot of effort to commit suicide but whatever doesn’t float your boat
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u/Zestyclose_Love_4894 13d ago
Lucky they didn't get the CIWS treatment.
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u/CEDoromal 13d ago
Serious question. Can CIWS even aim that low? I haven't seen them aim below the horizon.
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u/GadenKerensky 13d ago
At a distance, they have enough depression, and at a distance is where they will use CIWS against light surface targets if they deem it prudent.
And at a distance is where any light surface target engaged by a CIWS will be reconsidering its life choices.
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u/SirNiflton 13d ago
My dad was on the cape St. George in the 90s, he reports that the ciws would be a waste of resources, the dual .50 mounts around the ship are sufficient.
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u/andy02m 13d ago
At second 23- what is that black thing? An exhaust? Or a weapon? Something else?
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u/KaleidoscopeNo8980 13d ago
When a single ship costs more than your country’s entire gdp
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u/Doodoopeepeedoodoo 13d ago
What's filming the boat in the first half of the video?
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u/tomina69 13d ago
Probably the other US boat from the title
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u/Doodoopeepeedoodoo 13d ago
Ah right. I apparently can't read.
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u/mookie2times 13d ago •
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There are worse things than not being able to read… like not being able to see that you are attacking two battleships while on fishing boats.
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u/numberbruncher 13d ago
Well that seems to have gone about as well as I expected after reading the title
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u/Geartone 13d ago
This is a good metaphor for what would happen if Russia went up against NATO.
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u/wirthmore 13d ago
Russia did. In Syria, 2018.
Russian forces approached a US base at a refinery on the "US" side of a river that Russia and the US had agreed to stay on their respective sides. US contacted their Russian counterparts via the deconfliction line, and Russia disavowed any association with the group.
The Russians apparently assumed the US would not want to get into combat with escalation potential and would withdraw.
It was the nailiest "nail" imaginable for the US military "hammer." The US military is designed to fight the Warsaw Pact / Soviet / Russian military, not to be an occupying force in Iraq and Afghanistan or be peacekeepers in Somalia.
200-300 Russians and Syrians were killed. No casualties on the US side.
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u/ReadBastiat 13d ago
"The Russian high command in Syria assured us it was not their people. My direction to the chairman was for the force, then, to be annihilated.. And it was.” - Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis
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u/tuskedkibbles 13d ago
No casualties on the US side.
How dare you discount that one Syrian militia guy getting a sprained ankle.
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u/Budpoo 13d ago
IIRC something similar happened during the Spanish American War.
During the Battle of Manila Bay the US wiped out the Spanish fleet at the cost of a single sailor who died of heat stroke.
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u/Kev1n8088 13d ago
That guy must have been bullied for weeks.
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u/incidencematrix 13d ago
That's absurd and unfair. No way does the Russian navy have that many working fishing boats.
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u/Adventurous_Ticket26 13d ago
2009 in USS Pinckney had a similar experience somewhere in Indian ocean. They didn’t fire at us but our VBSS surrounded them. Since we can’t arrest them, our team took their weapons and left them enough gas so they can go back on where they cane from. 😂By the way we also had our helo flying over them. It was a nice experience. 25mm also pointing at them if they something stupid. 😂
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u/Animal_Prong 13d ago
Ok what tf was their plan tho? Was this like a massive suicide pact?
What was the outcome? They get another 5000 Somalia priates and finally take the ship over. What then?
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u/thefreecat 13d ago
are the warships only firing warning shots? each boat should be ripped apart by a small burst of CWIS
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u/yetanotherwoo 13d ago
It was too close for anything except .50 cal from Wikipedia entry and the explosion was just from a tracer round.
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u/kingsfreak 13d ago
Do cruisers carry a detachment of marines still? Is that still a thing?
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u/thenewnapoleon 13d ago
No, Marine Detachments went away in 1997 when the Navy introduced Master-At-Arms. If there's Marines on board, they're probably being transported somewhere. Master-At-Arms exists to do the job of the MarDets now.
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u/Dangerous_Aspect_601 13d ago
this has to be some kind of joke? attacking a destroyer with dingy boats?
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u/U_HWUT_M8 13d ago
There’s easier ways to commit suicide