The Super Sexy Pirate Fighting US Navy

Under the Bush administration, every time an aircraft carrier would deploy the news would report that it was being sent over to the Middle East specifically to threaten Iran. Well, as if that wasn't dumb enough, with the departure of the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group over the weekend, Martin Sieff is reporting that the US Navy is deploying an aircraft carrier battle group to fight pirates.

Why am I laughing...

As was previously mentioned, the Eisenhower CSG will be replacing the Theodore Roosevelt CSG already operating in the region. The TR CSG deployed in September, meaning the 6 month deployment will end in March which is when the Eisenhower CSG will arrive. There is about 0% chance the Eisenhower is being sent to fight pirates at a time when troop numbers are being increased in Afghanistan and air stations are being threatened, but hey... anything for a headline right?

What really caught my attention over the last few days was a few pictures uploaded to Navy.mil showing a little photo action with CTF-150 and CTF-151. All of the photos were dated Feb 20th. Sure it is sexy to see the USS Vella Gulf (CG 72), USS Mahan (DDG 72), and HDMS Absalon (L 16) sailing together, and while I'm tempted to sit quietly and admire these impressive pictures I find myself embarrassed a bit for the Navy.

According to this photograph, USS Monterey (CG 61) has joined CTF-151, bringing the total number of US ships in the anti-piracy task force up to 4 (that we know about), when you count USNS Lewis & Clark (T-AKE 1). With Monterey and Vella Gulf now part of CTF-151, the US Navy has committed their two largest surface combatants to the pirate fight, and when you add up the manpower of both ships and throw in Mahan, I count over 1000 sailors taking on this challenge... on three ships.

If we could possibly be less efficient or more expensive way to fight pirates with our surface combatant forces, I'm not sure how. 1000 sailors on only three ships. How is it possible to pretend to justify this type of activity in a time of fiscal contraction? People tell me we cannot afford small ships for these low intensity challenges. Do the math, we can't afford not to field small ships for these challenges.

Another question I have is, why are we massing our ships for a photo opportunity off the coast of Somalia? I thought the coast of Somalia was something like 1880 miles long, which means if we are protecting out to 200 miles off the coast, the coalition naval forces are together patrolling somewhere around 376,000 square miles. That is roughly the size of New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada PLUS West Virginia.

It is hardly a surprise that three days later pirates hijacked a Greek-owned coal carrier.

So what is really going on? If we have time for pictures, the answer is nothing. It seems to me the US Navy is waiting to see what they can do with the pirates they have already captured before moving forward again. Navy Times is observing the developments:

The pirates are supposed to stay aboard temporarily until the U.S. can arrange for them to go to a Kenya-based special pirate court. But as of Feb. 19, details for the transfer hadn’t been worked out.

In other words, we have a floating prison ship and no idea what to do with the pirate prisoners. In the meantime we don't do much to fight piracy because we don't have very many ships to do it, not to mention we don't want to end up with even more prisoners we can't drop off anywhere. Despite nearly 20 additional naval vessels from the worlds most powerful Naval powers, pirate hijackings in 2009 are already up four times what they were at this point last year, and the early part of the year is supposed to be the slow season.

Something else to think about:

"We provide them food; showers; good hygiene; we give them a climate-controlled environment; a very spacious area to live in — they’re probably living better here than they were on their ships.”

Their ships? It is probably better living on the USNS Lewis and Clark (T-AKE 1) than it is in Somalia. Imagine our definition of punishment. We take them out of the hell on earth that is Somalia, put them on a climate controlled ship, give them food, showers, and probably hand out some sort of comfortable clothing. Are we sure this is the most effective way to deter piracy?

On second thought, maybe it is a good thing the Navy is posting sexy photo's of cool looking warships, because when you start to think about what is happening behind the scenes, there really isn't much good news for the good guys.

For the record, the title is snark.