Q-Ships: The Only Alternative in the Indian Ocean.

Although in wartime merchant vessels are often armed with modest defenses its obvious that such guns and gun-crews are hardly a major deterrent to attack. Q-ship was the term used to designate a heavily armed merchant vessel that was acting as a decoy. As enemy craft approached the Q-ship and its crew would act as a merchant vessel until the enemy was close enough and then the deck cargo and cabin walls would drop and experienced gun crews would engage the enemy at point-blank range.

With some of these pirate attacks being conducted by skiffs filled with 20 armed men, its clear a yacht has no real chance of defense. Add the fact that several attacks utilize two or three skiffs approaching from different directions and even if each skiff has only two or three armed men aboard it is still an indefensible situation for the average yacht owner who has too few weapons aboard and too few crewmen to operate them. When one considers the nature of the weaponry involved, the range, accuracy and the nature of the shooting platform, its obvious that yachts really are virtually defenseless.

The only thing that will work in the Indian Ocean is a series of decoy yachts each equipped with sufficient weaponry and sufficient personnel to immediately deal with the approaching skiffs and their crew in a permanently effective manner. Nothing else is going to end this situation. The politicians lack courage to do ought but bluster and rattle sabers, the military lack resources and are committed to more valuable protective duty. The direct and immediately effective action can only be taken by a well-armed, but also well disguised, yacht.

It is obvious that direct and immediately effective action against the pirate skiffs and their associated mother ships would be the nautical equivalent of targeting drug mule peasants employed by major narcotic traffickers. It is well known that the Somali pirates are not themselves entrepreneurs but are merely employees of a variety of land-based businessmen. Eventually there would certainly be escalation by the warlords who see their income diminishing. Bring it on!