Re: [GZG] Slightly OT - Hypothetical weapon question

I remember a sailing vessel I saw at a Harbor Days event.  The owner
dressed 
in 17th century grab and gave tours.  He told the story of being boarded
by 
the US Coast Guard as he came north from Baja California and the
inspector 
jokingly asking if he had ammo for his 2pdr deck gun.  The owner's
straight 
faced answer was "yes".  Piracy only thrives when the pirates think they
can 
get away with it.

Michael Brown
mwsaber6@msn

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Adrian1" <al.ll@tiscali.co.uk>
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2008 3:13 PM
To: <gzg-l@vermouth.csua.berkeley.edu>
Subject: Re: [GZG] Slightly OT - Hypothetical weapon question

> It's more than likely that the same RPG is involved in each attack.
>
> Most civilians get nervous around pistols.  Someone points a well
known
> rocket launcher at them and they'll bet flashes of every war movie
> they've ever seen.  Grenades that go off like 500lb bombs, pistol
shots
> that blow a man off his feet and 5 feet away, RPGs that blow up entire
> buildings.
>
> The pirates want the vessel afloat so they can robit.  If they want to
> sink it, it's easy to hit a boat your stood on.
>
> It's damned easy to make civilians surrender if you point an RPG at
them.
>
> The psychology behind it is MUCH better than the weapon.
>
> Bill Brush wrote:
>> I was discussing the pirate situation off Somalia with some sailors
>> (civilian) and someone made a comment that an RPG at 100 yards would
>> be sufficient to cause an immediate surrender.
>>
>> Now ignoring the psychological component of having an RPG fired at
you
>> let's consider the effectiveness of an RPG vs. a sailboat.
>>
>> My thoughts:
>>
>> Would an RPG warhead detonate against a fiberglass boat?  I'm unclear
>> on the necessary impact needed to detonate one, but I wonder at
>> whether or not a warhead designed for impact vs armor would even
>> notice a plastic boat hull on it's way through.
>>
>> Assuming the warhead detonated, what would be the probable effect of
>> the blast?  Small hole?  Big hole?  What would be the difference if
it
>> was a steel hull boat?
>>
>> Assuming the attackers were operating from some sort of comparatively
>> small powerboat, would it be safe to fire an RPG from it?  I
>> understand they have a significant backblast, which could endanger
>> their own vessel.
>>
>> Could you even hit a moving boat, from a second moving boat, under
>> open sea rollers?  They're a comparatively low-velocity weapon with a
>> limited range.  I think it would be exceptionally difficult to get a
>> solid hit that was anything other than luck, unless the firer was
very
>> well trained (unlike most pirates/terrorists.)  I mean the analog
>> would be firing at a moving vehicle, from a moving vehicle while
going
>> over small hills.
>>
>> FWIW, my comment was that I would be much more concerned by an
>> automatic weapon on a pintle , rather than an RPG as it's much harder
>> to dodge 400-500 rounds/minute (or more.)  A Ma Deuce would make
short
>> work of any small craft, and an M60 or M249 would also make for a
very
>> bad day.
>>
>> I know we have a lot of current and former military here, as well as
>> one combat engineer who is probably ready to go test this out.  :-)
>>
>> Bill
>>
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