Re: [GZG] Slightly OT - Hypothetical weapon question

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Your biggest problem is getting the elevation right. A 34' keelboat hull
isn't particularly tall, and unless the sea is quite calm the boat
you're
sitting in is rolling with the waves (especially if it is manoeuvring at
speed!)... if you're outside the round's danger zone it only takes a
minor
unexpected wave at the moment of launch to send your round into the
water
or through the target's sail (where it is very unlikely to explode even
if
it works perfectly) instead of into the target's hull.

[TomB] I'm kinda surprised you need 150' stand off. I defer to your
domain
knowledge, but that seems like quite a bit. I guess they are a fair bit
bigger than a hand grenade, but I've seen video of hand grenades going
off
within 5' of people and them not taking shrapnel hits (Russians in
Chechnya
I think). I know the RPG is bigger, but I hadn't expected that large of
a
lethal radius.

As to the keelboat question: Depends a bit on your boat. I'd guess on
the
last CS30 I was aboard, and it would have been marginally ocean capable,
it
probably would have had a deck about 3-4 above the waterline and the top
of
the cabin would have been about another 4' up. So you'd have about 8' to
work with and 30' in length. Of course, sail hits would be pretty
marginal,
except any one of them could disable the boat because a sizable tear in
sailcloth combined with any sort of worthwhile wind can equal a
destroyed
sail in fairly short order. There's a small chance of a mast or rigging
hit.
Hitting a beneteau or other cover over the rear cockpit is a bit more
likely
and they sometimes have a bunch of metallic infrastructure that might
deflect the round down I'd imagine.

Still, at 200', it might be a tricky shot. You might have to shoot a
fair
few times. Every time I see videos of these sorts of guys, they've got
3-4
RPG rounds with them.

And as someone else pointed out, the threat might be enough. As a
psychological weapon, the RPG might be fairly concerning. It isn't how
likely the hit is, even if each shot was only 1 in 8, if he fires 4
shots,
he's going to have a decent chance of landing one and one is likely
enough
to cause a big problem.

Of course, the small arms alone could kill your crew with some facility
at
200m and a bunch of bullet holes would help neither the crew, the hull,
the
sails or (if they were concentrating on the rear of the boat) your
diesel or
the rudder.

I was reading about the French raid where they dropped a flag officer
(cmdr
of their SF I think) into the water to put him in place to command a
raid -
flew him straight there, dropped him in the drink (technique the French
practice) and fished him out. The french SOF are interesting - be it
GIGN or
the Commando Swimmers. And they seem willing enough to rumble with
pirates
and to do things to rescue captured French citizens. Glad to see this
whole
situation getting some Int'l attention and maybe some anti-piracy
enforcement.

T.

-- 
"Now, I go to spread happiness to the rest of the station. It is a
terrible
responsibility but I have learned to live with it."
   Londo, A Voice in the Wilderness, Part I

"To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like
administering medicine to the dead."  --  Thomas Paine

   Thomas Paine