Pirates

[Churchill]

After 6 years with BP, I should think so.
There is always a void in the tank header. this is combated by pumping in an inert gas, but explosions & fire are always a risk

What I find amazing is how the pirates actually assault a moving supertanker. The turbulence that a small boat is subjected to as it gets close to something that big, shifting that much water at that speed is incredible. We used to practice on smaller boats in the Irish sea and it can be quite hairy!

[PAH]

I'm suprised Ross Kemp hasn't piled in yet. They practiced taking out 'hostiles' onboard a ship in an episode of Ultimate Force.

God knows where the SBS were at the time. Probably stuck on a plane somewhere.

[Diver]

What I find amazing is how the pirates actually assault a moving supertanker. The turbulence that a small boat is subjected to as it gets close to something that big, shifting that much water at that speed is incredible. We used to practice on smaller boats in the Irish sea and it can be quite hairy!

A couple of shots across the bow and any tanker skipper would stop engines.
It may take a supertanker a while to stop, but stop it will. and as for getting aboard. the skipper would order the pilot ladder lowered rather than risk taking fire.

[PAH]

What I find amazing is how the pirates actually assault a moving supertanker. The turbulence that a small boat is subjected to as it gets close to something that big, shifting that much water at that speed is incredible.

I suppose with your 2 ton barges you think 20 knots is fast.

[Diver]

I suppose with your 2 ton barges you think 20 knots is fast.

[PAH]

A couple of shots across the bow and any tanker skipper would stop engines.
It may take a supertanker a while to stop, but stop it will. and as for getting aboard. the skipper would order the pilot ladder lowered rather than risk taking fire.

FFS! Seeing as they can make planes that land themselves, surely a supertanker that pilots itself is no challenge. Get rid of the humans, they're useless.

Funniest thing is how impotent the various govermins are being shown to be, all in the name of international law and civilisation. Just shows, red tape is only good for tying things up.

[Churchill]

I suppose with your 2 ton barges you think 20 knots is fast.

Go on then, what do you drive that has 400bhp?

[Diver]

Go on then, what do you drive that has 400bhp?

His keyboard apparently

[PAH]

Go on then, what do you drive that has 400bhp?

I don't need 400bhp to move my lard arsed vehicle.

Though if I get bored one weekend I might fill the boot with bricks and stuff a V8 under the bonnet, just to feel what it's like in a range rover.

[Sysman]

On the radio it said that their usual tactic is to approach slow moving boats from behind in little fast ones and use grappling hooks to scale the side of the boat. I guess the crew of a lumbering supertanker will have little chance, especially if they attack at night.

As for how to get it back, although the oil is worth a lot on the open market it isn't to them. I'd imagine if anybody tries anything that a blown up supertanker spewing all that oil into the sea will make one hell of a mess.

It was done in a novel in the 1970s or 1980s. The plot entailed the pirates/ex-marines threatening to create an ecological disaster if they didn't get their millions.