View Full Version : How a cruise ship defeated pirates
chris
11-08-2005, 03:22 PM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4418748.stm
Interesting article on how the Seabourne Spirit managed to defeat a pirate attack without ever firing a single shot.
The captain obviously accelerated the ship as quickly as it would go, and began turning the ship (creating huge waves), but he also used an acoustic weapon, as described by the BBC article above.
Yes, a huge ship like that would definetly get away by making a lot of wake from turning, it could possibly even tip a tinny over, and the acousitic weapon leaves me one question, how did they protect the occupents from the noise?
chris
11-08-2005, 04:09 PM
They are inside, and behind it, or at least, it's not pointed at them.
jtace
11-08-2005, 05:03 PM
It's a highly directed weapon, it wouldn't affect anyone it's not pointed at.
chris
11-08-2005, 09:48 PM
And note the great photo of the pirates on the BBC site. That's an excellent photograph. Pretty surely you could identify them from that photograph.
Commander
11-09-2005, 01:17 AM
Wasn't the "Sonic Disruptor" initially used by the U.S during the Korean war (maybe Vietnam conflict) to shake loose electrical components of enemy vehicles, thus rendering them inoperable? It is an old concept, this I know, whether or not it was ever actually used I cannot say. The article seems to suggest the weapon is new in design, but all the same, it sounds (no pun intended) like a similar weapon to what I have heard of (yes, again, no pun intended) :rolleyes: . Anyway, glad the attack was averted.
chris
11-09-2005, 01:31 AM
150 decibels is a painful prospect.:eek: A Concorde belted out 120 decibel noise at full reheated power, and that is quite noisy, although you can put up with that since it doesn't last for long (usually 64 seconds), and it isn't a high pitched sound.
So acoustic device is a menacing weapon, even if the ocean-liner itself isn't capable enough.