M-16s use only 5.56 MM (.223 in) ammunition, not enough to reliably sink the boats. However, a .50 cal machine gun or 20mm cannon would easily take them out, as would hand held missiles.

It is not a diplomatic failure. There is no real govermnet in Somalia for us to persuade to stop the piracy.

John, Goddard, USA

Send the Swiss Navy

Larry, Princeton, NJ, USA

Unlike Bluebird and his eye-patched mateys, these pirates actually get off their boats at the end of their day and sleep in a house somewhere. That's where you must go to rub out this little problem -- not on the waters of the Gulf of Aden. You drop by the house to explain how things work.

Jackson, Huntington, USA

David from Houston...you are so right! These pirates approach in small speed-boats, thus if the crew had a few M-16's they could sink the boat before the pirates get the rope-ladders up.

Mark, Toronto, Canada

i am curious what the u.s. state department policy is on international piracy if there is one.just another usa government failure

j vercell, belmont, usa

that tanker represents less than one quarter of one day's output from Saudi Arabia

Brian, Chicago, USA

What I have not ever understood is how these pirates take large vessels in the first place. I mean, if I had six men on a ship with garrands and 30 caliber machine guns I could guarantee no pirate could get on a tanker.

David, Houston, USA

The current chain of events in this area has made it cost effective for the pirates to operate. The net gain in ransome money paid to them out weighs the cost in terms of money men and materials lost. Whatever solution is employed it must effectively deal with this simple fact.

George, Dallas, USA

Pay the ransom to get the ship and crew back. Then blow up every single "known pirate village" on the coast. Let it be known that this will be the response every time. Either that or give them nothing, assault the ship and blow up every village.
Pirates will find no safe haven in any village.

David, San Francisco, USA

Remember, Somalia was known in ancient times as Ethiopia, Somalia's day is fast approaching. This is all pre-planned, at least according to the Word of the Almighty God. The One the world has forgotten, along with His Son, the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua, all as the world forces the division of His land.

Yohanan, Small, United States

Okay, while I'm in agreement with what most say (take 'em out, travel in convoys, transports should have means to defend themselves)...here's an idea a relative and I discussed yesterday: The so-called pirates could have been hired by someone who has an interest in seeing the price of oil rise.

Marla, Houston, US

Arm the crew with AK47s. Hire 2 snipers armed with the M107 .50-caliber long range rifle (2000ft range and HE cartridge with night vision). Give one warning - then take the speedboats out. On a supertanker install remote fire vulcan cannons fore and aft. Last resort, ever hear of flame throwers?

Tom, Manhattan,KS, USA

Am I remembering right about the UN (Unelected Narcicists) heading up the fund raising efforts a few years ago to help Somalia.

Glen, Calgary,

This is one of Bill Clinton's legacies. His politically correct approach in Somolia has resulted in the pirate problem of today..

Michael Hessler, Ma'ale Adumim, Israel

We should do nothing. Let evil reign!

William Fann, Lincoln, United States

We should park several warships off the coast of Eyl and when the pirates return, eradicate them. An example needs to be made to deter future occurences.

Rusty, atlanta, usa

Scott, good say. I like that.

Doug "DOC", Ladera Rnch,

Keep in mind that the UN has yet again some idiotic feel good rule about not allowing crew members aboard ships in international waters to be armed!!! Will someone please expand on this ! The law abiding citizens of Less Britain know what happens when only the criminals have the guns! Blame Peters!!

Jenny, Ottowa, Canada

Perhaps if we replenished the fish stocks that we took the pirates would not have a ready made workforce of x fisherman.
The world is not a simple place.

dave macdougall, hemel hempstead, england

sounds to me like it is about time to rid somalia of it's sea ports until they clean up their pirate problem. Teddy Roosivelt did this with the barbary pirates at the turn of the 20th century and problem solved.

Dan Lash, rome city, USA

Really, how much should the US and British forces charge for protecting these foreign and international waters?

Todd, Jacksonville, US

How the heck are these pirates scaling the hulls of these ships in the first place? How are they getting on board? Media has not spoken to this question.
Ships should travel in packs along with one war ship while in these waters. The costs would be shared among the carriers. Cheap insurance.

Jeff M., Phnom Pehn, Cambodia

Weak, weak. Excuses, excuses. This is like no stop light at a busy intersction until 3 people get killed and public pressure gets them installed. The only thing thugs understand is power. Give it to them in spades! Make use of the satilites we spend hundreds of millions to launch and maintain.

Gil, Los Angeles, USA

I cannot believe that the navy cant track these pirates by satellite. Why is this allowed to go on?

adamrussell, sierra vista, usa

Gee, let's see ........why don't we place decoys to capture them or better yet allow them to take the vessel then sink them all. Why waste time in some international court of clowns where we could blame the greater world society and governments for there actions.

Paul Reese, Hackettstown, USA

I have two words: "no prisoners."

Barry, Rapid City, South Dakota USA

Pay the pirates a fee for entering international water?
A few well-placed drone aircraft with harm missles would be a more appropriate action. These people dwell in the 17th century and incapable of reasoning any actions except real death on the seas. When you appease terrorists, you get more.

Rick, Arlington, USA

OK Scott from London, so if routinely rob you for your wallet every day on your way to work, your solution would be for you to simply pay me $50 every day as you pass me by. I believe that defines extortion. You can't be serious about your solution. Please...

Scott, PA,

Don't tell me that a the forces that stopped the Japenese and Germans in WW II can't stop these terroist ! Where is this CHIICKEN LITTLE attitude coming from. The sky is falling, the sky is falling. Round up the NATO navies and clear this up.

Ruckus, Nanning, China

This will not be won by adding more violence. I say legitimize the pirates. Make the ship owners pay a nominal fee for entering their waters. If each ship paid a fee, similar to the Panama canal, they would not need to be pirates. They could feed and house their families without using violence.

Scott, London, England

They need to get informants within the pirate groups with $$$. The military should then use informant information to hunt the sea going boats that the pirates are using to go far offshore. Just destory any local Somolian boat that can go to sea to limit the pirates range. Srink the pirates op area.

Robert, Atlanta, USA

I'm confused, the "powers that be" state that they are unable to patrol the entire area the pirates threaten. What happened to radios and jets. A quick call to the Navy (either Royal or US) could have a jet at the location within minutes and the pirates destroyed shortly afterwards.

Brad Murray, Baltimore, US

It is very similar to the initial phases of the Merchant Marine during the beginning of WW II. These ships went into the Atlantic ocean, unarmed, and not in convoys. The ships should go in convoys just like they did later in WW II for protection. Only then would they need a small protective force.

Seth Blocker, Margaretville, USA

If we were to depend on the Canadian Navy for assistance, the pirates would have a field day, its against the Law in Canada to spank an unruley child, how could we depend on the Candians to use force, and force will have to be used. Thank you India, you have the right idea.

Ronnie, Hagerstown, MD, USA

I understand that most how no idea of history and the Barbary Pirates. Europe was paying tribute and for awhile so was the then young USA. The USA stopped but Europe continued. This is not the USA problem and we should let the UN (right) and who every handle it.

Carl, Indianapolis, USA

The U.S.A. cannot keep trying to protect everyone. Piracy is an issue the rest of the world needs step up to the plate and join the fight. Everyone needs to take responsible actions, both with force and diplomacy.

Although, just try to negotiate with Somalia. Hahaha.

Tom, San Diego, CA, USA

What the devil does the Times mean by 'in an uneven firefight'? Are they trying to insinuate that the Indian Navy should get into speed boats and use outdated weapons?

Byron, Hilo, Hawaii, USA

Connect the dots.

Somalia is a lawless land that is becoming a mecca for Al Qaida, where they may be assisting the pirates with "more sophisticated" operations far from shore. The ransom money gets split between AQ and the pirates and thus AQ has found a new revenue source for future operations.

Steve, Richmond, USA

Mr Dustoff,,

Your response highlights the problem that generated America's current stance of "homeland security". The world did not ask you to come into these areas and disrupt them, force your brand of democracy on them. Each time you do, you make enemies. Bin Laden is a product of US training!

Hammer, Ottawa, Canada

I don't get it. It seems a simple solution for shipping companies to hire, say, a half dozen mercenary soldiers to man heavy guns placed fore and aft on each ship, 24-7. The pirates in their tiny boats should be easily deterred. What is it? We can't use force against force?

George Gray, Owen Sound, Canada

Station some submarines in the area for a few months, any nationality except British. If the Royal Navy finds some pirates they'll have to ask the Admiralty, and they'll ask the Foreign Office, and they'll ask the prime minister, then Yuman Rights and 'elf N' Safety will be involved. Ask M.Sarkozy

Phil de Buquet, Newport,

Forget the UN. What we need are Q-Ships and Letters of Marque. I suppose the UN could handle that, but we all know they won't. The countries of registration should take care of it.

Bill Andersen, Baltimore, USA

Piracy is a capital offense in maritime history. Had the first few pirates been killed this mess would not have occured.

George Bain, Silver Spring, MD, USA

Am loving the fact that the moment the word 'pirates' is used people start talking about making family members walk the plank as an effective solution.
Hired guns paid for by the ship owners has to be the way forward. Would certainly give competitive advantage to those ships guarded by ex SAS guys

Rich, Santiago, Chile

I have a better idea. Many nations had a fit when we went after the madman Saddam.
So I say the US should stay out. Let the do nothing UN handle it. We have seen the bang up job they done around the world.

Hey world, start taking care of your mess.

Dustoff, America, USA

Contractors. Hire a half dozen former Marines or Sailors to ride along. Most of the boats they are using are old fishing boats and such that would be easy to sink. I'm sure that the money you would pay these guys would be far less than 25 million.

Jonathan, Minneapolis, USA

It's nice to see that the TIMES still refers to the Royal Navy.

The BBC now refers to the British Navy.

Alice Cunningham, Toronto,

Simplest way to start is to put razor wire fences angled outward on large ships as boarding nets - hanging on trying to cut through with the ship pitching under them would deter a lot of attempted boarders. This would give time to allow very few armed men on board to effectively defend the ship.

Eric Pritchard, Clevedon, UK

Attack helicpters ranges are (300 mls when armed) so 8000 apaches would be needed just to patrol that area. Saying that they have to come ashore at some point if only to spend the money, Force of arms is the only option left & we should show a united front .

Lotruss, Hull, UK

Sad state of affairs.. Lets see them take a ship with a US or UK flag..... Try it.... see what happens.

Wes, Amarillo, USA

Next time they should bring ninjas on board with them to fight off the pirates! Lesson learned

Sam , Atlanta,

Yes Hayduke, you are the only one rooting for the pirates outside of Somalia. It would make for a good Hollywood movie & I suppose the director could make the pirates look sympathetic. & it would help if the pirates had a Jack Sparrow character with charisma and spunk. Don Cheadle for the role?

David, Atlanta, USA

Three LA-class attack submarines could solve this problem very quickly.

George, Indiana, USA

"no amount of coalition forces would be sufficient to secure the... waters"

This is trictly speaking true as shipping is spread out throughout the area. Surely it would be a more economical use of naval resources to institute a convoy system- say one warship protecting a dozen merchant vessels?

Paul Kitching, Liverpool,

ridiculous state if affairs that the UN and international community has allowed the world to arrive at - the bizarre reality is that the whole bunch of them get more worked up over an arms shipment and an oil tanker than medical and human aid piracy . . . shows where the real value systems are at.

rm, pv, usa

Steve,
Only 10% of Americans possess a passport - how much more inward-looking can you get! International trade in a world economy affects us all.

Piers Currie, Southwold, England

Coalition forces control parts of the world, yet these very clear enemies are left so unchecked? In contrast to pseudo terrorists, these organised criminals are harming trade between dozens of countries in international and our “coalition” forces should be there instead of occupying people’s homes.

Tom W, Toronto, Canada

The Saudis say it's up to the ship owners. Some guy says if the pirates are one place and go to another they can't be stopped. Bless the Indian Navy, but, wake up, There is only one organization on earth that can put an end to this piracy and do it rather quickly, if not neatly - the U. S. Navy.

R Pritchard, Jaxsonville, FL, USA

Somebody needs to stop funding the militants/rebels in African regions so that they are not equiped to demonstrate such audacity. We need to ask how these people from lands where it's even hard to afford food, have armaments to attack navy ships.

Soyuz, Melbourne,

Not a new problem. Look up the First Barbary War, ca. 1802. "...to the shores of Tripoli...". A more efficient way of solving the problem would be for the owners of the ships to hire the UN or similar force retrofit their ships with .50 cal machine guns and man them.

Andrew, Urbana, IL,

Sorry, unless it's a US flag vessel, the USA needs to keep its distance. Let the nations who's vessels are being seized, do something about it.

There's a new President Elect...it's time for the world to understand that the US has decided to turn inward.

Steve, Sarasota, USA

Well what happened to the old " Gun ship Diplomacy " used by the US and Britain in the 1800s, maybe the moth balled battle ships should be activated, we the public will be the losers in the long run, extra feight charges when the problem can be solved, hats off to the Indian navy.

Grant, Brisbane,

"Millions for defense but not one cent for tribute." Does anybody ever remember any lessons from History?

Thomas Jefferson, Monticello, United States

The owners have to take responsibility with armed guard crews on their vessels. There's no other way. This way it's just land office business for the pirates.

Andy Eppink, Lake Los Angeles, CA, USA

Has our liberal government controlling the worlds most power United States Navy become so pathetic that this is even considered an issue? All these “Somali pirates” live in just a few small “well known” towns in Somalia.

During the days of old, U.S. & British Naval Past, rebel’s family’s including Grandma would be held on an adjacent ship within eyesight and walked down to the end of the plank before the watchful perpetrators very eyes (if necessary) this process assures simple and quick negotiations and an end to any future foolish behavior.

One who knows.

Jon Miller, Ukiah, USA

Why would anyone send a $100 million cargo through pirate-infested waters, without even the most basic ability to repel boarders? I'm not even talking about ship-to-ship weapons... every man aboard should wear a sidearm, and the bridge should have shotguns at the ready at all times. Basic stuff!

KBCraig, Texas, USA

Note the message from the British commander, basically nothing can be done. Trust these Europeans (UK?) to do nothing with their namby pamby rules of engagement. Similar story when the Balkans were burning. Nothing happened till the Americans acted.

Doing nothing is not a solution

Amit, Delhi, India

Am I the only one who is kind of rooting for the pirates? I mean, they're ripping off the Saudis and oil companies. It will probably add half a penny to the cost of my next fill up. I'll take an AK-totin' pirate over a nattily dressed banker funding international trade of useless goods.

Hayduke, Pittsburgh PA, USA

In the old days the Royal Navy or the US Navy would blast thier way into the heavly defended pirate strongholds and put an end to the pirate raids. We need that type of response today.

Dutch Nickles, Ray,

Hungry people don't stay hungry for long. What do they have left to lose Tom Antrim? If everyone in the world came together and helped each other and taught each other, maybe there would be no crime. Maybe there would be no reason to rob or hurt each other. Cause and effect, supply and demand.

greg, fairfax,, USA

These pirates do not deserve mery - they have no regard for the ships or crew.-, they go in with their guns and weapons. The response by the international governments should be to fuly protect. Just blow them out the water. Creat "safe "paasage corridors for shipping. Protect with assembled navies.

Richard Bradley, Northampton, uk

Get rid of the pirates. The UN with the cooperation of the world needs to destroy these threats. These are the real terrorists where they terrorize innocent merchant ships for their own profit. Now sea, tomorrow land, then air.

Is the world going to let is pass by?

Joshua GM, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Making a desert out of Somalia might help or is the civilized country just going to knuckle under and pay ransom for ever?

Tom Antrim, Mountain View, USA

British Royal Navy Commodore Keith Winstanley statement that they will keep moving from one place to another sound that his navy is helpless. "Kill those pirates so that they cant move from one place to another".

kumar, Atlanta, US

So the various government all over the world who tax their people cant be safe.

kumar, Atlanta, US

Ships travel in Convoys. Convoys escorted by war ships. A few war ships could protect a dozen + ships.Cost of protection is paid fully by ship owners & cost includes, operational,maintenance, depreciation, ammunition & miscellaneous.NO free US Navy,shippers pay 100% of all costs for protection..

Marty, Los Angeles, USA

Mark the area off into grids. Put some drones in the air with Hellfire missles. Identify them and and sink them. The pirate activity will stop.

Craig, CM, US

Forget the Navies, put in a few Apache Longbow attack helicopters. They'll soon run out of clean underwear!

Duncan T, Truro, Great Britain

By using modern technology and warships carrying attack helicopters, the problem could be ended rather quickly and bloodily. Of course, the pirates' safe havens would have to be destroyed, which would require attacks on some of Somalia's coastal towns, similar to defeating the Barbary pirates.

Major Mike, Gualala, California, USA