I know the Navy used to put a fair amount of effort into fighting piracy in the strait of Malacca (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy_in_the_Strait_of_Malacca). It was complicated by reluctance on the part of the Indonesian government to having any foreign naval forces in their territorial waters.
The waters off the horn of Africa have been rife with piracy since the time of the Romans at least, and probably longer. The Royal Navy patrolled there during the 19th century, and had some success in keeping the pirates away from the ships of the East India Company. But shifting alliances and changes in budgets took the RN out of there. Now the US Navy is the big kid on the block in that region, but if I'm commanding CENTCOM I know I'd put interdiction of piracy pretty low on my priority list. Oh, I might send an amphibious task group out to harass them while the Marines from that task group are ashore in Iraq, but I wouldn't want to diminish any of my deep water fighting force.
If we still have anybody who understands diplomacy, it'd be a Good Thing to put together a squadron of fast frigates from African Union countries along the east coast of Africa to interdict the pirates. Regional threats really ought to be dealt with by regional powers, and it'd be good for the Kenyans and Tanzanians to get some experience in blue water patrolling.
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The waters off the horn of Africa have been rife with piracy since the time of the Romans at least, and probably longer. The Royal Navy patrolled there during the 19th century, and had some success in keeping the pirates away from the ships of the East India Company. But shifting alliances and changes in budgets took the RN out of there. Now the US Navy is the big kid on the block in that region, but if I'm commanding CENTCOM I know I'd put interdiction of piracy pretty low on my priority list. Oh, I might send an amphibious task group out to harass them while the Marines from that task group are ashore in Iraq, but I wouldn't want to diminish any of my deep water fighting force.
If we still have anybody who understands diplomacy, it'd be a Good Thing to put together a squadron of fast frigates from African Union countries along the east coast of Africa to interdict the pirates. Regional threats really ought to be dealt with by regional powers, and it'd be good for the Kenyans and Tanzanians to get some experience in blue water patrolling.