In Somalia:
A U.S. warship attacked a suspected al Qaeda target in northern Somalia on Friday, CNN reported, and residents said missiles pounded hills where foreign jihadists fled after clashing with local forces.
There was no immediate news of casualties from the strike, which unnamed sources told CNN was the second in six months to target a suspect in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 240 people.
A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on the report.
Locals in Barga, a port in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region, said the missiles appeared to be aimed at a group of Islamists, including foreigners, who landed by boat in the area on Wednesday and had a gun battle with local police.
“Missiles fired from a ship hit the mountains where the Islamic fighters and foreigners are hiding,” one resident, who asked not to be named, told Reuters by radio phone on Saturday. “A plane was circling and guiding the ship where to hit.”
That doesn’t entirely add up of course – something about first reports comes to mind – because you don’t use planes to “spot” missiles. I don’t know enough about the local topology to know what coastal mountains are in range of a 5″ gun, but if the town is the one listed as “Bargaal” on this map at the very northeastern tip, it should have easily been in range.
Nothing ever seems to change but the faces and the names.
No, but you use UAV’s to do BDA, and this is the report of 3rd world types via the ignorati of CNN.
Roachman’s Rules of NGFS (Naval Gunfire Support)
1. Never go to a shore bombardment with guns whose barrel diameter is a single-digit…
Feel free to fill in the rest. Fire for effect…
Agree with Casca when I read those reports too.
Though, thought this comment by the SECDEF was an “interesting” comment…probably could have been stated a little better.
“At an international conference in Singapore, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters who asked on Saturday about the Somalia reports, “Frankly, I don’t know exactly what was going on. I’ve been on the road. And I wouldn’t be commenting on operational activities anyway.”
Gates is at IMDEX?
BTW Roachman, not much going around in the double digits these days, least not in inches.
Kenya?
Tanzania?
1998?
Bad guys musta thought we’d forgotten by now.
Nope
CNN was saying it was the 5″ gun.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/06/01/somalia.strike/index.html
Frankly, even as bad as CNN can be, I’d believe them on this over some random Somali villager.
Sim,
Sadly, the 5″ .50 is pretty much it, though it’s a very acurate weapon.
One of the most impressive sights I ever witnessed was Mighty Mo underway in The Gulf. Low and wide, her bow rising up like the front of a Viking longboat, and those marvelous 16″ guns angled above her teak decks. Yeah. Old Navy. Made the hair on my neck stand up as she passed.
I really wish I’d had the chance to see them fire. Nothing says “I love you” quite like a shell the size of a VW lobbed in from about 15 miles out.
Ah, I love the Mighty Mo. Never got to see her truly underway but I was there when she came home from her last adventure. We were treated to a nice tour as well…better than the one you go on now that she’s here on display.
That was one of the few positive things about the guy I was dating at the time…
As for the attacks on the AQ targets…nice to know that we still hold grudges.
I heard about this on the nightly news (ABC, I think). They said the intended target were the people behind the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Africa. The story implies that we missed the targets though.
Too bad if we missed, but the message was loud and clear.
Oh, that we still had numerous hulls with 5″ (or larger!)guns to blast all the vermin within range. Although sheer numbers have a quality all their own, the demise of the FFG-lets with the cute little 76mm Oto-Melara was not much of a loss in NGFS or shore bombardment capacity. With great appreciation for Lex and his F/A capability, with much greater range, sometimes an old fashioned, prolonged arse kicking with lots of cheap and reliable 5 inch rounds is a very handy tool to have available. Especially if the vermin are reminded that the source remains just out of sight off their coast, 24/7.
Big Mary 26 Charlie, out!
Not to worry AFSister, the guy who was keying the mic is still out there too.
Roachman, the rule makes sense if the guys at the other end have toys more powerfull than RPGs. So, it’s budget-wise to shoot cheap shells, missiles are expensive.
“Puntland”? Didn’t the Egyptian Pharoahs have some problems with yahoos from the Land of Punt? I do think that people who have a 3000-year-old reputation as troublemakers might have their behavior improved if some of them are slapped back from time to time.
Predictable.
I knew this thread would devolve into a Shoe “my gun is bigger than yours” and remember the battleship discussion, buttressed by Jars “expertise” on NGS. If ‘mander linked it the thread would grow I’ll bet..
b2