The Seabourn Spirit appeared to be a tempting target for pirates as the cruise ship, carrying 151 passengers, sailed through the waters off the coast of Somalia in the early hours of November 12, 2005. The pirates, on two speedboats, approached the ship and immediately opened fire with AK-47 rifles, confident in their impending success.
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LRAD, a new super weapon equipped on luxury cruise ships (Photo: Static) |
Despite being in an extremely dangerous situation, the Seabourn Spirit managed to evade capture by the pirates. Captain Pedersen was well-prepared. Together with the crew, he used “high technology” to teach the pirates, or more precisely their auditory faculties, a lesson they would not forget.
While some crew members used water hoses to push the climbing pirates off the side of the ship, a Gurkha soldier (the Gurkhas are a special forces unit from Nepal serving in the British Army) in charge of security on board directed the “LRAD” towards the attackers. This is a new super weapon outfitted on luxury cruise ships.
LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device) is a machine that produces a terrifying sound. Weighing around 20kg, it resembles a satellite dish. When aimed at a target, it emits an intense sound that is very focused, similar to a beam of light from a flashlight. Its sound resembles a fire alarm siren but is much more powerful and louder.
It is unknown how the pirates felt upon hearing the LRAD activate, but it is certain they experienced immediate pain in their heads and ears, compelling them to abandon their intentions to storm the ship. One could say that this “sound cannon” with at least 150 decibels played a crucial role in helping the Seabourn Spirit escape its dire situation.
LRAD is manufactured by the American Technology Corporation in San Diego, California. Since 2003, the company has sold approximately 1,000 units. The largest customer for this device is the U.S. military. Following the bombing of the USS Cole by the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda in July 2000, the Pentagon ordered a range of weapons designed to maintain a safe distance between personnel approaching ships without necessarily killing them on the spot.
To date, about 300 “units” of LRAD have been deployed to Iraq. They have even been used by U.S. forces to demolish houses suspected of harboring enemies. This device can also be used by soldiers to issue stop orders to vehicles as far as 300 meters away.
The New York and Boston Police Departments have also purchased a few of these “sound cannons”, priced at $30,000 each. Some shipping companies in the U.S. and the U.K. have also acquired them for their fleets. The largest and most modern cruise ship in the world, the Queen Mary 2, has also been equipped with this formidable weapon.
Đức Hùng (according to Spiegel)
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