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Subject: Attacking cruise ship in Florida?
MtViewGuy88    4/29/2003 3:41:45 PM
Given the fact that al-Qaeda did pull off that attack on the USS Cole in the fall of 2000, one thing that REALLY worries me is the possibility that cruise ships operating from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Port Canaveral, Jacksonville, and Tampa could be subject to a suicide attack from a fast-moving small boat. Given the large Muslim community in South Florida (after all, many of the September 11 hijackers had lived there!), you have to wonder have Muslim extremists seriously considered buying a fast boat like a Cigarette boat, loading it with several hundred pounds of plastique explosive, and attempting a suicide ramming mission against the many cruise ships based in Florida. The scary part is that Cigarette and similar boats have very high top speeds (70 mph plus), which makes them difficult to intercept except from the air. I really hope that out Department of Homeland Security is watching for such a threat, because an attack with the type of boat I mentioned could cause serious damage and quite a lot of casualties on today's large cruise ships, and we don't know how well today's super-sized cruise ships can handle an explosive force to what amounts to a direct hit from a Mk. 48 torpedo used by US submarines.
 
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Final Historian    RE:Attacking cruise ship in Florida?   5/3/2003 10:22:41 PM
A Mk 48 hit would be worse in that it would hit below the waterline, near the ships heel, but it would still be bad. If more than 1 boat was used then I could see a cruise ship sinking. If this was done at night, or at a time when everyone was below decks, many people could die. I hope that the DHS is paying attention.
 
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Elbandeedo    RE:Attacking cruise ship in Florida?   5/6/2003 7:40:23 AM
I just don't see al qruddah attacking like that for such a "small" return. It is a possibility, but unlikely. Ok, say you're the last head-honcho of al qruddah left that hasn't been given an all-expenses paid vacation to sunny Gitmo (or some other hole!) and you know that many of your operatives have been neutralized; How do you make use of those valuable, but few assets? do you kill 2-5 of them off trying to sink a pleasure vessel? or do you go for bigger fish? How many folks on a pleasure cruise these days? on average? I'm going to say maybe 1000. Aren't ships built more 'compartmentalized' these days? wouldn't the initial explosion really only affect the area immediately surrounding the impact site(s)? Sorry but I just don't know enough about ship construction to make a really knowledgable comment there - little help? I really think it would be a waste of assets. Also, according to news reports who cite "intelligence officials", apparently command and control has been hurt bad by our counter-terror efforts. So effectively, if a plan isn't already in the works, their won't BE any more "big ones" until we ease up on the WoT. E.
 
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