The recent events of piracy off Somalia raises the question of how do we deal with these attacks?
One solution might be to take Pompey’s tactics from history.
How the Roman's dealt with pirates.
However, to simply arm the Red Sea up to the hilt with military vessels wouldn’t be cost effective bearing in mind the fraction of vessels that are actually apprehended and the level of ransom’s sought. Bear in mind that the Pirates make sure there are no warships in sight before they seize the ship and they are careful to avoid unnecessary confrontation that may lead to deaths. They see it as a purely economic exercise. Moreover, no doubt Pompey had rather more discretion in his choice of action than we have today.
Another option might be to strike at the Pirates bases, however this means a land attack, something the US will be reluctant to undertake after their previous experience in Somalia.
Perhaps the merchant vessels themselves could be armed? However, with Oil tankers in particular this could be a dangerous option.
How about arming just a fraction of the vessels with hidden ‘Special Forces’ so the pirates don’t know which vessels they can safely apprehend? It would give them something to think about. Probably there would be too few interceptions.