US Navy ship fires on Poland

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If something like this happened off the US coast by a foreign ship I don't doubt that destroyer could've been at the bottom of the ocean by now.

Polish military has every right to board that ship and investigate just what kind of idiots are hanging around their port firing a machine gun into their city.
 
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What right does the Polish military police have inorder to board the ship to investigate?! In my opinion the US military should have cleared up the problem, and let no Polish military police aboard the boat.
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Right, because it's totally none of their business why a Destroyer belonging to a foreign military cranked off multiple rounds into one of their cities. :banghead:
 
What right does the Polish military police have inorder to board the ship to investigate?! In my opinion the US military should have cleared up the problem, and let no Polish military police aboard the boat.
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Given the military's ability to handle the weapons in this incident, do you really think they had the ability to deal with the political ramifications of a moron on a warship firing without care for human life into a non-threatening civilian target?
 
I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that the captain of the ship was a little card or binder somewhere in his office with VERY specific guidelines in cooperating with law enforcement officials of foreign nations, NATO and non-NATO, friendly and hostile, etc. Somewhere in Captain school they told him where to find these rules. In any event, I'm going to defer to HIS knowledge rather than the internet guys I talk about guns with. He did fine.

And I'll say it again, the gunner wasn't cleaning. That's the official story they gave the press.
 
US DoD personnel do NOT go to foreign countries on official business without a Status of Forces Agreement, or a very thoroughly vetted, EXTREMELY detailed Memorandum/Letter of Agreement from the host nation government & maintained at that particular US Embassy.

Dude sounds like a total retard & I'll bet his Chief is still ripping him a new one.
 
Somewhere in Captain school they told him where to find these rules. In any event,
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IIRC from admiralty law class, there are protocols for every little thing you do in a foreign port as a warship. Extending courtesies to local officials and authorities is a very old custom. This is actually some of the very oldest international law there is from way way back when nations needed to dock their ships in foreign ports without starting a war.
 
M240 is vey long range.
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Not to thread hijack, but it definately can be a very long range weapon. In fact, one of FN's selling points is when emplaced on a tripod the gun can be used as an indirect fire weapon. LONG range plunging fire.
 
The military has hundreds of thousands of personel handling hundreds of thousands of weapons. I'd say they do pretty damm good in the accidental discharge department.
 
What right does the Polish military police have inorder to board the ship to investigate?! In my opinion the US military should have cleared up the problem, and let no Polish military police aboard the boat.
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Um, it's their country/port/right. If a Polish ship had done the same thing in an American port and the USN hadn't been able to board them, you'd be POed. Now stop thinking that the USA is all that and that nobody should look at us wrong, we do have to share this planet you know.

The Polish Government just declared war on Bolivia; Poland's finest are prowling the seas for the Bolivian Navy!
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You do know that Bolivia is land-locked, right? :) They used to have access to the sea, but they lost a war over bird poop.
 
What right does the Polish military police have inorder to board the ship to investigate?! In my opinion the US military should have cleared up the problem, and let no Polish military police aboard the boat.

People like you give the U.S a bad name. I am pretty sure if that same thing happened here you would want somebody from the U.S to AT LEAST investigate. Some people don't have any decency at all.
 
Maybe a little OT here, but in the case of a Naval vessel, the foreign authorities board only with the permission of the captain. It's considered the sovereign territory of the nation whose flag it flies. The rules pertaining to non-military vessels do not apply.

As someone noted above, the rules regarding these matters are governed by a SOFA, as well as international customary law and treaties. Independent of an agreement ceding sovereignty--and I've never heard of such a thing--the foreign authorities only board at the will of the captain and do not enjoy arrest authority once aboard.
 
One of two things happened.

A) guys messing around and cranks off some shots at Poland. Makes up cleaning story.

B) He tried to let the bolt forward and the weapon, being pretty darn fast shooting, lets loose three rounds before he let go of the trigger.


Or maybe he was trying to bag that mythical Polish submarine with the screen door? LOL
 
idiot I'd imagine the hapless sailor is wishing he was in polish custody about now going to be a long long trip home for him:fire:.
The Poles not allowed on the US navy ship crowd need to grow up :rolleyes:
 
idiot I'd imagine the hapless sailor is wishing he was in polish custody about now going to be a long long trip home for him.
The Poles not allowed on the US navy ship crowd need to grow up.
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As a retired USAF JAG, I assure you it's not about growing up. The sovereignty of foreign military vessels is a serious matter, and the United States' position on this is rooted in traditional concerns of sovereignty as well as in practical concerns of security.

In my day--not so long ago, having retired in 2004--an unauthorized boarding could result in a response up to and including the use of deadly force. We all seem to be guessing about whether the U.S. authorized the boarding, but "back in the day," an officer who permitted it would have had Hell to pay, even in a situation as ugly as this.
 
When I was first going through OOD quals and had to learn the Captain's standing orders to the OOD by heart, it was rather mundane, until I discovered the addendum with the mission specific standing orders from the op the boat had just returned from prior to my transferring aboard. Then things got interesting :)

And I'll always remember the shortest and most poignant standing order in the book...

"This ship will not, under any circumstances be boarded."

Now just to put things in context... the Soviets had lost a Mike class boat in the Barents off the coast of Norway to a fire, earlier that very same year. The boat made it to the surface and was spuing smoke out of her hatches when British rescuers came along side. The Brits pulled Soviet sailors (and bodies) out of the freezing water, but the captain would not let them come onto the boat to attempt to rescue men trapped below decks. After several hours floundering on the surface, the boat sank with the senior officers still on board.

Needless to say it was kind of sobering to realize that we had the exact same policy. :uhoh:
 
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Not always. When I was in Europe during my Navy years, there was a sailor who picked up a prostitute. While they were engaging in amorous activities, the sailor discovered that the 'lady' was actually a man. The sailor became enraged and threw the imposter through the window of the nearest business. That business turned out to be a French post office. When we left Europe 4 months later, he was still in a French jail. To this day, I don't know what happened to him.
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We were in Spain (Cartagena) in 1988.....something "bad" happened in town....Spanish Police showed up, there was a line-up, and 3 individuals went with the Spanish Police. That was the last I ever saw of them on board my ship anyway.

What they did was horrendous.....I will leave it at that, and I hope they are in a Spanish prison to this day.
 
I imagine that if a Polish ship in a US port cranked off some rounds into a US city, we'd all expect their full cooperation in the investigation.

Poland is a normal relations/friendly country, not cold war Russia.
 
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