The Soviet PK Machine gun is considered one of the best in the world. Designed by Kalashnikov himself (after he designed the AK) it fulfills all the designs specs for a General Purpose Machine Gun. An intersting study of the PK occured when the US Army looked into replacing the M-60 Machine Gun in the 1980s. In the test the Army did between the two contenders to replace the M-60, the Belgium FN MAG and the German G-3 (MG-42 of WWII Fame), the M-60 and the PK were used a "controls" for the test. The MAG and G-3 are the two machine guns used by US allies, both considered heads above the M-60 even when the M-60 was adopted and replaced the old Browning Machine Guns of WWII fame.
Anyway, in the shooting test, the MAG and the G-3 were operated over a period of days to fire millions of rounds of ammunition. For controlled purposes the Army also operated in the test the M-60 and a PK the US Army picked up. No one knows where the Army picked up the PK used in the test and obviously it was in used condition (The other three machine guns were brand new models). In the test the PK frame developed a crack in the frame, but it was determined it would NOT interfere with the operation of the Weapon, so it continued to be fired (and with the Crack finished the test without a hitch or the crack expanding). Unlike the M-60 the PK stayed up with the MAG and G-3. In the articles I read about the test, the testers were shock and surprised on how well the PK did the test (remember it was a USED machine gun, not brand new like the others). Reading between the lines you can almost see the testers believed the PK won the test, and should have been adopted, but the choice was between the MAG and the G-3, the PK was NOT in the race (The MAG ended up being adopted, on the ground both Canada and Britain were already using it, the G-3 were used by the West German Army, but the West Germans had a policy of NOT using their Troops outside Germany so the fact that the West German Army was the Largest NATO army in Western Europe could not convince the US to adopt the G-3 instead of the MAG).
More on the PK
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PKMMore on the RPG:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_propelled_grenadeI go into the above for the PK, being a ex-soviet design is built all over the world at the present time and shows up in almost every conflict. Unless you have people on board with Machine Guns to counter them, the crew with Rifles are sitting ducks. How many people are on these ships now a days? A dozen? It does not take many men to operate a ship on the high seas, in ports, port pilots and additional crew can be added (Generally in the form of Tug boars operators), Once in port, Crane operators unload the ships no the crew.
Example of Crew Size "11 Man crew freed";
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27186506/Four Russians and Five Filipinos:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/05/29/somalia.pirates/index.htmlTanker has a crew of 20-30 men:
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/10/13/7069961-cp.html22 man crew:
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5i3INe_F3v3lBGPlmRss0leNsOZVQYacht have larger crews (22 men in this seized by Pirates):
http://en.rian.ru/world/20080708/113517837.htmlCrew in a 1980 Ship that sunk was 42:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sunk-cargo-ships-crew-cleared-of-negligence-622681.html22 man crew:
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=105&sid=148647020-30 sound like the bare mini mun. Remember you are looking at, at least an eight hour sleeping period (people with Merchant Marine Experience may know from experience if the practice on ship is different, but in general most people operate most effectively with eight hours sleep). Certain people MUST be up all the time (i.e. they must be at least TWO of them). Examples of this would be the Captain (and his First Mate), the Navigator (And his Assistant). Radar operator (And his Assistant). That is at least six people, just to run the bridge. The Engine Room needs someone operating it and making sure it stays operating (the days of the Stroker, shoveling coal into the engine, is long gone almost all of the ships today are Diesel Electrics). Thus in the engine compartment you looking at about four people or less (Two on duty at any one time). Given you need at least ten people on board, you have to have at least two cooks (Or a Cook and an Assistant). That comes to an even Twelve before we even look at anyone to actually take care of the Ship (Other then the Direction, done by the Bridge, or the Engine, done by the Engine Crew). Some of these can be done with less men (Two men to watch the engines, one at a time instead of the four men I mentioned), First mate and Navigator may be the same person. I have NO experience with Ships or their crew size, but the numbers given above 9-30 all seem possible.
Thus you have ten people WITHOUT even looking at how to take care of the Cargo (Which, given modern container ships you may NOT need, for there is not much the ship can do with the containers). Thus you can operate a modern ship with a crew of ten, but 20 looks like a much better number for that gives you ten deck hands to make sure the ship is stay free of sea water (Opening and closing various parts of the Ship as directed by the Captain). Even if we go with the higher number, 30, that is not even Platoon size, and given that the engine crew has to stay with the engine and the Bridge crew operating the Ship, even less men to fight off a dozen or two heavy armed men (You down to ten in a hurry once you realized certain people can NOT leave their station AND in a crisis you want their replacement near them to help them in the Crisis).
No, in the days of sail when you needed men to operate the sails, you had the men to fight off Pirates, but the main reason Steam (And later Diesels) replaced sail was both steam and diesels powered ships could operate with much smaller crews (The increase speed of Steam ships over sailing ships was minor when it came to Cargo Ships, both went no more then about 10 knots, modern Diesels do better, but not by much, passenger ships went MUCH Faster but at the increase use of fuel, which is why Aircraft replaced them by 1960).
Please note I am looking at Minimum crew numbers, hopefully most ships carry crews over 12, but people cost money and the less people on a ship, the cheaper it is to operate, thus it looks like a dozen men in most ships with non-containerized ships having more men (Tanker may have the most do to the need to shift the oil around from one part of the ship's haul to another so to balance out the ship under heavy seas, which can vary in direction depending on where the tanker is on its voyage.
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