Gentleman, and zoomies.
Through countless minutes of research, I have discovered, much to my suprise, that Soviet built Tango diesel electric subs are available for purchase.
While the price is a bit steep, 5 million american dollars, I feel that with a bit of enterprising free thinking will allow us to recoup the cost in as little as one year.
Considering the large amount of navy and military surplus available combined with our unique abilities to jury rig anything, I suggest that we purchase one of these submarines, do some creative re-engineering by adding two twin 8 inch twin mount turrets fore and aft, and go into the pirate business.
I am still trying to figure out how to make the sub invincable (however I am toying with the idea of multiple layers of empty beercans generated here at the bar or the old ground pounder standby of layers of sandbags) I am sure the problem is solvable.
Since we really dont want to hurt anyone, I suggest we limit our targets to the mega yachts of the filthy rich, and instead of threatening them with destruction, we hit them in the wallet. It is therefore my plan that instead of explosives, we use paint in all torpedos and cannons. The cost of repainting one of those yachts would probably get them to fork over the cash (no deepblue, we will not accept personal checks.)
I also believe that with the threat to the fancy paint jobs, most law enforcement and seagoing military branches will assume that the filthy rich yacht owners have had much to much to drink and therefore laugh off thier claims of being the victims of pirates.
As for the paint scheme of the submarine, I suggest fire engine red, red and black tiger stripes, even a rebirth of the 1960's tie die patterns.
jlf1961: I think that's a great idea! We'll name her the S.S. Skywalker. Of course DeepBlueWolf will have to be our skipper since he's the only officer here. And we'll all have to get used to his "pilot speak", i.e. "Climb" will mean "surface", "head for the deck" will mean "crash dive", and we'll probably have to install an ejector seat for him for when he yells "abandon ship!" Oh, one other thing, tell vietvettwo that he can't bring Mama Son with us unless she can cook.