Brits blast out Britney to scare pirates

Britney at her scariest in BBC Radio 1 Halloween video

OCTOBER 31, 2013 — British merchant vessels are using LRADs (Long Range Acoustic Devices) to blast out Britney Spears hits to deter pirate attacks. The news, which has been widely reported in the media, first broke on The Metro.

It quotes merchant navy officer Rachel Owens as saying that Spears’s chart-toppers Oops! I Did It Again and Baby One More Time have proved to be the most effective at keeping the bandits at bay.

Second Officer Owens, who works on supertankers off the east coast of Africa, said: “Her songs were chosen by the security team because they thought the pirates would hate them most. These guys can’t stand Western culture or music, making Britney’s hits perfect.”

Asked to comment by Marine Log, Ron Thomason of Ft. Lauderdale, FL, based Security Dynamics LLC said the choice of songs was likely more a matter of the security team’s musical taste “or lack thereof.”