While this is a very happy ending to this horrible crime, I am concerned with what will happen next time.

This is a trick you can only pull once. :(

Very happy the Captain was rescued. :salute:

Huzzah to the SEALS:salute:

Doubt it. They aren't smart enough to think it might happen again.

-S

Somebody needs to find their mothership, and put 2 mk 48s into it! Pirate problem resolved.:yeah:

Not in the least bit.

These pirates are criminals but there are root causes that will only ensure many generations of pirates to come. Because pirating gets them many many times the amount any jobs in their homelands give.

The only way to win this war is to get a government in that can establish a coast guard and get their waters and ports back from the hands of the pirates.

Agreed. Also, it serves to demonstrate to other pirates what they can expect when taking for ransom the crew of a US-flagged vessel. These guys are motivated only by money, not ideology. In this case, they recieved no money and three lost their lives in the process. Good show, Navy.

Shooting the crew doesn't get them anywhere. To make their money, they must ransom either the crew, the cargo or the ship itself. What, are four guys going to just going to operate a container ship by themselves?

Speaking of lost at sea! Long time, no see Mr. Takeda

Yeah, I got a job on this container ship, and you just wouldn't believe what happened...

Hats off to the USA for being a country with a no nonsense attitude to these pirate scumbags. Hopefully the rest of the world will take heed of there lead, When it comes to deal with scum like this.

Good result. Every nation should be following America's example in this particular case. The message needs to be "Become a pirate, become dead."

True. One reason the pirates have been so successful at getting ransoms is that they've treated the crews well. If they start killing the crews they won't get anything except a ship they can't use and a bunch of cargo that they don't want.

It sounds like Obama gave the order to shoot if the captain's life was in danger, and the US sailors decided that the pirates were about to shoot. Fortunately, our guys didn't miss. Some reports have said that the captain started the whole thing when he tried to swim away, but that hasn't been confirmed. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7996213.stm

The crew itself's probably not worth that much money - Easily replaced, probably don't work directly for the shipowner, and most of them are from countries where tort laws aren't up to US standards anyway. (It's probably not the country where the ship's registered, probably not the country where the company owning the ship is based and definetly not the country where the guy owning the ship lives...)

The only difference it might make is that the navy would be a lot more open to shooting, althought that would piss off the owners handsomely.

As for operating the ship, yes, four guys could do it. Especially if one of them has some engineering knowledge, or if they keep one of the engineers around to get the engine going.

When I was in nautical school, there were a lot of second and third hand stories going around of pirates offing the entire crew, or at least the captain and the chief engineer as an example. Don't know how much of that was campfire stories and how much was truth, but the stories were floating around.

Anyway, we'll find out soon enough if the pirates have changed their MOs...

It seems that the pirates do not attack in force. Why not just TRY to get every nation which is running cargo ships in the area to start randomly putting marines on them? Eventually the pirates will run into a very big problem for themselves. They won't know which ships are crewed with highly trained, well armed military and this should act as a deterrant at least.

For this to work I have to take the more violent side of things and say take no prisoners. Shoot them on sight and pursue them until they are dead :stare:. Until they learn piracy = death then they will continue to do as they do. I'd have thought that in boarding a ship you would be at the tactical disadvantage so any casualties on the marines' side should be minimal.

Between the US and the UK we've got plenty of troops in backwater countries that we had no business getting into in the first place, so why not Somalia as well? At least our men would be doing something productive for a change and it would be good training for our collective marine infantries.

Really, and sadly, these pirates do deserve to get shot for what they put merchant sailors and their families through.

No, the pirates have pretty significant technological sophistication with all things considered. With their satellite phones and laptops, news is probably spreading pretty quickly between the pirate communities. So while they may not fall for the same trick twice, it is a double-edged sword because a) this situation was extremely unusual anyway and has never happened before in recent history and b) news of the military's firm handling is also circulating; the deterrent is starting to gain credibility.

These kinds of events were not unusual about 20-30 years ago when piracy was a bit bigger around Latin America and the west coast of Africa. Rapes, murders, and assaults were a little more common, especially in attacks on ships anchored in port. For good and fairly graphic accounts of these kinds of violent attacks may I recommend Piracy Today: Robbery and Violence at Sea Since 1980 by the late Cpt. Roger Villar. Villar compiled several pretty thrilling reports of raids on yachts and other pleasure craft that end tragically.

Modern piracy is a pretty bloodless affair, though. Casualties to piracy in the last five years are in the single digits. As someone else said (maybe Takeda), they are not ideologically motivated. To inflict mass casualties is not an objective.

Yeah, the figures for the first quarter of 2009 should be out in the next few months.

I'm afraid I have to correct you. The French have been carrying out commando raids for a while, maybe not as immediately dramatic as the Americans but equally gutsy. Unfortunately, the last one just a few days ago didn't go quite as planned and led to a hostage KIA. I don't think the commandos would object if the pirates get hanged at the yardarm for murder.

Regardless, that was an extremely bold play on the US part that paid off. Now, if all hands will brace and stick to the guns when the rather noisy threats of retaliation come, I think the antipiracy mission is in good shape.

You won't believe, but the French have been dealing with them the same way for some time now, and have several succesful "anti-pirate" ops under their belt. The most recent was just days ago, and while four hostages were rescued one was unfortunately killed.

Maybe the French have run out of white flags :D

edit: Damnit, just a bit too slow

I think India has also attacked a ship or two a few months ago.

Great job! Now we need to Make an international kill zone saying that any unknown vessal will be sunk 50 miles or more off shore on sight. Time to get hard with these thugs. And also why are we feeding them. Sorry if you cant feed em, dont breed em. Enough of this "we are the world crap." Nature is a cruel mistress and its time we let her run her course. Cause giving aid is one thing, Giving endless aid without fixing the underlying problems is another.