Jeff in TD

Big thumbs up to the Captain, too, putting his life on the line for the safety of the crew.

As far as what took so long, I suspect this was the first opportunity the Seals had to snipe all the pirates on the lifeboat at once... Popping one or two of them, or advancing on the life boat I would think would not have ended well for the Captain.

Anyway, the pirates are IMHO just criminals, and I think we need to start dealing with them with state of war type rules of engagement- once you identify a small boat as being full of pirates (guns and ladders instead of fishing gear) gun them down. If they launched from a mother ship, torpedo time...

I do see US mma's point, though. Somalia sounds like a total poverty ridden lawless armpit, and I can see how someone there would be tempted after seeing their buddies get millions, a ticket out of a dead end life for himself and his family... Doesn't make it right, tho...

Raspy

I can't see why the crew of the ship was not armed. Issue each one a 45 and let them use those instead of fire hoses to fend off boarders!

It's definately time to get serious with this piracy thing. It's just going to keep getting more and more dangerous and more often till they get the message that the crews or whoever will not put up with it and more pirates die trying.

Maybe we need a couple security guys, heavily armed on each ship passing through the area. Forget the firehoses nonsense!

klx650a2

I was happily surprised to see this administration take some action. A message needed to be sent, especially after they dropped the demand for money and said they would release the captain.

Nice shooting... practice makes perfect!!!

Hoss

Or just arm the ships with a few of these...



See pirates drive little boat up to big ship. Drop one over side. Watch pirates sink.

PistolWhipt

I would imagine that they were waiting on a full check of intelligence regarding the ship load of other "hostages" that was going to be used as a human shield. That would've been a good op if you could safe all of them as well.
Probably turned out to be bogus so they sniped these guys ... nobody likes to go hunting and come home with your tag on an empty bag .

All in a days work for a Navy SEAL !! Proud of ya, boys !!

Cheers,
PISTOL

Jeff in TD

Regarding arming the ship guys with handguns, I think that would be worth while, but I'd hate to be the guy with a handgun going up against folks that often have machine guns and/or rocket propelled grenades.

I'm thinking we might need to do something similar to the old Iraq "No Fly Zone".

Like say, no boat that came from Somalia can go more than 2 miles from shore without specific approval, or it will be destroyed.

The threat to international shipping and commerce that these pirates cause can not be allowed to continue, and until the Somali government steps up and controls their criminals, someone else has to...

Stamey

The thing for me is the skill of those Seal Snipers. You have 2 boats rocking and bobbing at different rates, especially due to the massive difference in size, and 3 men with sufficient skill to take all of that rocking, windage, etc. into account and all simultaneously shoot to take out 3 targets. It's not like they were in a harbor.
To me, THAT inspires awe.
Perhaps that one reason it took so long. I would imagine that's a difficult shot at any distance, and previously they were too far away to be sure they could make those shots count and keep the captain safe. They said on the news that as the Bainbridge towed them to "calmer waters" is was also slowly shortening the tow line, bringing the boat closer to the snipers.

Chris

ramlovingvet

Some of the Best and It Shows. to Bad Top was Busy that day =o)

Jeff in TD

Seals are generally amazingly highly trained, tough mentally and physically.

After being in an enclosed life boat while 3 people got sniped, I'd bet the Captain needed a shower...

Raspy

Hard to imagine being held captive on the high seas. Days go by with life ready to end at any moment. Guns held on me. Then bam, bam, bam and three dead guys shot in the head right next to me.

Wow, when America comes to the rescue it's a powerful and proud moment. And as said earlier, shots like that from boat to boat, on the water, and to the head. Impressive!

Really brings home how Americans are one family and ready to step up for each other when needed. Ready and able. Anywhere.

CamperAndy

The reason they are not armed is because other countries do not normally see a legal reason for civilians to have guns. So any guns on board would get confiscated when they pulled into port.

What we need is a few decoy freighters armed to the teeth and with camera's. Have them limp by and when the pirates come along side blow them the hell up and send the video to shore so they can see what happens to pirates. It will stop sooner then later.

Jeff in TD

Apparently they've been running Scan Eagles quite a bit over there.

If they see some small boat with ladders and guns instead of fishing gear and nets, that would be good enough for me to engage them.

D2 Cat

Trump was on ABC this AM telling about his new book, but they asked him about the pirate situation. He said the ships should have weapons. It made no sense to have a ship overcome by such a small boat/crew. He said arm them! It was the insurance companies that didn't allow the guns. Now the ins. co. have to insure boats overtaken because they didn't allow guns!!

bullfrog5.9

thats the way it should be

i find it funny that there are real pirates out there in todays world

patdaly

If nothing else, they could have each ship carry a couple of remote control drone boats.

A couple pounds of high explosives detonated should deter most any threat.

You could send the welcoming party out, and should they not be a threat, recall it at any time.