Happy Easter: Capt. Richard Phillips has been safely rescued!

[Ninong]

U.S. Navy Has Rescued Capt. Richard Phillips

The Navy news conference has just started. One 16-yr-old Somali pirate surrendered earlier by transferring from the lifeboat to a Navy inflatible that was very near the lifeboat. The other three were taken out by Navy sharpshooters after they continued to threaten Capt. Phillips' life with their AK47's. Navy seals took part in this rescue.

The Navy snipers that took out the three Somali pirates were located on the USS Bainbridge.

Capt. Phillips is safe and sound and he is in good physical condition. It is a very Happy Easter indeed!

[Ninong]

The 16-year-old Somali pirate who surrendered earlier is one who had gotten into a scuffle on the Maersk Alabama sustaining a stab wound to his hand. He asked for medical attention to his wound when the Navy inflatible was delivering food to the lifeboat. That pirate was transferred to the Bainbridge for medical attention. While aboard the Bainbridge, this young pirate told the Navy that he was not interested in going back to the lifeboat. He had had enough and wanted to surrender.

The three Somali pirates who were taken out simultaneously by Navy sharpshooters just happened to all have their heads and shoulders exposed at the same time, offering a target of opportunity to the snipers on board the Bainbridge. One of the pirates had an AK47 pointed at Capt. Phillips' back. The Navy was under orders from President Obama to take decisive action if the captain's life was in danger and if an opportunity for action presented itself. It did and the Navy did the job.

[Ninong]

I feel so much better now that this situation has been resolved with the safe return of the captain. I'm sure all of you feel the same way.

This has been bothering me for days. I'm so happy right now.

[DarthClownfish]

Very good news. What about the skill of our servicemen? Sniping pirates from the deck of a destroyer - which is rolling in the sea, as were their targets. Amazing, and good, story

[zhenya]

Having spent three years on a destroyer in my haydays.., I can salute anyone who can snipe anyone from more than 600 yards. I'm mostly blind you see....

I thought we put some sort of stamp on those pirates in Somalia.., didn't we?

[TimH07]

these snipers deserve a medal, i can shoot a dime at a rather good distance and i know that like darthclownfish stated, rolling targets on a moving deck ..... simultainously is amazing.

[Ninong]

Yes, it truly is amazing. Their sniper rifles have auto-stabilizing mounts to deal with the moving deck. It's still amazing.

[metalhead]

Yes, it truly is amazing. Their sniper rifles have auto-stabilizing mounts to deal with the moving deck. It's still amazing.

Yes, auto-stabilizing gyro mounts and also auto-windage scopes now... not to downplay the skill of our boys here but a 5 year old could make a 600yd shot with these new "shy-tech" rigs if you could teach him/her trigger squeeze. In Afganistan there have been reports of kill shots made from over 2000yds (yes that's more than a mile)!!! From the deck of a moving ship though, that's another matter altogether. I'm glad these guys are on our side!

[Ninong]

Check this out:

Three gunshots. All three fatal. Fired in the dark by three specially trained U.S. Navy SEALs as the pirates' boat rocked in the water off Somalia.

"Phenomenal shots -- 75 feet away," said Navy Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, who oversees the region.

A senior defense official told CNN that each was a shot to the head.

[Ninong]

From the AP:

As night fell, the Bainbridge had the lifeboat under tow when two developments told the Navy the pirates might be getting desperate, U.S. officials said in their reconstruction of events.

First, a tracer bullet arced from the lifeboat toward the Bainbridge.

Then, through one of the few openings on the lifeboat, Phillips could be seen with a gun pointed at him, almost touching him.
The risk seemed obvious, but what about opportunity? Clean lines of fire that would leave the pirates' captive safe were hard to come by when taking aim at the bubble.

Three Navy SEALs aboard the Bainbridge waited quietly in the darkness for that opportunity.

They had parachuted into the sea to join the destroyer, bringing to the scene a highly trained and thoroughly equipped unit of stealthy rescuers — and killers.

Now they were 25 or so yards from their targets, waiting.

The opportunity arrived. The three hostage-takers were observed with their heads and shoulders all exposed at once, said Vice Adm. William Gortney, commander of U.S. Naval Forces in the region.

Three shots rang out.

Three pirates were dead or rapidly dying.

Phillips was found safe, his hands bound.

It was actually even more stunning than that AP report according to the guy who runs the Merchant Marine Maritime Academy. Two of the pirates had their heads poking out of the same hatch. The third pirate was at the other end of the lifeboat but he could be seen through a glass window standing next to Capt. Phillips with an AK47 pointed at Phillips, almost touching him.

All three shots were head shots but one of those shots was through the glass!

[TimH07]

that doesnt sound right, 75 feet? the earlier reports were that the bainbridge kept out of the ak-47s reach to avoid the gunmen from firing at them. to come within 75 feet just doesnt sound right, sounds more like 250 meters not 25 .....

edit i just read it, i didnt realize they had the lifeboat in tow to calmer waters.

[Ninong]

I have heard speculation from high ranking naval officers that it was deliberately towed close behind the ship to keep it in the calmer waters inside the ship's wake and to make it a better target for the snipers. On the other hand, I agree that 25-30 yards sounds awfully close but that's the estimate that they keep repeating.

The other point that's confusing is whether the front window on the lifeboat was open or closed. One navy captain said that the shot through the window was "through glass" but no one else has said anything about glass, just "through the window." One more point of confusion is which hatch the two pirates had their heads and shoulders sticking out of. The navy captain who said one shot was "through glass" said that the other two pirates were both poking out of the rear hatch, not that it makes a whole lot of difference.

Three shots, three kills, all head shots in three-foot seas. Pretty remarkable if you ask me.

[Ninong]

How hard is it to shoot someone in a lifeboat 100 feet away?

In that article someone from GPS Defense Sniper School talks about how sniper rifles work. I don't think his explanation is complete. He said nothing about the most advanced auto-stabilizing sniper mounts that were almost certainly in action for that operation. Maybe he didn't want to have to explain how they work lest he disclose too much information?

It's an interesting article but he said absolutely nothing about the latest advances in sniper rifle technology. I guess that's considered classified information. No need to let all the idiots out there know just how easy it is to pick them off from half a mile away.

What the merchant ships should do is carry a team of three or four qualified individuals fully armed for any possible attacks. We should publicly announce that no skiffs or other potentially threatening boats will be allowed within 500 meters. Any boats seen approaching within one kilometer will be warned to turn around. If they don't, they will be blown out of the water at 500 meters.

We probably can't do anything about insurance companies paying off these pirates because we can't regulate foreign insurance companies. We might be able to make it illegal for any insurance carrier insuring an American-flagged vessel to pay ransom but there are really very few American-flagged vessels.

The problem with trying to take out the 'pirate dens' is that they live with their families and we would be taking out more women and children than actual pirates. We're not about to put boots on the ground in Somalia, so any military action would have to be from the air. At least I don't think we're about to put boots on the ground in Africa. I certainly hope not. And any air strikes would almost certainly end up killing a whole lot of innocent children.

Taking out individuals in the act of attempted piracy is one thing but killing a lot of innocent women and children in Africa would be an international Page Ranking disaster of unbelievable proportions.

Maybe we should hunt down their mother ships on the high seas and blow them out of the water? As long as we have proof that that's what they're engaging in, we should blow them away. That might discourage them some.

The pirate leaders have publicly threatened future attacks against American vessels and crews in revenge for the killing of the three hostage-takers. You might consider that the pirate equivalent of a declaration of war. Why give them the opportunity to carry out their threats?

Three more ships have been hijacked in that area just since the rescue of Capt. Phillips. Two hundred ships have been attacked since 2008, including 67 vessels attacked since the beginning of 2009.

It is estimated that their total haul so far is more than $100 million, possibly as high as $200 million.

[Ninong]

THE TIMELINE:

After shadowing the Maersk Alabama through the Indian Ocean for several hours, the four pirates crept aboard the ship on Wednesday, but the 20-man American crew fought back. Captain Phillips offered himself up as a hostage in order to ensure the safety of his crew, and the pirates took him along as they fled in the ship's motorized lifeboat.

Soon after, the Navy destroyer USS Bainbridge arrived on the scene, with FBI hostage negotiators on board. "According to Somali elders...in the coastal fishing village of Harardhere,the pirates were demanding $6 million in ransom and safe passage to shore in exchange for Phillips's release."

The local elders said the negotiations collapsed Friday over whether the pirates would be arrested. On Friday, Obama received several briefings on the situation, and the White House said the president gave "the Department of Defense policy guidance and certain authorities to allow U.S. forces to engage in potential emergency actions."

On Saturday evening, "dozens of Navy SEALs parachuted from C-17 transport aircraft into the sea, making their way with inflatable Zodiacs to the Bainbridge."

The pirates were induced to accept a tow when their lifeboat ran out of fuel far from the Somali coast. On Sunday, monitoring the lifeboat through rifle scopes, Navy SEAL snipers watched as two pirates raised their heads out of a lifeboat hatch, with "the third pirate moved toward the captain, pointing his AK-47 at his back. Thinking Phillips was about to be killed, the on-scene commander gave the snipers the order to fire."

[Ninong]

Remember the MV Sirius Star?

Saudi Aramco paid a $3 million ransom to get that ship and crew back. That was a brand new (less than a year old) oil tanker worth about $150 million carrying $100 million worth of oil. It was en route from Saudi Arabia to the United States when it was hijacked. That vessel flies a Liberian flag, like the majority of merchant vessels. Libera has virtually no restrictions or requirements.

[Ninong]

Pirates attack U.S. cargo ship but fail to get aboard

(CNN) -- The Liberty Sun, a U.S.-flagged cargo ship bound for Mombasa, Kenya, was attacked Tuesday by Somali pirates, according to a NATO source with direct knowledge of the matter.

"The pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at the vessel, which sustained damage," said a statement from New York-based Liberty Maritime Corporation, which owns the vessel.

The ship was carrying U.S. food aid for African nations, the statement said.

The pirates never made it onto the ship and the vessel is now being escorted by a coalition ship, still bound for Mombasa, officials said.

Katy Urbik of Wheaton, Illinois, said her son, Thomas, was aboard the Liberty Sun at the time of the attack. She shared the e-mails he sent as the ship came under fire.

"We are under attack by pirates, we are being hit by rockets. Also bullets," said one e-mail sent Tuesday afternoon. "We are barricaded in the engine room and so far no one is hurt. [A] rocket penetrated the bulkhead but the hole is small. Small fire, too, but put out.

"Navy is on the way and helos and ships are coming. I'll try to send you another message soon. [G]ot to go now. I love you mom and dad and all my brothers and family."

You can read the rest here.