Arming Vessels to Combat Piracy
A top Navy commander suggested that commercial vessels should arm themselves when traveling through pirate-infested waters off the Somali coast. Navy Adm. Mark P. Fitzgerald, commander of U.S. naval forces in Europe and Africa and of NATO’s Allied Joint Task Force Command Naples, told Pentagon reporters that the scope of the piracy problem is too great to be policed by military vessels alone. On an average day, 30 to 40 ships comprising international maritime forces monitor pirate activity in the Somali basin and the western Indian Ocean, Fitzgerald said, adding that five to 10 of these ships at any given time are American vessels. Another issue, the admiral said, is what to do with pirates who are captured.
Secretary Gates Addresses Piracy
The U.S. military's rescue of a kidnapped American ship captain was textbook, but the issue of piracy is likely to worsen in the absence of a systemic solution, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said April 13. Off the Somali coast yesterday, U.S. special operations snipers on the USS Bainbridge shot and killed three pirates who had held hostage the captain of the Maersk-Alabama cargo ship on a lifeboat for five days. Military officials said Capt. Richard Phillips' life was in imminent danger at the time of his rescue. "It was textbook," Gates said of the operation. "They were patient. Gates, speaking at the Marine Corps War College here…