<p>The Press conference answers seem to be vague. They don’t want to give many specifics on the actual event. They did mention snipers. Everything else seems to remain rather vague at this point.</p>
<p>That Admiral is a patient, patient man. I would totally lose my cool with some of those reporters (one in particular was just annoying). He did get a little testy when he responded to a reporters question about whether the the Captain was tied up - I think the reporter meant ‘tied up when they went to get him’ but the Admiral took it as him being ‘tied up when they transported him’ and sounded really irritated. Pretty amazing that that was the only irritation he showed. Maybe they should have special medals for dealing with the press 
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<p>Yes, swimcatsmom, I totally agree - not every detail needs to be spilled out to the public!</p>
<p>our military ROCKS. proud department of defense employee here.</p>
<p>Go U.S. Navy, indeed. Well done.</p>
<p>Can anyone explain why these million dollar cargo ship don’t have armed guards?</p>
<p>This was asked this morning of someone official-looking on a news show, like a former admiral or something, but I was half asleep. His answer made no sense, saying that seagoing men don’t know how to shoot guns. Then, hire people who do! If I was on that ship I’d shoot anybody who came close.</p>
<p>ETA: Good job, SEALS! Somehow I knew this would turn out well. That captain had spunk!</p>
<p>Some news outlet was reporting from Kenya earlier this morning acting like since THEY didn’t know exactly where the lifeboat was, the US Navy might not, either, and the pirates might make it ashore with the captain. </p>
<p>I was pretty sure that our guys knew where everyone was TO THE CENTIMETER, and the pirate were never going to land with the captain.</p>
<p>GREAT JOB TO OUR TREMENDOUS U.S. NAVY and all involved!</p>
<p>Note to Somali Pirates - check the flag before boarding next time.</p>
<p>Such wonderful news!</p>
<p>Dare we hope that this will make some kind of dent in the piracy epidemic?</p>
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At some point in the press conference the Admiral said the lifeboat was actually being towed by the naval vessel at the time of the rescue because the sea conditions were deteriorating. The press conference got a bit confusing at times (possibly because I zoned out a little at some of the reporter’s questions) but I am pretty sure that is what he said.</p>
<p>I have been wondering what happened to the pirates original vessel. Has that ever been mentioned? I am not sure why they ended up in the lifeboat with the Captain and not in their own vessel.</p>
<p>The WSJ says they scuttled it, which is why they left the container ship in one of their lifeboats.</p>
<p>Seems like a huge ship could defend itself against scuttle-able little skiffs. Teargas? Bright lights at night?</p>
<p>OK, to answer my own question in part, I’m getting the impression that the shipping companies don’t want to spend the money to protect their own ships - they want somebody else to keep the seas clear. Shipping CO says it’s not their competence, would be a logistics nightmare to train everyone. Lt. Col says ‘they should be armed’. It makes you wonder how many ships they’d have to lose before they would see cost efficiencies.</p>
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<p>There are private companies that train crews how to deal with this situation and from I gather the crew did have some kind of training. Apparently a high pressured water hose will keep anyone from climbing up onto the ship, but they have to know that the pirates are there and boarding.</p>
<p>We were speculating that perhaps this incident will lead to specialized security being hired onto these ships as the cost of delays and the like was surely steep. The US Marines guard Navy ships, so there are a lot of Marines who are no longer active duty or reserves with the very training and experience to guard these ships, ready to go.</p>
<p>Pretty hard to hold a hose while some guys are spraying you with AK47 fire. Those guns use bigass bullets.</p>
<p>Good point, barrons!</p>
<p>But if the hose is motion-triggered (like a ScareCrow animal deterrent sprinkler), it can work.</p>
<p>How about that private security force that handles security for big wigs who visit Iraq? </p>
<p>Looks like the cargo ships are being taught to play the “armadillo” defense. Crew shuts down the engines and barricades themselves in the engine room. Pirates can’t operate the ship without the crew, so they can’t take the ship away. No human hostages to ransom. The crew calls out for help and then waits for the big boys to come and rescue.</p>