November 18, 2009
Epic Fail: Second Terrorist Attack Maersk Alabama
NAIROBI, Kenya – Somali pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama on Wednesday for the second time in seven months, though private guards on board the U.S.-flagged ship repelled the attack with gunfire and a high-decibel noise device.The AP story is quick to raise the "guns are bad" angle and that the Captain of the another ship hijacked this week has died in captivity.....Pirates hijacked the Maersk Alabama last April and took ship captain Richard Phillips hostage, holding him at gunpoint in a lifeboat for five days. Navy SEAL sharpshooters freed Phillips while killing three pirates in a daring nighttime attack.
Four suspected pirates in a skiff attacked the ship again on Tuesday around 6:30 a.m. local time, firing on the ship with automatic weapons from about 300 yards (meters) away, a statement from the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain said.
An on-board security team repelled the attack by using evasive maneuvers, small-arms fire and a Long Range Acoustic Device, which can beam earsplitting alarm tones, the fleet said.
I'm not what the point is other than to try and downplay the effectiveness of the security measures that saved the Maersk Alabama this time.
Perhaps if the crew of the Theresa had been only lightly armed armed their captain would not be dead and the 28 North Korean crew would not be held hostage along with the ship?
