That's a holdover from the days when piracy was treated as something to be dealt with firmly and quickly. Take back the ship, hang the pirates. Better still, kill them before they can take control of a ship.
The rules have not kept up with the times.
If it were my call, I'd have US special forces board the ship by night, behead the pirates, hang their heads on the railings of the ship and then quietly slip back into the night. The sight of a few ‘pirated’ ships sailing into port with the severed heads of the pirates on display would have a chilling effect on future plans of would-be pirates.
Damn! I like how you think!
Civilized rules don’t work with barbarians.
As they rise to terrorize the world in many ways, we’d best
accept that.