[A Navy Vet]

"Let me get this straight. Captain Richard Phillips jumps out of the boat and begins swimming away leaving only terrorist pirates in the boat, yet the USS Bainbridge did not have the clearance to blow the pirate-filled boat out of the water?"

If the reports are true, this happened around midnight and it seems he only got yards away if he was immediately recaptured. That would not be a good time to be strafing the lifeboat with M-60 fire or blowing anything out of the water if you want to keep from killing the hostage. Also, I would think the pirates have the Navy maintaining a certain distance or dead hostage. I can understand why the Navy didn't open fire.

[Girlene]

From Fox News, Officials Say Pirate Fired Weapon in Captain's Failed Escape

"Defense officials say that one of the pirates holding an American captive fired an automatic weapon when the hostage tried to swim to safety.

Defense officials say it's not clear whether the pirate fired at the fleeing hostage, or into the air. The officials spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the sensitive, unfolding operation.

American cargo ship captain Richard Phillips of Underhill, Vt., jumped overboard overnight. He was apparently hoping to reach a U.S. warship standing guard several hundred yards away. The destroyer USS Bainbridge has rescue helicopters aboard, as well as lifeboats. The Bainbridge is keeping its distance, in part to stay out of the pirates' range of fire."

[CatoRenasci]

I understand there would be difficulties, but the instant he was in the water, snipers should have been suppressing any fire from the open hatch of the lifeboat while SEALS got the good captain out of harms way. They wouldn't have to hit the pirates to suppress their fire effectively. As soon as the captain and the SEALS were a safe distance, then they should have shredded the lifeboat and made sure the perps went down with it.