USS Halyburton (FFG-40)
Posted on 04/10/2009 5:06:42 AM PDT by IrishMike
American Captain Tries Daring Escape from Somali Pirates
Both Sides Send Reinforcements to Pirate Standoff
The American captain being held hostage by Somali pirates dove into the water during the night in an attempt to escape, but was quickly recaptured, Defense Department officials said today.
The daring overnight escape attempt by Capt. Richard Phillips was the Vermont sailor's latest bit of heroics in the four day old drama on the high seas 300 miles from the nearest coastline.
Phillips had earlier volunteered to be a hostage after his unarmed men took back their freighter, the Maersk Alabama, from the pirates. The captain stepped forward to be a hostage to avoid a bloody battle with the gun toting pirates.
Phillips, 53, didn't get far in his effort to single handedly end the standoff. He was quickly recaptured by the four pirates in the 28-foot open lifeboat. The pirates, out of gas but armed with AK-47 rifles, insist on taking Phillips back to Somalia to hold him for ransom.
Tensions escalated around the little boat today with both sides sending reinforcements to the scene.
The U.S. destroyer Bainbridge has been keeping an eye on the four pirates in recent days and is being joined by another warship, the Halyburton, which carries two helicopters.
The pirates also claim to be sending reinforcements, hijacked ships with their captured crews as human shields.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
This makes me furious. You can bet that when the captain made a break for it he thought enough time had gone by that his government had a plan to take down the pirate SOBs and rescue him and that all he needed to do was give them the space. Damn!
U.S. Navy Enlisted Medical Personnel Killed in Action
American Civil War (1861-1865), 6
Spanish-American War (1898), 3
World War I (1917-1918), 20
Nicaragua (1932), 1
World War II (1941-1945), 1,170
Korean War (1950-1954), 108
Dominican Republic (1965), 1
Vietnam War (1962-1975), 638
Beirut, (1983), 15
First Gulf War (1990-1991), 0
Afghanistan (2001–present), 7
Iraq War (2003-present), 30
Total, 1,999
Decorations of Valor Awarded to Hospital Corpsmen
Medal of Honor, 22
Navy Cross, 174
Distinguished Service Cross (United States Army), 31
Silver Star, 946
Bronze Star, 1,582
check
Honestly this guy is suppossed to face down the Russians..Chinese..N.Koreans.....Oh..GOD please help us!!
Of course he wouldn’t, after all he let the domestic piracy group ACORN rob the election from the American people by letting the welfare moms, illegal aliens, crackheads, stealth jihadists, handwringing, teary-eyed liberals register!
USS Halyburton (FFG-40)
“That man SWORE to protect the United States from enemies foreign and domestic.”
And he pretty much flubbed that one, IIRC/s;)
All that firepower, and the military can’t lift a finger except on Zero’s orders. Sometimes I wish there was a way to override civilian control of the military, at least temporarily- I doubt the Framers ever envisioned a clueless socialist appeaser sock-puppet of doubtful nationality in the White House!
If it spreads maybe 0 will be forced to say something.
It was time to snipe last night. We have night vision and the advantage. As soon as he jumped overboard we should have struck the terrorists and had rescuers in the water.
Someone wasn’t watching. Botched negotiations from the WH. This will be Obama’s hostage crisis.
He bowed to the titular head of Whabbism. It serves only to embolden them. We did not attack the boat aggressively at once. The world knows he’s a wimp.
I knew the minute I saw his wife.
Correct, it is a game of chess and Barry is not up to checkers.
Let's think about this for a moment, people:
1. Saving the life of a hostage is always the first priority. Therefore, negotiations;
2. The pirates have probably demanded the Navy keep a certain distance or they kill the hostage;
3. The lifeboat is enclosed and on rolling seas and so would be the snipers, so that is not a solution;
4. SEALS are most likely not an option because any attempt to put a hole in the bottom would most likely be detected - dead hostage;
5. It's obvious that the hostage only got a number yards away before recapture, and that is not a time to starting strafing the area with M-60 fire from thousands of yards out. The hostage would probably get it along with the pirates;
6. No one is going to give the order to just blow it out of the water. See number 1.
Solution: Pay off the pirates, bring the man home to his family, and then send SpecOps into Eyl (sp) Somalia. I've read we have intel about their organization, and it is organized, and who some of these dirtbags are and where they live and operate.
Americans don’t negotiate with terrorists....or at least we used to not.
Sorry, the Teleprompter takes Fridays off.
These guys are just simple tribal thugs who want money. They have yet to show any political agenda nor have taken credit for any indiscriminate act of terrorism. They are the same as land-based kidnappers or hijackers for ransom money.
( Let the pirates get over the horizon and then blow them to hell.)
Surprised that the Navy ship didn’t have several night vision equipped sailors watching the lifeboat for just this contingency. In fact, I’m surprised that they didn’t have divers in the water near the boat to grab the captain once he was in the water and take him down below bullet range while sharing a regulator with him. Then have the gunners light up the lifeboat with 50 cals.
My thoughts exactly. I'll bet the Navy had orders to stand down from the current administration; otherwise they would have rescued the Captain.
Not to mention an enclosed bobbing lifeboat, and all (3) would have to be outside or dead hostage. Sniper fire doesn't seem possible.
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