If the four guys in the boat without any gas kill the US Captain, they have no bargaining chips. I seriously doubt the USN will allow these other pirate boats anywhere near the stranded boat. And like other hostage situations, when the hostage holder starts killing folks, then you must respond with force to save as many hostages as you can.
It’s not what the USN suggests or this would have been over days ago. It’s how our black Jimmy Carter micromanages it.
It would just take one pirate boat to fire on the US Navy to justify return fire. Hmmmmmm
Do they have to be nearby to make threats? Bring out a half dozen European hostages, shoot one of them and then threaten to shoot more if the boat with the ship captain's kidnappers isn't allowed to go to shore. That leaves Obama, who is loved by Euros, to either capitulate or to say that the life of one American is worth more than a stack of Europeans. I don't see Bowing Barack doing that.