I don’t think your plan will work. Have you seen pics of that style lifeboat? Totally encapsulated to be seaworthy in the worst weather. It looks like a giant lozenge with only one hatch for entry/exit. You can’t see into it, so you couldn’t tell who’s who, even with infra red. I don’t think a half dozen “frogmen” are gonna pop outa the water and slit any throats. One or two would have to somehow open the hatch from outside, and either climb in and start shooting, or just open the hatch and shoot in. Neither way has much of a safety factor for the hostage. Now if you could get a flash-bang in, some time might be gained. But, again, the hatch is kinda high up on the enclosed side of the life boat. They’re gonna hear anyone coming on board.
The hostage managed to escape once. Before the bad guys could retrieve him, the hatch should have been illuminated and taking massive suppressive fire from .50MG and sniper rifles, while the SEALs pulled the captain out of the water. It was botched, probably as a result of Obama’s Carteresque rules of engagement.
What about this plan and I’m serious....
An American plane flies close enough with a banner message to the American Hostage to jump from the boat again. Meanwhile, our Navy seals would be close enough to detonate the pirate ship and blow it out of the water. The pirates would NOT be able to read the banner written in English, so in essence it would be a stealth operation between the seals at the ready to blow the boat and our American Hostage.
I don’t know....just thinking outside the box.
Subsurface SEAL drills small hole in lifeboat, pump in sleeping gas, situation over.
None of this is rocket science to our highly trained SpecOps teams. So clearly the only thing that is rocket science is the Amateur in Chief not knowing how to LEAD the Military and say, “Get our guy back, and report back to me when the job is finished. Followup orders will be to take out those pirates and their mother-ship, so begin making those plans now. After that, if any further pirate actions occur against Americans, notify me at once, because the gloves WILL come off at that point.”