I think that depends on whether the intent is to arrest the criminals and press charges or to rescue the hostages and hold funerals (Lord, we send these otherwise worthless pirate bodies to feed your undersea critters, the first and only good they will have done with their lives. Amen). In both cases, there is an advantage to getting assets in place and allowing fatigue to build, but with the second option and skilled shooters you gain less. Dead pirates are a whole lot easier to control during a rescue than living "suspects".
Well, consider two clear advantages that the Navy was able to do, by following through with this procedure that I outlined above.
One, they were able to gain the confidence of the pirate *enough* to have the pirates allow the U.S. Navy to “tow them” and the lifeboat they were on. This one thing, alone, put those pirates within about 25 yards of the Navy vessel. That, by itself, improved the odds of success greatly.
And then, another thing that they did (again, from following these kinds of procedures) was that they were able to have one pirate be *confident enough* to stay on board the US Navy ship, while his compatriots were still in the lifeboat.
This made it so that there were now *only* three pirates on the lifeboat, instead of four (as there was before). So, you have two things that happen as a result of that. You have it happen that you see *all three* at the same time more often that you’ll see *all four* at the same time. More opportunities for shots.
And then, secondly, you have a *higher degree of success* for only taking out “three” than you have for taking out “four” — all at the same time.
So, you see..., with patience and negotiating, you increase your odds greatly and contribute to a successful operation...