Why the Navy Kicks Butt

From Centcom:

U.S. Navy Captures Suspected Pirates Off Somali Coast

MANAMA, Bahrain – At approximately 3 p.m. local time today, Jan. 21, the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet captured a group of suspected pirates in the Indian Ocean, approximately 54 miles off the central eastern coast of Somalia.

After receiving a report of an attempted act of piracy from the International Maritime Bureau in Kuala Lumpur on the morning of Jan. 20, the guided missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81) and other U.S. naval forces in the area located the vessel of the suspected pirates and reported its position. Churchill then shadowed the suspect pirate vessel through the night and into the morning hours of Jan. 21.

Summary of what happened after that:

Churchill radios to the ship and gets no response.

Churchill moves to block the ship but they keep going on course.

Churchill fires off a warning shot.

Pirates stop their ship.

Churchill calls to the pirates telling them to send their crew over on a boat that they are towing.

Pirates hesitate.

Churchill fires off more warning shots.

Pirates pee pants and start heading over to the Churchill.

It would only have been better if after they captured the pirates, they sunk the vessel and made the pirates watch as it fell beneath the waves. Go Navy!

Linked to Basil's Blog, Jo's Cafe, Point Five