High Drama on the High Seas

Piracy on the high seas: It’s dramatic, suspenseful and dangerous — and it’s a foe the U.S. Navy and international naval forces have been battling for as long as ships have crossed the ocean.

Somali pirates trawling for treasure have captured at least a half-dozen cargo vessels in the last week alone.

The reason the ever-growing, low-tech problem of piracy now dominates U.S. headlines is only because of the latest capture April 8, that of an American cargo vessel Maersk Alabama and its captain-turned-hostage, Richard Phillips.

Truth is, the pirates are now holding 54 captives for ransom, in addition to Phillips.

Enter the U.S. Navy, which has prioritized anti-piracy efforts in a big way in recent years. Why? Because just as the demand has increased for products from overseas, including oil, so has the potential for ransom from commercial shipping companies, many of which are willing to pay pirates rather than fight or risk harm to their loot or crews.

Look, the world is seven-tenths water. There’s no way to patrol millions of square miles of seas simultaneously. Some of the world’s major shipping channels travel through five relatively tiny “choke points” or narrow passages that can’t be avoided to get from there to here.

Pirates know where to lay in waiting for some vulnerable, unarmed vessel with a sparse crew to pass through — and then cha-ching. It’s payday.

In January, the U.S. Navy established Task Force 151, a multinational coalition of naval forces set up to combat piracy.

Individual vessels also take on pirates, and sometimes win. Tactics to ward off would-be pirates have included spraying them with fire hoses and stretching barbed wire along the sides of ships to prevent pirates from boarding.

Pirates, on the other hand, are savvy operators and the most recent outcome involving Captain Phillips is still to be determined.