PIRATES! U.S. Navy Saves N.Korean Ship off Somalia

Pirates!

Admit it! Just the word makes blood quicken and the keys type a bit faster. Pirates are back in the news: the U.S. Navy played the part of the British Navy during the 17th and 18th centuries and rescued a ship from--Pirates!

While crew members battled pirates hand-to-hand on the ship, the U.S. also played the part of the U.S. Cavalry and came to the rescue from--Pirates!

CNN had the best lead paragraph, so we'll start there.

The crew members of a North Korean freighter regained control of their ship from pirates who hijacked the vessel off Somalia, but not without a deadly fight, the U.S. Navy reported Tuesday.

When the battle aboard the Dai Hong Dan was over, two pirates were dead and five were captured, the Navy said.

Three wounded crew members from the cargo ship were being treated aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS James E. Williams.

The captured pirates were being held aboard the North Korean vessel, the Navy said.

The bandits had seized the ship's bridge, while the crew kept control of the steering gear and engines, the Navy said.

Pirates!

We get the background story from The AP:

A U.S. Navy destroyer helped sailors who retook control of their vessel Tuesday in a deadly battle with pirates after the North Korean-flagged ship was hijacked in the piracy-plagued waters off Somalia, the American military said.

The Navy also confirmed that other American warships sank two pirate skiffs late Sunday after answering a distress call from a hijacked Japanese chemical tanker and said U.S. ships were still monitoring that vessel.

In Tuesday's incident, a helicopter flew from the destroyer USS James E. Williams to investigate a phoned-in tip of a hijacked ship and demanded by radio that the pirates give up their weapons, the military said in a statement.

The crew of the Dai Hong Dan then overwhelmed the hijackers, leaving two pirates dead, according to preliminary reports, and five captured, the military said.

Three seriously injured crew members were taken aboard the Williams, the statement said. The captured pirates remained on the Dai Hong Dan, which the crew was returning to the port of Mogadishu, Somalia's capital.

"When we get a distress call, we help," said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, spokeswoman for the U.S. 5th Fleet, told The Associated Press by telephone from Manama, Bahrain.

It's hard to concentrate on the wrap-up here; must be the schoolboy coming out. When one played Cowboys and Indians, Hide-and-Seek and--Pirates!

by Mondoreb
& Little Baby Ginn
[image:myspace]



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