U.S. Navy Be Doing Today?

¶ … U.S. Navy be doing today?

The question asked in the title of this paper is a good one. Of course the U.S. Navy should be following its mission statement as closely as possible: "The Mission of the Navy is to maintain, train, and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression and maintaining freedom of the seas" (http://www.navy.mil). But moreover, there are other things the Navy can do and in many cases is doing today, and those will be reviewed in this paper.

The Navy -- What Should it be focused on in 2012?

The Navy is doing a great service to many countries in the world by coming to the aid of vessels in the high seas that are being attacked by pirates. Countless times Somali pirates have attacked ships and taken the people on board as hostages. According to Coastweek.com, Somali pirates are currently holding nearly 200 hostages. The European Union (EU) has a group of countries that have banded together to form "EU Navel Force Somalia"; the group released a statement (published by Xinhua) that indicates there are "…currently 199 men and one woman held hostage in Somalia following the pirating of their ships in the Indian Ocean" (www.coastweek.com).

The pirates hold hostages, control vessels, and demand ransom for the safe return of these captured civilians and their vessels. There is some evidence that hostages have been abused, even tortured. Overall an estimated 2,317 merchant seamen have been held hostage by these pirates for an average of five months, according to the EU statement.

The point here is, the U.S. Navy has intercepted a number of pirate attacks and it should continue to be vigilant in that regard. The Navy cannot patrol all the high seas looking for these scoundrels, but when a call for help is heard, the Navy should -- and does -- respond with all due haste and uses force if necessary. That brings up another question. When the Navy encounters pirate terrorists, should those pirates be killed on the spot?

There is a Combined Task Force 150 currently sailing in the Gulf of Aden (the site of most pirates' activities); this group is dominated by the U.S. Navy, and on December 19 the U.S. Navy intercepted a group of pirates and stopped a hijacking / hostage-taking event before it could become lethal. The Nordic Apollo vessel radioed for help on Monday, December 19, indicating that it was being fired on by pirates in a small skiff, according to Philip Ewing, writing in www.military.com. The U.S.S. Pinckney responded with a helicopter (an MH-60R Seahawk), saw the pirates' skiff, and hovered over them. The pirates threw their weapons into the sea, along with their ladders. Soon the Pinckney arrived, launched a small boat and basically disarmed the pirates and threw one of their outboard motors overboard, leaving them just enough power and enough gasoline to get back to Somalia (Ewing).

Should the Navy have shot the pirates dead on the spot, sunk their boat and sent a message to other pirates? Probably their orders are not to kill unless the pirates are threatening the lives of innocent civilians. But the point is, the Navy is doing a wonderful job against this threat and it should continue to do so. The pirates are becoming bolder; the Navy should respond.