Update On Seals Shooting of Pirates

[323ssplt]

This is an email that my father just sent me.

A fascinating

report. From friends who are the parents of a Navy

Seal. Subject: More SEAL Rescue

Details

This was received from a very high-placed source. His name is

redacted at his request.

Subject: The real story from active duty contacts

First though, let me orient you to familiarize you with the

"terrain."

In Africa from Djibouti at the southern end of the Red Sea eastward

through the Gulf of Aden to around Cape Guardafui at the easternmost tip

of Africa (also known as "The Horn of Africa") is about a 600 nm transit

before you stand out into the Indian Ocean. That transit is comparable

in distance to that from the mouth of the Mississippi at New Orleans to

the tip of Florida at Key West-- except that 600 nm over there is

infested with Somalia pirates.

Ships turning southward at the Horn of Africa transit the SLOC (Sea

Lane of Commerce) along the east coast of Somalia because of the

prevailing southerly currents there. It's about 1,500 nm on to Mombassa,

which is just south of the equator in Kenya. Comparably, that's about

the transit distance from Portland Maine down the east coast of the US

to Miami Florida. In other words, the ocean area being patrolled by our

naval forces off the coast of Somalia is comparable to that in the Gulf

of Mexico from the Mississippi River east to Miami then up the eastern

seaboard to Maine.

Second, let me globally orient you from our Naval Operating Base in

Norfolk, VA, east across the Atlantic to North Africa, thence across the

Med to Suez in Egypt, thence southward down the Red Sea to Djibouti at

the Gulf of Aden, thence eastward to round Cape Guardafui at the

easternmost tip of Africa, and thence southerly some 300 miles down the

east cost of Somali out into the high seas of the Indian Ocean to the

position of MV ALABAMA is a little more than 7,000 nm, and plus-nine

time-zones ahead of EST.

Hold that thought, in that, a C-17 transport averaging a little

better than 400 kts (SOG) takes the best part of 18 hours to make that

trip. In the evening darkness late Thursday night, a team of Navy SEALs

from Norfolk parachuted from such a C-17 into the black waters (no

refraction of light) of the Indian Ocean-- close-aboard to our 40,000

ton amphibious assault ship, USS BOXER (LHD 4), the flagship of our ESG

(Expeditionary Strike Group) in the AOR (Area Of Responsibility, the

Gulf of Aden). They not only parachuted in with all of their

"equipment," they had their own inflatable boats, RHIB's (Rigid Hull,

Inflatable Boats) with them for over-water transport. They went into

BOXER's landing dock, debarked, and staged for the rescue-- Thursday

night.

And, let me comment on time-late: In that the SEAL's quick

response-- departing ready-alert in less than 4 hours from Norfolk--

supposedly surprised POTUS's (President of the United States) staff,

whereas President Obama was miffed not to get his "cops" there before

the Navy. He reportedly questioned his staff, "Will 'my' FBI people get

there before the Navy does?" It took the FBI almost 12 hours to put

together a team and get them packed-up-- for an "at sea" rescue. The FBI

was trying to tell him that they are not practiced to do this-- Navy

SEALs are. But, BHO wanted the FBI there "to help," that is, carry out

the Attorney General's (his) orders to negotiate the release of Captain

Phillips peacefully-- because apparently he doesn't trust the military

to carry out his "political guidance."

The flight of the FBI's passenger jet took a little less than 14

hours at 500-some knots to get to Djibouti. BOXER'S helos picked them up

and transported them out to the ship. The Navy SEALs were already there,

staged, and ready to act by the time the FBI arrived on board later that

evening. Notably, the first request by the OSC (On Scene Commander) that

early Friday morning to take them out and save Captain Phillips was

denied, to wit: "No, wait until 'my' FBI people get there."

Third, please consider a candid assessment of ability that finds

that the FBI snipers had never practiced shooting from a rolling,

pitching, yawing, surging, swaying, heaving platform-- and, target--

such as a ship and a lifeboat on the high seas. Navies have been doing

since Admiral Nelson who had trained "Marines" to shoot muskets from the

ship's rigging-- ironically, he was killed at sea in HMS VICTORY at the

Battle of Trafalgar by a French Marine rifleman that shot him from the

rigging of the French ship that they were grappling alongside.

Notably, when I was first training at USNA many years ago, the Navy

was doing it with a SATU, Small Arms Training Unit, based at our Little

Creek amphib base. Now, Navy SEALs, in particular SEAL Team SIX, do that

training now, and hone their skills professionally-- daily. Shooting

small arms from a ship is more of an accomplished "Art Form" than it is

a practiced skill. When you are "in the bubble" and "in tune" with the

harmonic motion you find, through practice, that you are "able to put

three .308 slugs inside the head of a quarter at 100 meters, in day or

night-- or, behind a camouflaged net or a thin enclosure, such as a

superstructure bulkhead. Yes, we have the monocular scopes that can

"see" heat-- and, draw a bead on it. SEALs are absolutely expert at it--

with the movie clips to prove it.

Okay, now try to imagine patrolling among the boats fishing everyday

out on the Grand Banks off our New England coast, and then responding to

a distress call from down around the waters between Florida and the

Bahamas. Three points for you to consider here: (1) Time-Distance-Speed

relationships for ships on the high seas, for instance, at a 25-knot SOA

(Speed Of Advance) it takes 24 hours to make good 600 nm-- BAINBRIDGE

did. (2) Fishermen work on the high seas, and (3) The best place to hide

as a "fisherman" pirate is among other fishermen

Early Wednesday morning, 4/8/2009, MV ALABAMA is at sea in the IO

about 300 miles off the (east) coast of Somalia en route to Mombassa

Kenya.

Pirates in small boat start harassing her, and threatening her with

weapons. MV ALABAMA's captain sent out the distress call by radio, and

ordered his Engineer to shut down the engines as well as the

ship-service electrical generators-- in our lingo, "Go dark and cold."

He informed his crew by radio what was happening, and ordered them to go

to an out-of-the-way compartment and lock themselves in it-- from the

inside. He would stay in the pilot house to "negotiate" with the

pirates.

The pirates boarded, captured the Captain, and ordered him to start

the engines. He said he would order his Engineer to do so, and he called

down to Engine Control on the internal communication system, but got no

answer. The lead pirate ordered two of his four men to go down and find

him and get the engines started.

Inside a ship without any lights is like the definition of dark. The

advantage goes to the people who work and live there. They jumped the

two pirates in a dark passageway. Both pirates lost their weapons, but

one managed to scramble and get away. The other they tied up, put tape

over his mouth and a knife at his throat.

Other members of the crew opened the drain cocks on the pirates boat

and cast it adrift. It foundered and sunk. The scrambling pirate made it

back to the pilot house and told of his demise. The pirates took the

Captain at gun point, and told him to launch one of his rescue boats

(not a life boat, per se). As he was lowering the boat for them, the

crew appeared with the other pirate to negotiate a trade. The crew let

their hostage go to soon, and the pirates kept the captain. But, he

purposefully had lowered the boat so it would jam.

With the rescue boat jammed, the pirates jumped over to a lifeboat

and released it as the captain jumped in the water. They fired at him,

made him stop, and grabbed him out of the water. Now, as night falls in

the vastness of the Indian Ocean, we have the classic "Mexican"

standoff, to wit: A life-boat that is just that, a life-boat adrift

without any means of propulsion except oars and paddles; and, a huge (by

comparison) Motor Vessel Container Ship adrift with a crew that is not

going to leave their captain behind. The pirates are enclosed under its

shelter-covering, holding the captain as their hostage. The crew is

hunkered down in their ship waiting for the "posse" to arrive.

After receiving MV ALABAMA'S distress call, USS BAINBRIDGE (DDG 96)

was dispatched by the ESG commander to respond to ALABAMA's distress

call.

At best sustainable speed, she arrived on scene the day after-- that

is, in the dark of that early Thursday morning. As BAINBRIDGE quietly

and slowly, at darkened-ship without any lights to give her away,

arrived on scene, please consider a recorded interview with the Chief

Engineer of MV ALABAMA describing BAINBRIDGE's arrival. He said it was

something else "... to see the Navy slide in there like a greyhound!" He

then said as she slipped in closer he could see the "Stars and Stripes"

flying from her masthead. He got choked up saying it was the

"...proudest moment of my life."

Phew! Let that sink in.

Earlier in the day, one of the U.S. Navy's Maritime Patrol Aircraft,

a fixed wing P3C, flew over to recon the scene. It dropped a buoy with a

radio to the pirates so that the Navy's interpreter could talk with the

pirates. When BAINBRIDGE arrived, the pirates thought the radio to be a

beaconing device, and threw it overboard. They wanted a satellite

telephone so that they could call home for help. Remember now, they are

fishermen, not "Rocket Scientists," in that, they don't know that we can

intercept the phone transmission also.

MV ALABAMA provided them with a satellite phone. They called home

back to "somebody" in Eyl Somalia (so that we now know where you live)

to come out and get them. The "somebody" in Eyl said they would be out

right away with other hostages, like 54 of them from other countries,

and that they would be coming out in two of their pirated ships. Right--

and, the tooth fairy will let you have sex with her. Yea, in paradise.

The "somebody" in Eyl just chalked up four more expendables as overhead

for "the cost of operation." Next page.

Anyway, ESG will continue to "watch" Eyl for any ships standing out.

The Navy SEAL team briefed the OSC (Commander Castellano, CO

BAINBRIDGE) on how they could rescue the captain from the life boat with

swimmers-- "Combat Swimmers," per se. That plan was denied by POTUS

because it put the captain in danger-- and, involved killing the

pirates.

The FBI negotiators arrived on scene, and talked the pirates into

sending their wounded man over for treatment Saturday morning. Later

that afternoon, the SEALs sent over their RHIB with food and water to

recon the life boat but the pirates shot at it. They could have taken

them out then (from being fired upon) but were denied again being told

that the captain was not in "imminent danger." The FBI negotiators

calmed the situation by informing the pirates of threatening weather as

they could see storm clouds closing from the horizon, and offered to tow

the life boat. The pirates agreed, and BAINBRIDGE took them under tow in

their wake at 30 meters-- exactly 30 meters, which is exactly the

distance the SEALs practice their shooting skills.

With the lifeboat under tow, riding comfortably bow-down on

BAINBRIDGE's wake-wave ("rooster tail"), had a 17-second period of

harmonic motion, and at the end of every half-period (8.5 seconds) was

steady on. The light-enhanced (infra-red heat) monocular scopes on the

SEAL's .308 caliber Mark 11 Mod 0 H&K suppressor-fitted sniper

rifles easily imaged their target very clearly. Pirates in a life boat

at 30-meters could be compared to fish in a barrel. All that was

necessary was to take out the plexiglass window so that it would not

deflect the trajectory of the high velocity .308 round. So, a sniper

(one of four) with a wad-cutter round (a flaxen sabot) would take out

the window a split second before the kill-shot-- no change in

sight-picture, just the window blowing out, clean.

Now, here's the part BHO's "whiz kids" knew as well as the Navy

hierarchy, including CO BAINBRIDGE and CO SEAL TEAM SIX. It's the law in

Article 19 of Appendix L in the "Convention of the High Seas" that the

Commanding Officer of a US Ship on the high seas is obligated to respond

to distress signals from any flagged ship (US or otherwise), and protect

the life and property thereof when deemed to be in IMMINENT DANGER. So,

in the final analysis, it would be Captain Castellano call as to

"Imminent Danger," and that he alone was obligated (duty bound) to act

accordingly. Got the picture?

After medically attending to the wounded pirated, and feeding him,

come first light (from the east) on Easter Sunday morning and the

pirates saw they were being towed further out to sea (instead of

westward toward land), the wounded pirate demanded to be returned to the

lifeboat. There would BE NO more negotiations-- and, the four Navy SEAL

snipers "in the bubble" went "Unlock." The pirate holding Captain

Philips raised the gun to his head, and IMMINENT DANGER was so observed

and noted in the Log as CO BAINBRIDGE gave the classic order: WEAPONS

RELEASED! I can hear the echo in my earpiece now, "On my count (from 8.5

seconds), 3, 2, 1, !" POP, BANG! Out went the window, followed by three

simultaneous shots. The scoreboard flashed: "GAME OVER, GAME OVER-- NAVY

3, PIRATES

0!"

[mcurrier]

Works for me! Game over. Sweet.

My favorite part was where they saw the Navy ship appear the next day and could then see the flag. I got a lump in my throat just reading it.

Maybe they'll make a movie about this in a few years.

[-boatman-]

Don't let the length of this keep you from reading it. You'll be glad you did. Great story!

[Guest TargetShooter84]

Nice!

[Guest Policek9Trainer]

Very good

[Guest JHatmaker]

I love reading details like this, awesome! Absolute bad asses!

[BrandonTN]

Awesome read!

[bteague2]

I'm curious if it's really authentic, but regardless it's a good read.

[Guest jos2f]

I read this a few days ago... am I the only one who now wants one of those rifles (not actually H&K made btw) because of this?

[9teeneleven]

Like the other email circulating that had a clear goal of painting the POTUS in a negative light with regards to the handling of the situation, I suspect that this one will also prove to be a creative writing project.

[BimmerFreak]

Like the other email circulating that had a clear goal of painting the POTUS in a negative light with regards to the handling of the situation, I suspect that this one will also prove to be a creative writing project.

+1

Im sure the "creditable source" plays a lot of D&D and buys tinfoil in bulk.

(cute story though)