But a good plot:
Sailors from the Norfolk-based destroyer James E. Williams boarded a North Korean merchant ship that had been hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia, while two other Navy vessels tailed a pirated Japanese ship in the same region.
The Williams, which left Norfolk in July , was about 50 nautical miles from the ship Dai Hong Dan in the Arabian Sea when it received word of the pirate attack, said Lt. John Gay , a spokesman for the Navy’s Central Command in Manama, Bahrain.
The Williams dispatched a helicopter and ordered the pirates to give up their weapons via a bridge-to-bridge radio. The North Korean crew, which had retained control of the steering and engineering spaces, then confronted the pirates and gained back control of the bridge, according to a Navy news release.
WTF!?, over.
Five bucks says Giuliani ties this to 9/11.
Person of Choler
What, a snotty comment not about George Bush? Have you swapped BDS for GDS even before the primaries? Are you already anticipating a Guiliani victory in 2008?
BobJones
“The pirates were detain on the Dai Hong Dan.”
Being imprisoned on a North Korean merchant trawler off the coast of Somalia cannot be a pleasant experience.
John Cole
I am not sure Bush knows where Korea is or what they are up to now that Bolton is no longer with the administration, so I don’t think he will try to capitalize on the issue.
tavella
If you control the bridge and engines, are you really *hijacked*, per se?
ConservativelyLiberal
Arrrrgh ye mateys, we are taking the ship and crashing it into the Statue of Liberty!
High seas piracy is common, and something that anyone who is on the sea has to be aware of and ready to deal with it. No link to terrorism, but I am sure that someone will find a dollar they made from the sale of the stolen goods that somehow made it to an Al Qaeda group.
kerryinalaska
If this is story is true, and who knows about that, since not controlling the bridge or machine spaces hardly seems a hijack, (of course holding the galley might well be just such a thing) Still, it is a damn fine use of the Navy. Having journied offshore I can say one of my great worries among many were pirates, although great caution and cowardice saw me thru all right.
Stealing a whole ship is not a minor feat and requires considerable resources. I bet there are some mad groups ashore somewhere. Still it was nice of the deep water folks to sting the evil a bit.
Jake
You mean it’s not a movie yet.
I’d say that within six months you can expect a M4TVM that does include some sort of plot by The Islahomofascists and the latern-jawed American hero breaking someone’s fingers to learn where the nuke (made from scraping the insides of the No Ko and Iranian reactors) is hidden. Within seven months it will be known truth that if the captian of the US ship hadn’t tortured the “pirates” and the so-called No Ko crew, they would have boiled the Indian Ocean to the bedrock.
Bubblegum Tate
Oh, I think it is a movie–you’re forgetting about a little cinematic tour de force known as Under Seige.
Sirkowski
Luckily the cook was also a former special ops.
Cinderella Ferret
Great name for a sailor. He’s probably glad to be on shore duty.
Dennis-SGMM
Thankfully, the North Korean vessel wasn’t named Sum Yung Gy.
Jimmm
I think the pirates based their actions on a movie. Wasn’t there a Steven Segal flick that roughly followed this plotline? Come on, people help me out. No shame in admitting that you know Segal’s oeuvre. For once, let Internet anonymity help a fella out.
Jimmm
Oops. Sirkowski’s got it. Thank you, Internet.
Bubblegum Tate
What am I, fuckin’ invisible over here? I even called it a cinematic tour de force!
Justin Slotman
Yeah, Sirkowski just won the thread. “Just a lowly, lowly cook.”
pfrets
No bet, John.
PaulW
Dammit, there goes this plot I had two weeks ago about a crewe of modern-day pirates boarding a mysterious cargo ship containing… wait for it… a half-naked cyborg ninja babe. It would have had everything: Pirates fighting ninjas! Naked breasts! Gore! Running battles on gang planks! With Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as the ubercool anti-hero pirate captain (he survives ’cause he’s a good pirate who worships the almighty FSM)! And the guy who played Jonathan on Buffy as the quirky comic relief!
Ron Beasley
“Five bucks says Giuliani ties this to 9/11”
John, you really have joined the ranks of the sane. That said no way on the bet.
Dreggas
well if it becomes a movie look for it to star Steven Segal…
Dreggas
oh and Segal will be a cook on the ship…
The Other Steve
Who shall be the topless dancer?
That is, assuming Erica Eleniak doesn’t want the part. She always welcome to jump out of a cake topless on my ship!
Dreggas
Rudy in drag
maxbaer (not the original)
Last I saw of Seagal, he was big enough to play the ship.
Ed Drone
“Five bucks says Giuliani ties this to 9/11.”
Actually, with this and the other ship the navy is shadowing, what we will see is the TSP issue orders that require metal detectors and liquid container removal for passengers boarding cruise ships. They’d even have to remove their shoes, except in those climes where they only wear sandals anyway.
THEN Rudy will say that the new Safe Haven Inhibition of Terrorism on the Seas (SHITS) program is due to 9/11 (which he was the hero of).
Ed
JSG
“Five bucks says Giuliani ties this to 9/11.”
I’ll see your five, and raise you another five that he tries to take credit for it.
-JSG