Pirates Attack US Navy: US Navy Flees, Then Claims Success

Am I embellishing the title? This report from CNN isn't satire.

Two pirate skiffs pursued the Lewis and Clark for more than an hour as it headed north, the Navy said. They got as close as one nautical mile from the ship.

The Lewis and Clark sped up and tried to escape the pirates, and the ship's security team issued verbal warnings to the approaching skiffs, the Navy said.

The suspected pirates, who were then two nautical miles behind the Lewis and Clark, fired small arms at the ship. They fell a mile short of the ship's stern, the Navy said.

The Lewis and Clark sped up and the skiffs stopped their chase.

This is the strategic communications strategy to fight piracy?

"The actions taken by Lewis and Clark were exactly what the U.S. Navy has been recommending to prevent piracy attacks -- for both commercial and military vessels," said Capt. Steve Kelley, commander of Task Force 53, assigned to the Lewis and Clark.

"Merchant mariners can and should use Lewis and Clark's actions as an unequivocal example of how to prevent a successful attack from occurring," he said.

Evasive maneuvers and other defense measures such as on-board security teams have worked to protect other ships and their cargo, the Navy said.

In other words, the advice of the US Navy to prevent piracy attacks is to run from pirates as fast as possible. On one hand, the US Navy is telling shipping companies they need to protect themselves, and Congress is suggesting they arm their ships to do it.

On the other hand, the US Navy is telling everyone to run like hell from pirates. Maybe the Congress should go after the US Navy first, because apparently the US Navy hasn't even armed the gray hulled MSC operated US Navy ships to deal with piracy, because according to the US Navy, fleeing from pirates is an "unequivocal example of how to prevent a successful attack from occurring."

I'm not looking for blood, I'm looking for a strategy. It is no wonder the US Navy claims the LCS is perfect for fighting pirates, it will allow us to run away from pirate attacks at 40+ knots instead of 25 knots. Perfection indeed.