The Story of a Successful Rescue (and the Obama Adminstration’s Attempt to Claim Credit)
#134. myth buster:
“The Navy did exactly what it should have done- wait patiently while not letting the pirates escape, and look for an opportunity to rescue the Captain. They could’ve blown the lifeboat out of the water any time they wanted, but they would have killed the Captain in the process.”
It is far more likely that it was a fiberglass enclosed lifeboat, they only have fuel for 24 hours, the idea being that you’re going to be rescued in a sinking within the 24.
Less likely it was the ship’s RHIB, (Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat), no-one in his right mind is going to cast off 200+ miles from shore in a Zodiac-style open boat…not in the Indian Ocean near the equator. Dehydration will kill you within 5 days, and you’ll still be far, far from anywhere.
Least likely is that it was an inflatable life raft, which is one step above jumping over the side in a life jacket. It’s a big rubber balloon, see?
With that out of the way, the Navy did fine, and this is only offered as a professional critique.
The Baingridge didn’t have to wait for SEAL Team snipers to arrive before taking action. The first time Captain Phillips jumped in the water, they could have riddled the fiberglass lifeboat stem to stern with machine-gun fire, and fixed THAT little red, (orange, actually), wagon and everyone in it, most thoroughly.
Fiberglass is as much protection from a machine gun bullet as a sheet of cardboard is to a .357 magnum…let alone inflated rubber.
“Nobody likes killing, anyway.”
Speak for yourself.
I’d have a gas blasting those turds to Kingdom Come.
