Only Saturday I posted a thought experiment on how a Navy SEAL team could approach the lifeboat where Capt. Richard Phillips was being held hostage. I wondered whether an underwater approach by the SEALs to the lifeboat, followed by covertly making it founder, might enable his rescue.
In his briefing via telephone to Pentagon reporters Sunday, Vice Adm. William Gortney, speaking from Bahrain, openly acknowledged that SEALs played a key role, but he was rather unforthcoming as to just what that role was. He seemed comfortable letting the reporters assume that it was SEALs aboard USS Bainbridge, only 25 meters from the lifeboat, who shot the pirates after Bainbridge's commander determined Phillips' life was in imminent danger.
But the SEALs might not have been aboard Bainbridge at all. Judith Miller reports on FoxNews site,
Details continue to emerge. But it seems that hours before his rescue, a C-130 had secretly dropped a team of SEALS and their boats into the waters far enough away from the lifeboat that held Capt. Phillips to avoid being detected by the four Somali pirates who were seeking some $2 million for his release. The team quietly approached the boat and boarded the board [sic] as sharpshooters from the Bainbridge took deadly aim.If true, the SEALs' boats herein referenced could not have been surface craft. Obviously, a surface craft approaching the lifeboat would have been seen from some distance away, especially during the daytime hours of the rescue.
This is an SDV - SEAL Delivery Vehicle, a small submarine that SEALs use to get around underwater. It is less a manned sub than one the SEALs hang onto for a ride, although the driver does have a station inside. Whether an SDV can be dropped from a C-130 I don't know. I do know that C-130s can fly very low and slow so I would be wholly unsurprised that a pallet-drop system can be used to absorb impact with the water, similar to the LAPES system long-used by the Army with C-130s. The SEALs would simply parachute into the water. (There is another, larger model, too.)Again, the provenance of Miller's report has not been confirmed. But it makes me wonder whether a SEAL rescue operation was already mostly underway when Bainbridge's captain, Cmdr. Frank Castellano, gave the split-second order to shoot.
It would also explain why Vice Adm. Gortney says the Navy received permission twice from President Obama to use deadly force to save Capt. Phillips' life, the first time Friday, the second time Saturday. Friday may have been explicit permission to shoot if necessary, as Cmdr. Castellano finally did. Saturday's order might have authorized or even ordered direct action to rescue Phillips and would necessarily included using deadly force. (However, as I pointed out earlier today, the president would not actually have need to authorize shooting the pirates to save his life, since that's pretty much standard procedure in any hostage situaton.)
My guess is that the FBI negotiators advising the Navy (over the five days of the ordeal, at least one FBI team would have been able to reach the scene) figured negotiations were going nowhere fast and that Phillips' safety was increasingly endangered. So the status quo had to be changed at our initiative, and quickly. So in went the SEALs. But right now, we don't know exactly how.
Update: The Washington Post reports that there were "dozens of Navy SEALs" involved in the operation overall. Also, during the last discussion US officers had with the pirates on the lifeboat, the pirates explicitly threatened to kill Capt. Phillips.
Soon afterward, two pirates moved to one of the hatches of the lifeboat and stuck their heads out. The third pirate advanced toward the captain, and pointed his AK-47 straight at Phillips' back, the rifle touching it or inches away, the official said.The WaPo also says that at least some of the SEALs at the scene had parachuted after dark Saturday into the water near the US warships.
U.S. military observers believed that Phillips was about to be shot. SEAL snipers, who were positioned on a deck at the stern of the Bainbridge, an area known as the fantail, had the three pirates in their sights. The on-scene commander gave the SEAL snipers authority to fire.
"As soon as the snipers had a clear shot at the guy who had the rifle, they shot him and the other two in the hatches," said the senior military official.
A member of the Special Operations team slid down the tow line into the water and climbed aboard the lifeboat. Phillips was then put in a small craft and taken to the Bainbridge.
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6 comments:
Ah, most excellent source of info.
I'd like one of those subs myself.
I was hearing reports during the day as to how this played out, thanks for wrapping it up. I had simply assumed that snipers took care of the issues.
Now I'm really wondering what happened. As it appears that pirates will not be going away any time soon, I suspect the true story won't come out for some time.
Another plausible story: SEALs were in the water attached to the life boat via suction cup like devices that they commonly use when they deploy from subs. Suction on, pop up above the water line and take the shots, which could easily have been done through hull, while getting instructions on the target locations from the sharp shooters. I predict that the "three perfect shot" story will eventually fall apart. But who cares, if this allows our SEALs to maintain OpSec, all is good.
Wikipedia's article on the SDV says that, "It [the SDV] can also be air-dropped (unmanned) into an operational area from a C-130 Hecules."
Thanks for the diary. This is the first time I've found anyone who recognizes the absurdity of what the government is telling us.
There is no way on dog's green earth three perfect shots could be fired from a moving ship into a tiny lifeboat bobbing on the water. Nobody is THAT good, not even the Seals.
I don't know what actually happened but our government is certainly not telling us the truth. In fact, they're insulting us by asking us to believe the story they put out.
1st remember, most ops by SEALS are not released. It is not an impossible shot, 3 shots, at once (which IS part of training) from a moving ship. Remember, the sway/movement of the ship is not as bad because of it's size.
3nd the SDV can is often droped from a C-130. Delivery time is 4-8 hours anywhere in the world; because of storage locations.
4th No clear shot could be made from the water to the hatch caps of the live boat. Less of a percentage shot from floating in the water.
5th yes there were SEALS in the water before the shooting, as part of plan "B".
6th no "suction cups" needed. The SDV is very quiet, no wake, water to dark to see from surface to even 15 feet. SDV mission manned is 25 - 40 feet deep depending on mission.
For what is is worth, 3 shots, 3 dead, all explosives recovered and returned (none used). ;)
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