US nuclear subs, aircraft carriers, drones, choppers, shadow hostage captain, pirates

Phillips jumped out of the lifeboat Friday and tried to swim for his freedom but was recaptured when a pirate fired an automatic weapon at or near him, according to U.S. Defense Department officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk about the unfolding operations.

In Mombasa, the Alabama crew described how they overpowered the pirates.

Reza, a father of one from Hartford, Connecticut, said that after the pirates boarded, he had led one to the engine room where he stabbed him in the hand with an ice pick and tied him up.

SHOOT: Surely the covered dinghy the pirates are using will be out of fuel, and food, or both pretty soon...

clipped from news.yahoo.com MOMBASA, Kenya – U.S. warships and helicopters stalked a lifeboat holding an American sea captain and his four Somali captors Sunday as a Somali official and others reported negotiations for his release have broken down. "The negotiations between and American officials have broken down. The reason is American officials wanted to arrest the pirates in Puntland and elders refused the arrest of the pirates," said the commissioner, Abdi Aziz Aw Yusuf. He said he organized initial contacts between the elders and the Americans. As the pirates shot in the air, Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, told his crew to lock themselves in a cabin and surrendered himself to safeguard his men, crew members said. Phillips was still held hostage in an enclosed lifeboat Sunday by four pirates being closely watched by U.S. warships and a helicopter in an increasingly tense standoff.