Capture of U.S. ship by Somali pirates inevitable
Theodore Carl Soderberg - San Francisco

I knew it was just a matter of time before a U.S. ship, with U.S. crewmembers, became a victim of piracy ("Obama 'very proud' of rescue effort," On Deadline, USATODAY.com).


(Freed ship: The Maersk Alabama arrives safely at Mombasa, Kenya, on Saturday night. Its captain, Richard Phillips, was rescued on Easter Sunday./ Antony Njuguna, Reuters)


As a merchant sailor on container ships, I have more than a passing interest in this incident, how it was allowed to happen, what could have been done differently and how the high seas drama ended.



Much has been done to increase security in the past year, and obviously much more needs to be done.

Because U.S. citizens are involved, the U.S. Navy is involved. This might be the only positive news from this tragedy.