Somali Pirates Causing More Problems for Obama

A band of armed pirates boarded a U.S.-flagged cargo ship with a crew of 20 Americans early Wednesday. The crew of the Maersk Alabama managed to wrest back control of the ship, but the captain remained as a hostage.

It was the first pirate attack in modern times on an American ship and crew, said Adm. Richard Gurnon, president of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. The raid also raised the stakes in a region where pirates have been operating with near impunity.

The U.S. Navy destroyer Bainbridge arrived at the scene early today, the Associated Press reported. President Obama is closely following the situation and "has an intense interest in the security of navigation," said Denis McDonough, a senior administration foreign policy adviser.

Military options are limited. Somalia is virtually a lawless state and the 1993 U.S. effort to stabilize the country ended in failure.

However, limited military raids could hit the pirates' support bases, said Doug Burnett, a maritime attorney with the firm Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. "You have to take away (pirates') vessels and bases," he said.

U.S. forces have attacked targets in Somalia in the past two years. In March 2008, the Pentagon confirmed a U.S. raid on a suspected terrorist in Somalia and other earlier attacks.

Pirates using small, hard-to-detect boats have increased their attacks on international ships.

Last year, there were 42 "successful" such raids in the region, while 80 others failed, according to the U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain. It was the sixth vessel seized within a week in the area. About 33,000 ships moved through the Gulf of Aden during that time.

In 2004, there were only five such attacks, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

The 155-meter freighter was carrying containers of U.S. aid being distributed through the U.N.'s World Food Program. The ship was scheduled to arrive in Mombasa, Kenya, on Apr. 16.

Gurnon said the pirates surprised the crew in the early morning darkness Wednesday.

Chief Mate Shane Murphy called his wife at 6:30 a.m. to tell her of the hijacking, Gurnon said. The pirates then entered the wheelhouse and seized control.

By 2:30 p.m., Gurnon said, Murphy called his family to say the crew had retaken the ship and the pirates were overboard.

Murphy's father, Capt. Joseph Murphy, teaches at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, where Shane Murphy spoke to a class 10 days ago, Gurnon said.

Capt. Richard Phillips became a hostage as the crew regained control of the ship, Gurnon said.

Second mate Ken Quinn told CNN in a live interview that the crew had kept a pirate "for 12 hours. We returned him. But they didn't return the captain."