Navies exist to ensure the safe transit of commercial vessels over the world's oceans, and one of the earliest historical roles for a navy is anti-piracy work.
However, the modern era of piracy is radically different from the one that the US Navy is geared to fight, and many ship's masters need to take creative countermeasures when it comes to dealing with piracy in the Gulf of Aden.
One valuable lesson in effective countermeasures was delivered by the Maersk Alabama.
For those with a short memory of foreign news, the Maersk Alabama was captured by pirates in April of 2009, with her captain held on board a skiff as a hostage until the ransom was to be delivered.
The US Navy air lifted Navy SEALs to the deck of the Maersk Alabama, and they took down the captors in under 15 seconds with long range sniper fire.
This time around, the pirates were denied their prize.
This time, four men in a skiff came to 100 meters of the container ship, firing automatic weapons, in an attempt to have it pull aside for boarding.
The Maersk Alabama has more than they were bargaining for; the owner of the ship contracted private security firms to provide technical support in hostile waters, and routinely shuttles them from ship to ship as they transit through the troubled seas to the East of Africa.
Armed with automatic weapons of their own, the security contractors fired back at the would-be pirates; at this time, one pirate has been injured, according to a spokesman from Somalia.
None of the crew of the Maersk Alabama were, and it is en route to its next port of call.
In addition to armed contractors, the Maersk Alabama also employed novel maneuvering capabilities, and engaged the men in the skiff with a long range sonic weapon that causes ear-aches and physical discomfort.
Similar devices are used for crowd control in Iraq and Afghanistan by the US Army, and are non-lethal weapons.
After the skiff was dissuaded, a vessel from the European Union Naval Force Somalia was tasked with tracking down the pirate vessel, but has reported no success to date; given the practice of 'mother ships' providing a floating home port for skiffs, and claims that satellite phone communications exist with pirates aboard, it is unlikely that this skiff will be caught.
The sudden rise of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia and Ethiopia has changed the calculus of the cost of shipping through the Suez Canal.
Arming ships for self defense is expensive, and most merchant carriers would rather avoid the expense; the argument is that it's better to pay a ransom every now and then (and higher insurance premiums) than to put expensive and dangerous equipment on ships.
This view is rapidly losing its appeal as more ships successfully fend off pirate attacks.
It's been likened to self defense and US gun ownership - when seconds count, the US Navy is minutes away.