.The US Navy cannot be everywhere at the same time. Lots of ocean over there. So, they are limited and could take days to get to a ship that needs rescuing

Yarnlady, as much as I loved the Navy, I have to admit to some small defects. One time we were steaming to New Guinea, got a little confused as to where we were, sent a signal to headquarters giving our positition and received one back saying. Get that ship out of the main street of Alice Springs (a town in central australia) I suppose, as there is a lot of water in Oceans and Sea's, it would be pretty hard to cover it all.

I'd assume it was because it's home turf for the pirates and it's strange waters, not ones they know personally but only from gathered information, for the Americans. That makes a huge difference, kind of like during the Vietnam war, and like during the Revolutionary War. If you know your 'backwoods', chances are you'll be that much ahead.

That is something that is going to have to be worked out. Surely satellites can pinpoint the small craft being used to attack.

Because its over 1 million square miles. Do you want the whole us navy in the area?

We know where the ships are, it's just that the pirates aren't nice enough to let us know which ones they'll be attacking or when, so we don't know which ones to stay close to.

Too many small boats in the area. Don't know who are the pirates until they started to attack.

As others have stated because of the large area. One suggestion that may be promoted is to use actual sea lanes. The bulk of the shipping or at least those that wanted more protection would be confined to specific routes where those areas could have higer security. I would guess that we will see some more aggressive actions directed towards to the pirates mother ship and maybe targeted hits on their land bases as a last resort.

The Navy and all western military power is running under an old-fashioned hierarchical, centralized command structure that's far too slow and inefficient to fight anymore. The pirates can disappear into any civilian crowd, gather information and transmit it instantly to nearly anyone or anywhere on vast underground private networks. They are agile, unpredictable, and almost completely without centralization or command. How do you stop an enemy who can be anyone, anywhere? How do you stop the flow of information when information is more fluid than a bose-einstein condensate? Our definitions of enemy, war, combat, and information are ancient and outdated. That's how.

As stated above its over 1 million square miles. Thats like 1 rent a cop trying to patrol texas on a segway

How do you know that the Navy can't? There are navies from about a dozen nations off the coast of the Horn of Africa right now. If you understood admiralty law, you'd know that knowing which ships are out there is a completely separate question from which ships international law acknowledges a nation's right to protect or respond when they are attacked.

OK, here's how I'd like to explain it: The oceans alone cover over 63 MILLION square miles of area...not counting the seas as well. Granted that the commercial shipping lanes only cover a small portion of that, and the areas where the Somali pirates operate in even smaller...but it's STILL tens of thousands of square miles of area to police. Also, the sheer numbers of commercial ships operating in those waters is HUGE. Pirates, contrary to popular mythology, do NOT go around waving a Jolly Roger advertising who they are and what their intent is. They can operate from literally ANY type of ship and fly the colors of whatever nation they choose to disguise who they are until it's too late. Thus there is the added problem of visually identifying exactly WHO the pirates are in the first place. Then there is the limited numbers of ships in the US Navy which can be effectively used to patrol this area and find all those pirates who don't want to be found. There are currently just under 300 ships commissioned in the US Navy. These ships are required to patrol in many different areas around the world...literally all throughout that 63 million plus square miles of ocean, and then some. Given the various different types of ships, even fewer are suitable for this type of interdiction: which means there are even less ships available for assignment to the Somali area where all those hidden pirates are operating. Pirates are, like almost all other types of criminals, criminals of opportunity. Meaning, they will strike when THEY think the risks involved favor THEM. Certainly they will not attempt an act of piracy when they can see a warship in the area which can readily put the smackdown on them. They will stay hidden and look for easier pickings and THEN strike. The goal of minimizing piracy, and making the oceans as safe as possible for commercial trade, is thus to maintain a credible, visible presence. The US Navy (ALL navies, in fact) does this by patrolling and conducting exercises as a visible deterent to such activities. And then the respond as quickly and effectively as they can to any identifies threat when it occurs. That such visible presence doesn't deter ALL acts of piracy is no more surprising, or unexpected, than the fact that a heightened presence of police patrols during holidays does not stop all speeders; or that heightened awareness of the fire departments during dry seasons doesn't prevent all fires. They WILL happen...but not nearly as frequently as they would WITHOUT their presence. :):):)