First person account-MAERSK ALABAMA pirate attack
(extract)…
I wanted to let you know some of the lessons we learned so you guys can better prepare yourselves for something similar.The only guys actually captured by the pirates were on the bridge: Capt, 3/M, and 2 AB’s. I don’t really know why they stayed on the bridge until the pirates got up there. Then they had keys to everything and were able to unlock everyone’s rooms.
The pirates got up to the bridge very quickly once they were onboard. We had a locked cage door over the ladder well from main deck, but it only took a second for them to shoot it off. They then got to the bridge up the outside ladders. By that time we had taken control of the engine and steering down below.
Read the very interesting remainder of this at the US Naval Institute Blog.
Perhaps even more interesting is a post on the CBS News Blog revealing Al Qaeda involvement in piracy.