Frank Castellano,* Bainbridge* raced toward the Maersk Alabama at top speed. Special Ops forces in Somalia," McKnight writes. "I'll go out on a limb here and guess that the mission had something to do with supporting U.S. While technically part of CTF-151, the Bainbridge had her own unique missions. It also had a beefed-up intelligence team that included one of the Navy's few, and prized, Somali interpreters.
The 9,200-ton Bainbridge had swapped its helicopters and pilots for a catapult-launched Boeing ScanEagle drone plus the robot's operators. But with his high-level relationships, intimacy with counter-piracy methods and many inside sources, his account of the pirate-takedown is the most detailed yet.ĬTF-151's destroyer USS Bainbridge was the first to respond to the maydays from Maersk Alabama, which bobbed near the pirates - and Phillips - in the stolen lifeboat, preventing it from escaping to land. McKnight had stepped down as CTF-151 commander just three days before the Maersk Alabama incident, so he did not directly participate in the U.S. naval forces off Somalia during the Maersk Alabama standoff, devotes 45 pages of his new book Pirate Alley to the people, methods, equipment and even politics behind Phillips' daring rescue. The precision killing of the three pirates by six members of SEAL Team Six, the same unit that would later kill Osama bin Laden in his Pakistan hideout, has rarely been described in detail. And Phillips was on his way home, unharmed but for the psychological strain from four days in captivity in a sweltering lifeboat, unsure whether he would live or die. The fourth pirate, just 16 years old, was in Navy custody. 30-caliber rifle bullet to his brain, courtesy of the U.S. The pirates had a captive: Maersk Alabama's captain, Richard Phillips.įour days later, three of the four pirates were dead - each from a single. They may not have captured the Maersk Alabama, nor looted its millions of dollars' worth of food and humanitarian aid bound for Kenya, but they didn't leave empty handed. But after a brief scuffle with some of the 20 crewmembers, the pirates opted to abandon the 508-foot long ship, sailing off in one of its motorized lifeboats.
The Pirate Staff is exceptionally deadly against ground-based enemies and bosses, or enemies with multiple segments such as The Destroyer, as each pirate will deal its full listed damage on every segment.In Celebrationmk10 worlds, the Pirate Staff can be purchased from the Princess for 5 after a Pirate Invasion has been defeated.On average, it will take 6–7 complete Pirate Invasions before this item drops (assuming the player can kill two Flying Dutchmen and 200 pirates per invasion). It does not trigger invulnerability frames. The Pirate Staff has a damage cooldown of 0.3 seconds per enemy.The only lasting advantage a Mythical Pirate Staff has over a Ruthless one is knockback. Additionally, minions cannot deal critical hits. The Mythical modifier provides the widest array of stat bonuses, but these primarily affect the initial summon rather than the resulting minion. The Pirate Staff is dropped with a 0.05*1/2000 (0.05%) chance by pirates or with a 1*1/100 (1%) chance by the Flying Dutchman. Like other minions, the summoned pirate is invincible and follows the player for an unlimited amount of time, unless the player dies, summons a replacement minion, or cancels the buff. It spawns a pirate minion that attacks enemies by slashing them with a sword. The Pirate Staff is a Hardmode, pre- mechanical boss summon weapon.