According to CNN, the Navy has created a fleet do fight the recently troublesome pirates off the coast of Somalia. The new unit is a spin off of a force that was already in the region fighting drug trafficking and weapons smuggling. The area is important for the US to protect because around 20,000 commercial ships pass through it every year.
Interestingly enough it seems that, for once, we aren’t the only ones fighting this battle:
The United States is among at least 20 countries that are trying to combat piracy in the region, including Russia, India, Germany and Iran. In December, German sailors foiled an attempt by pirates to hijack an Egyptian cargo ship off the coast of Yemen, according to the German Defense Ministry, and the European Union launched its first naval operation to protect vessels. That came just days after China revealed its own plans to patrol the Horn of Africa’s volatile coastline. Continue reading Navy to Fight Pirates