In the premiere one hour special of “U.S. Navy: Pirate Hunters”, from Spike TV as produced by Vertical Ascent, and 44 Blue Productions, the viewer follows alongside as the film team chronicles the Navy’s efforts to restore order to the turbulent waters in The Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. Claiming the gulf as part of the Somalia domain, pirates take boats out and, disguised as fishermen, confront merchant shipping to steal cargo and take crews hostage for ransom demands of millions of dollars. There are over 100 such thefts and attacks documented yearly. The United States Navy has joined with an international coalition, led by The U.S. Navy, to form “Combined Task Force 151” as a means of interdiction to restore “rule of law” to the Gulf of Aden. The U.S.S. Gettysburg is assigned as the task force flagship. On board the Gettysburg and created from regular crew, are three volunteer counter-piracy interdiction teams, trained in close combat and disarming of hostile combatants. Initial efforts of arrest are hampered by the fact that the suspected pirates toss their weapons overboard before being captured, and the task force members are is unable to make arrests without that physical hard evidence, forcing them to catch and release suspects.