Suggested ways to rescue Captain Richard Phillips...

[scrumptious]

What if the U.S. Navy sent some submergible stealth vessel to somewhere beneath the lifeboat and then had some elite sailors ascend and surprise the pirates from below?

Or, have the submergible stealth vessel fire some kind of non-lethal weapon that would knock out everyone without serious injury, and then swoop in.

Or, have some snipers on some ships take out the pirates once they get a good shot. They could conceal the snipers by distance or by those funky mirrors which would retract when they were ready to shoot.

I think if a ransom is paid, the home country of the pirates should be required to pay half of it.