[Procyon]

Title 18 United States Code Section 1651 states: "Whoever, on the high seas, commits the crime of piracy as defined by the law of nations, and is afterwards brought into or found in the United States, shall be imprisoned for life."

A ship on the high seas retains the nationality of the flag it flies. Otherwise, you'd be saying that no crime committed on the high seas could be prosecuted. The pirates were properly brought to the United States for prosecution is a civilian court.

[Alberta's Child]

No crime on the "high seas" should be prosecuted under these circumstances. That's why ship captains and their crews traditionally had a lot of leeway to deal with pirates however they saw fit. The U.S. government has no legal authority on the "high seas," by definition.

I'll stand by my original point, and it's been reinforced by others. The notion of a U.S. court getting involved in a criminal prosecution for "piracy" against a U.S. Navy vessel is ridiculous, and indicative of a completely sissified U.S. military.