OFF SOMALIA: U.S. Navy, Marines patrol for pirates, like the old days

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The U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps made their international reputations in the early 19th century by fighting the Barbary pirates of North Africa.

Two centuries later, they’ve got a similar assignment: deterring the pirates that prey on merchant ships off the coast of Somalia.

Marines from Camp Lejeune, N.C., are now on the docking ship San Antonio, the flagship of Task Force 151, a mullti-national force assigned to patrol the Gulf of Aden to discourage and if necessary confront the pirates.

— Tony Perry, San Diego