Snipers on a US Navy ship cut down three Somali pirates in a lifeboat and rescued an American sea captain in a surprise nighttime assault in choppy seas, ending a five-day standoff between a team of rogue gunmen and the world’s most powerful military.

In a riveting high-seas drama, an unarmed American crew wrested control of their US-flagged cargo ship from Somali pirates and sent them fleeing to a lifeboat with the captain as hostage.