The story
Efforts to protect ships from pirates in the waters off Somalia's east coast face a tremendous challenge: The vastness of the area makes it difficult to get to ships that are in danger.
"To put it in perspective, draw a box from Houston to Chicago to New York City down to Jacksonville, Florida. It's an immense body of water," U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Bill Gortney told reporters Sunday.
When the Maersk Alabama, a U.S.-flagged cargo ship, reported an attempted attack by pirates the day before the pirates successful attempt on Wednesday, "our closest vessel from all the navies that were out there -- we have 16 navies that are patrolling those waters -- and the closest one was the USS Bainbridge, and it was over 300 nautical miles," Gortney said. 
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