Was there ever any doubt that the U.S. Navy vs. the pirates situation would have ended in any way but with a Navy win?

Seal snipers killed three pirates and rescued the kidnapped Captain Phillips on Easter.  According to reports, they saw one of the pirates put an AK-47 up against Phillips’ back and acted to save his life.  A fourth pirate was taken into custody, probably after  he wet himself.

As for the possiblity of retaliations mentioned by Admiral Gortney:  What of them?  Want to see things get worse than retaliations?  Don’t take action when someone attacks one of your own instead of acting to save their lives.  If you’d like a really good example of what happens when you project weakness, read about the Barbary Pirates.  We sing about them to this day when we refer to “the shores of Tripoli”.

The rest is here: 
Navy Seals Kill Pirates, Rescue American Hostage (Fox News)