It’s the Barbary Pirates all over again, only this time we brought a little more firepower.

U.S. Navy warship fired on and sank two skiffs used by pirates Sunday to hijack a merchant vessel off the coast of Somalia, U.S. officials said Monday.

The USS Porter responded to a distress call from the merchant vessel carrying benzene, the officials said. Sunday’s shooting took place in international waters, they said.

At the request of Somalia’s government, a second U.S. warship, the destroyer USS Arleigh Burke, is now shadowing the merchant ship inside Somali waters, the officials said.

If these pirates keep acting up, we may have to send Steven Decatur after them.