ASHINGTON — The hard part was not the distance, 75 feet, an easy range for an experienced sniper. Far more difficult were all the moving parts: the bobbing lifeboat, the rolling ship, hitting three targets simultaneously in darkness — and all without harming the hostage, Capt. Richard Phillips…

“For all three of them to fire those shots at the same time and take those guys out, it was quite a feat,” said Don Shipley, a former member of the Seals who now runs a private Seal training school in Chesapeake, Va. “They showed the patience the sniper has, which is looking through the scope for hours to get that perfect shot.”…

Several dozen members of the Seals had secretly boarded the Bainbridge on Saturday, having flown to the area, parachuted into the ocean and then climbed aboard inflatable boats they had dropped into the sea.