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Crew members of the Polaris removed the pirates' ladder before they could clamber aboard, the US Fifth Fleet said in a statement.
A team from the guided missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf then intercepted a small skiff with seven men matching descriptions given by the Polaris crew, it added.
US Navy search teams "found several weapons" on the skiff used by the suspected pirates, said US Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman in Washington.
The action was carried out by a new counter-piracy multinational task force, CTF 151, operating in and around the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.
"This is the first time that the CTF 151 has apprehended suspected pirates" since it began operating less than a month ago, Whitman told reporters.
The suspected pirates, whose nationality was not given, are being held onboard the Vella Gulf until they are transferred to a temporary holding facility onboard the US naval supply ship Lewis and Clark.
Pirates attacked more than 130 merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden last year, an increase of more than 200 per cent on 2007, according to the International Maritime Bureau which tracks piracy and shipping security issues.
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