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NAVY NEWS, SEPTEMBER 2008

5! Continued from page 25 CTF 152 do. if not avidly. then at regularly.

least

But the wider world?

Search Wikipedia the sprawling internet encyclopedia for references to the naval forces east of Suez. CTF 150 and 158 are there. but not 152.

So the ‘forgotten fleet‘ then?

“People know about the 150 task force because they pass through the area it they're heading for the Gulf or the Far East and the work of 158 is publicised. but it’s almost as if there's a blank between Honnuz and the northern Gulf.” sighs Montrose's Cdr Hogben.

152's ‘afloat Capt Malcolm Cree commander’ agrees.

"People know what happens in the north of the Gulf. they know what happens outside the Gulf.

“CTF 152 is probably not as tangible. but in the future. what we are doing here will be recognised. It is of crucial importance for the future.”

It's also of crucial importance for the here and now.

CTF 152 is not a task group in the traditional sense. You will not find the ships bunched up ‘a la Illustrious’ Orion 08 force earlier this year.

The ships operate independently it's their aim which is common. or as Cdre Hudson puts it, "The sum of the parts should be greater than the individual."

But how do you police 65,000 square miles of sea?

Well. for a start. you have to concede that with half a dozen ships, you cannot patrol the entire Gulf but you can concentrate your efforts in specific stretches.

Secondly. and vitally. you must understand what Cdr Hogben calls the ‘pattern of life’ the dailygoings on in these waters. "lt's about knowing what is normal first so that you can spot the abnonnal."

Montrose's CO explains.

Fishing inside the Gulf is not the same as outside it. for instance. Here dhows. not skiffs. are the order of the day and they scatter pots filled with bait to catch their prey.

And even in a region where fuel is ‘dirt cheap’ (it'll cost you little more than £5 to fill up a 4x4 in Bahrain, for example). there’s quite a bit of petrol smuggling; the price varies considerably among the Gulf states. There's a lively black market. too. in dates and cigarettes.

Then there’s what Cdre Hudson calls ‘maritime mugging’ piracy. In the Gulf it's more bully boy than anything else: stealing kit from vessels such as GPS systems. radios. phones. fish. it is not the task of the CTF 152 ships to put a clamp on such activities they're really after the bigger fish.

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knowing it goes complete the big picture But

stop

to a manners.

helps to and putting

on —

it wins the hearts of local

people trafficking) scattered

across

two

and a half million square miles of ocean.

These are all issues which extend far beyond the maritime sphere they —

The small fish remain just that.There's no evidence to link the small-time smugglers with the more sinister drugs! terrorist trade.

But the presence of the proverbial ‘bobby on the beat‘ has the desired effect the criminals generally stay away when there’s 3.500 tons of battleship grey nearby.

"Our presence should be like as —

military. political. social. economic. ideological.

“These are problems which will not go away." says Cdre Winstanley.

“They are more than simply maritime are

issues. the root causes of many of these issues are ashore but the practical manifestations present themselves in the maritime

They

arena.

issues that we have to a bad day deal with." dropping pebbles '3" 9 cnmma 5' in a pond the The tide of Cdr Andy Hogben refugees from should ripples Somalia is nevermove outwards," ending. Each year says Cdr Hogben.

Monitoring trade is just one strand of 30.000 Somalis seek to escape their 152's mission. however. chaotic homeland. paying unscrupulous Equally important is safeguarding traffickers between $50 and $150 to take the infrastructure of the Gulf: oil and them to Yemen.

Many never reach Yemen'sshores. gas platforms, power stations. water Think: desalination plants. protecting the “The traffickers are ruthless. oil Iraqi platfonns. then multiply it several They will shoot people or dump hundred times and you have an idea of them over the side Into the sea,” the scale of the challenge.

Cdre Winstanley explains. it's not surprising, then, that the task ‘‘In the past couple of weeks alone. force has recently been carrying out American warships have provided exercises to defend these platforms.

And although the RN has a wealth assistance to vessels with 100-150 of experience to call upon. as refugees on board."

Much more lucrative is the trade in Montrose's CO points out. "you cannot use the same tactics narcotics.

Last month the US and UK military and methods to defend the platfonns here as you do off lifted the lid on the Allied campaign against drug traffickers in the Indian Iraq."

There are. however. some Ocean.

Drug-busting operations have been a constants in task forces 158 .._. mainstay of RN patrols in the Caribbean and 152. For a start. both are international (although 152 for years.

Just as there are few parallels is a much more diverse affair Bahrainis. Pakistanis. New between the northern and southern Gulf, Zealanders for example have all so strangling the ‘Hashish Highway’ is a very different proposition from served with it).

And climatic conditions are similar. At curbing traffic in the Caribbean.

For one thing, CTF 150's --is this time of year. that means hot.

"This is a punishing environment." realm is more than twice the size: says Cdr Hogben.

There are many more ,_—_—.

"The boarding teams return to bordering the Montrose physically drained and nations and many more absolutely drenched. We're going to shores committed to the weigh some of the party just to see how nationsaction (more than 20 police much weight they lose during a search. _ "The sea temperature is about navies have sent ships to join Combined Force 150 at Task 34°C which means it doesn't cool the machinery and the ship is running at times).

And then there’s the enemy. These maximum effort. ''It never ceases to amaze me that I get are far busier waters.

“At least 95 per cent of the vessels cold water in the shower every morning there must be a wizard on board are doing perfectly legitimate business that’s hundreds and hundreds of somewhere." dhows," says Cdre Winstanley. "Finding There is no magic wand to bring order the enemy is the classic needle in a to ‘Pirate Alley’ and the 'ilashlsh haystack scenario. They don’t make it easy for us."

Highway’,Just eternal vigilance.

Indeed they do not. There are no On paper it is a daunting task a myriad of nations. a myriad of issues dodgy looking sailors in stripey T-shirts (piracy, drug-running. arrns-running. carrying sacks marked ‘swag’.

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are

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it's an unremitting. painstaking task.

And it is one which reaps dividends once you've established the ‘pattern of life’ here.

Which is exactly what Montrose did from the moment she arrived in the Gulf of Aden.

“We started out talking to the Yemeni fishennen," explains Cdr Hogben.

“They set out at sunrise in small boats. hunting for tuna, and return at sunset.

They wear balaclavas to protect their faces from the sun. They come hurtling at you, get within 200 metres of your ship, cutting across your bow.“ Balaclavas. Small boats moving rapidly, cutting across the bows of merchantmen. On the surface, these are the tactics of pirates and terrorists.

Indeed, as yacht skipper Johan Ullkung confided in his log. the mood of many mariner in the Gulf of Aden is "erring on the side of paranoia".

Cdr Hogben adds: “We were getting calls from merchantmen: We're being attacked.”

In the cases Montrose investigated, the ‘attackers’ were Yemeni fishermen, chasing shoals of tuna. They make perhaps $20 a day for their efforts.

“It is a fascinating way of life.'’ says Montrose's C0.

“But the fishermen were frightened by our presence until we started talking to them. while merchantmen don't like boats hurtling towards them, cutting across their bows. There are a lot of nervous merchant ships out there.

understandably."

Thanks to the work of Montrose if not less nervous, then merchant sailors should at least be better informed about what to expect in waters off Yemen.

And thanks to building up that comprehensive picture of fishermen's habits. Montrose knew that when she came across a dhow moving against the flow "something was

Confinnation

-II

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v:'.‘2.'l

’

that

‘something was up‘ came when the frigate sailed up

.

—

up."

_

to the run-down vessel.

The presence of a 3,500 tons of grey steel, guns. missilesand helicopter has a habit of (a) putting the willies up sailors or (b) at the very 1

least grabbing their attention. The dhow's crew kept their heads down and continued as if everything was normal.

The result was a visit from a Royal Marines and Royal Navy boarding party.

“These dhows are filthy, hot. there's little food. little water. and our lads get right in the thickof it." in the end, the traffickers were undone by a measuring tape. a piece of paper. a pencil and some good old British nous.

Every inch of the vessel was measured and mapped out. The numbers didn't

tally.

As it turned out the dhow was hiding a secret compartment, barely a couple 0 feet wide. Inside were sacks and sack: of hashish and a little heroin ten tonne: of narcotics in all. worth £20m on th: —

streets.

the largest seizure by any Floya Navy vessel east of Suez in recent years or as Cdr Hogben put it “a good day fo us. a bad day for the criminals."

Each sack had to be removed am counted on the dhow's deck befon one by one. they were ripped up and it: contents tossed into the Indian Ocean It took a team of 20 sailors and marine: over nine hours in 40° heat.

"My sailors could see the tangible results of their efforts. although I don’t think it sank in until about 24 hours afterwards,” Cdr Hogben says.

The criminals too will feel the tangiblu results of the Allied anti-drugs sweep ii the Indian Ocean.

For the most part. they come from th: Makran coast which straddles Iran ant Pakistan. leaving in speedboats ant dhows (the latter are up to 35 metres 115ft long). heading south and west.

Unlike the comparative narcotics trad: in the Caribbean. the money filters bacl not to drug barons for their personal aggrandisement. but invariably to terrorists and extremists.

Despite this year’s clutch of successes by Allied warships. it's far too early to talk of ‘victory’.

“The enemy will chop and change tactics all the time."

Cdre Winstanley warns. “| liken it a little to Bletchley Park during the war. We will have successes, but we must not be surprised if the enemy adapts and we go through some lean periods. '‘It‘s a long, drawn—out operation an: we must be prepared to be in this fo the long haul. It's a game for thinking It

was

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people."

Visible in the heat haze just south 0 Al Basrah Oil Terminal, the Might: At ‘Em manoeuvres adroitly.

On the bridge of HMS Chatham, th: WECDIS is criss electronic chart crossed by lines of demarcation. clearl: showing where Iraqi and Iranian territorial waters are. plus zones claimed by thu latter. it also shows the depth of water ship locations. underwater hazards an: other essential details. With only severa metres on average under Chatham': keel, theincredible accuracyof WECDIS together with the information it provide: at a glance. enables her to be navigate: on the edge of the envelope.

Sometimes the ship needs to us: —

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