High-seas rescue
November 19th, 2009 | Maritime operations Pirates The Middle East merchant ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
Sailors from the cruiser Chosin rescued three fishermen clinging to a piece of wood this week in the Gulf of Aden // MC1 Scott Taylor / Navy
The Navy’s new slogan may have gotten a mixed reception internally, but there are three Yemeni fishermen, at least, who would probably agree it really is a global force for good. The cruiser Chosin spotted the men on Tuesday clinging to a piece of wood in the Gulf of Aden, and sent a launch to fish them out of the water.
But it wasn’t as though these guys went for a swim and let their boat float away. According to this statement from 5th Fleet, they told the crew of the Chosin they’d been hijacked:
According to the fishermen, they were left stranded in the water after 12 suspected pirates hijacked their vessel. The fishermen also said that the pirates gave them an ultimatum to either jump overboard with only a wooden plank as a flotation device or be killed.
After surviving for three days with only a few bottles of water, a passing merchant vessel spotted them in the water. The merchant vessel notified coalition forces and a Chosin rescue team picked up the stranded fishermen.
Sounds unpleasant, although forcing a crew to jump overboard seems more like something from the Boy’s Book of Pirates than a tactic used by modern outlaws off the coast of Somalia. Today’s pirates make their living by ransoming hostages, so doesn’t it seem odd they’d want these guys off their boat?
LCAC assault links
September 30th, 2009 | Ballistic missile defense Blogs Carriers Foreign navies Pirates Science and technology Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
Just as this Landing Craft, Air Cushion, dashed across the waters off Queensland, Australia with a load of gear, so too are today's links coming straight toward you // MC2 Gabriel Weber/ Navy
Air cushion inflatin’, M1A1 Abrams main battle tank loadin’, stern ramp lowerin’, high speed wave-skimmin’ links, flying straight off the water and onto the beach to bring you these updates from across the Web:
- Break out the small arms, warm up the LRAD and tell BM1 to lower the small boat: It’s pirate season.
- The Navy’s newest model command center is as cool as both the Death Star and the starship Enterprise, according to this story.
- Some nice young men from the ballistic-missile submarine Nebraska paid a nice visit to veterans in Omaha on Monday. It won’t be long before ships like the Nebraska can send some nice young women on these sorts of trips, too.
- India may not be having much luck in actually getting its hands on the carrier it’s buying from the Russians, but Indian navy fighters did get to demonstrate some cats and traps — so to speak — on Russia’s existing carrier.
- Mike Burleson is talking about an idea that will make some readers nostalgic and others nauseated: reviving the Arsenal Ship, which he says would be the best way for the Navy to take on its new ballistic missile defense mission protecting Europe.
The first of many videos from 5th Fleet
September 14th, 2009 | Life at Sea Pirates The Middle East | Posted by Andrew Scutro
Scoop Deck recently returned from a month in the 5th Fleet area. We were lucky enough to ride the Norfolk-based cruiser Anzio from the pier in Bahrain to the counterpiracy patrol area off the coast of Somalia. Check out this video from Anzio as the ship finished its transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
Japan’s new warship — just don’t call it a carrier
August 31st, 2009 | Aviation Carriers Foreign navies Pirates Ships The Middle East | Posted by Phil Ewing
The Hyuga, an axial-decked, aviation-optimized, haze-gray warship -- marked with helicopter landing spots -- is not an aircraft carrier. It is a "helicopter destroyer." // Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force
The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force launched its latest Hyuga-class “helicopter destroyer,” — ahem — this month, which has revived attention to Japan’s gray, flat-decked, aviation-optimized warships that are NOT aircraft carriers. The latest ship, Ise, is the second in the class and is scheduled to formally join the MSDF in 2011.
The story about the Ise reminded Scoop Deck of a visit not too long ago to Camp Lemonier, Djibouti, where the Japanese military wants to expand its footprint on the Horn of Africa and even build its own base. Japanese warships in the Gulf of Aden began escorting non-Japanese-flagged merchant ships this summer, even though they initially had only been assigned to protect their national-flagged shipping, said Capt. William Finn, commander of Camp Lemonier
“It shows their commitment to this mission,” Finn told Scoop Deck.
Japan already flies P-3 Orion patrol planes that provide maritime domain awareness over the Gulf of Aden, and light carriers destroyers like the Hyugas would seem well suited to providing helicopter support for the international anti-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa.
Make it Pop-Tarts and khat for Somali pirates
August 25th, 2009 | Pirates | Posted by Andrew Scutro
According to a Somali-born linguist, ship hijackers here are perpetually stoned and not too bright yet rich and popular in the small towns and villages. Flush with ransom money, they have their pick of women despite existing local ties.//Photo via ethiopianreview.com
ABOARD THE CRUISER ANZIO OFF SOMALIA — It’s always a good idea to know some of the local language and culture, no matter what or where. In recent years U.S. forces have had to rely on native speakers in Iraq, Afghanistan and on missions like this one off the Horn of Africa.
A Somali-born linguist (he requests anonymity for protection) has come aboard as Anzio steps up its counterpiracy mission. He shared a few relevant Somali terms:
pirate: burcad badeed (thugs of the sea)
folding stock AK-47: dabalabab
RPG: bazooka
automatic rifle: faal (German-made G3 specifically)
coalition sailors: cridank-bada (soldiers of the sea)
ransom: “There is no word. This is new to us.”
He has nothing but contempt for ship hijackers. “Some of them wouldn’t know the difference between a warship and an oiler. That’s how dumb they are,” he said. “They have money and the small towns and villages welcome them. Everybody helps them. They’ve got multiple wives. The youngest most beautiful girls, they will select them.”
The sudden influx of loaded thugs does not bode well for local suitors. “If she is waiting for a poor boy from the next village, and there’s a pirate, that love is broken.”
The ship hijackers are also boozers with an overpowering taste for the leaf-borne stimulant khat that’s popular in the region. “If they run out they’ll go back . They are under the influence always. Not just khat,” he said. “Some of them are drunk.”
As for chow? “You can’t cook on a skiff, man. But they love Pop-Tarts. They [stick them together and] eat them like a sandwich.”
Somalis point to years of rampant factory fishing off their shores as the genesis of today’s situation but the linguist isn’t the only one with contempt for ship hijackers. The Islamic militants Al-Shabaab operating around Mogadishu will cut off a poor man’s hand for stealing bread and have no tolerance for stealing ships, he said, “Al-Shabaab are bad ass.”
Life on an oil tanker: Pirates and hecklers
August 20th, 2009 | Life at Sea Pirates merchant ships | Posted by Andrew Scutro
Capt. Baig, of the oil tanker M.T. Dorado, said he has dealt with ship hijackers off Africa and radio hecklers at sea. //Sheila Vemmer, Navy Times
ABOARD AL BASRA OIL TERMINAL IN THE PERSIAN GULF — If there is one thing that really scares mariners these days, it’s the risk of hijackers off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden. For Capt. Baig, the Pakistani skipper of the 21-year-old Korean-built very large crude carrier M.T. Dorado, his list of responsibilities include the ship, its cargo, his crew and even protection of the marine environment. “Everything is connected to each other,” he said. His ship was tied up at ABOT filling up with oil before heading to offload it in India when he explained the modern dangers.
“Transiting Somalia is a big question now,” he said. “They have a mother ship.” If attacked, he said, “”We use the fire hose, some manuevering techniques and call coaliton forces.”
His chief officer, Sarvar Patankar, said seagoing colleagues stay up all night when passing the east coast of Africa for fear of hijacking. “My friends have been through it and they say it is really like hell.” An ominous poster in the passageway shows creepy seagoing bandits sliding onto the deck of a ship at night. It would give a child nightmares.
Mariners like Patankar and Baig contend with the same issues at sea that the U.S. Navy does, and in this area that includes the mythical radio heckler(s) known by the collective but derogatory handle, ”The Filipino Monkey.”
Baig said the verbal skirmishes last all night. “This part of the world, they still have a long way to go to be civilized. What is right is right. What is wrong is wrong.” He tells his crew to not get involved in the silly fracas. He tells them, “You are fighting on the VHF. There is no point. You don’t know who the man is.”
As captain, Baig has a four-month contract then gets to go home in Pakistan for a few months until he gets another ship. He has mixed feelings about being at sea. The pay is good. “But on the family life, everybody suffers, because our family life is disturbed. Attention from father, this we cannot give,” he said. “You don’t get everything you want, you know. You have to be lucky.”
The hunt for Arctic Sea
August 13th, 2009 | Foreign navies Pirates Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
Russian surface ships searching for the cargo vessel Arctic Sea carry KA-27 Helix helicopters, like this one seen patrolling the Gulf of Aden in February // MC2 Jason Zalasky/Navy
It’s hard not to be captivated by the story of the timber carrier Arctic Sea, a Russian-crewed cargo ship that vanished in one of the world’s busiest sea lanes, after it was reportedly boarded in Swedish waters by armed men. And as European news agencies are reporting today, it was apparently boarded again. Russian president Dimitry Medvedev went so far as to order the Russian fleet, including his nuclear submarines, to search for the Arctic Sea and, if necessary, rescue its crew.
Naturally, Scoop Deck was immediately curious about which ships would be available to take on the search. But the only one mentioned by name in press reports so far is the Krivak-class frigate Ladny, which passed through the Straits of Gibraltar in the past few days on its way north to join the search. One ship does not an effective search make, which got us wondering: How many Russian warships are actually underway looking for the Arctic Sea? We’ll be watching for details, and if you see any mentions of the other ships involved, let us know in the comments or at scoopdeck[at]navytimes.com.
Homecoming for a pirate brig
July 28th, 2009 | Military Sealift Command Pirates Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
The dry cargo and ammunition ship Lewis and Clark, seen here doing a vertical replenishment in January, was due back Tuesday at Naval Station Norfolk, Va. // MC2 Katrina Parker/Navy
This is a week of high-profile homecomings at Naval Station Norfolk, Va., with the hospital ship Comfort and the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower both scheduled to return this week from big-deal deployments to South America and the Persian Gulf, respectively. But another naval ship also was scheduled to come back to Norfolk on Tuesday — a Military Sealift Command supply ship that did much more than sustain the fleet.
For part of its cruise the dry cargo and ammunition ship Lewis and Clark was part of the Navy’s counter-piracy armada off the lawless coast of Somalia, serving as an overflow headquarters for the group and as a floating jail for pirate suspects arrested at sea. The ship also hosted a pirate-patrol helicopter detachment, all on top of its normal job re-supplying and refueling U.S. and allied warships underway.
This apparently made the pirates angry enough they tried to get revenge: In May the Lewis and Clark had to repel an attempted hijacking of its own, which included being chased by small boats and taking fire from the would-be boarders.
The ship escaped, and soon it’ll be home again.
Petraeus and the ‘Pirate Brigade’ (updated)
July 27th, 2009 | Photos Pirates Ships The Middle East The deckplates | Posted by Phil Ewing
U.S. CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus addresses crew members aboard the destroyer Bainbridge July 27 // MC2 Nathan Schaeffer / Navy
Nothing too extraordinary about this Navy image of Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, making a few remarks for crew members of the destroyer Bainbridge.
Or is there?
Take a close look at Petraeus’ cover — definitely not a standard Bainbridge ship’s ball cap. Instead, it’s olive with a black bill, and, what’s this? A white skull in front of a pair of crossed swords and… wha? “USS Bainbridge: Pirate Brigade.”
Scoop Deck used technology to give you this closer look:
"As we ground-pounders say, hua Pirate Brigade!" // Navy photo, enhanced by Scoop Deck
Nice.
You may remember that the Bainbridge was the ship that had the Navy’s memorable encounter with pirates back in the spring… looks like the crew hasn’t forgotten about it.
What’s the best ship’s custom ball cap you’ve ever seen?
Update: Here’s the reason why he came aboard.
Dating tip, ladies: He can’t resist a cheese aircraft carrier
July 6th, 2009 | Carriers Pirates | Posted by Phil Ewing
From Wisconsin today comes the kind of zany story for which newspaper feature writers live: A pirate-themed wedding between a professional cheese sculptor — that’s right… go ahead and take a moment to let that sink in… and a retired Navy officer.
Sarah “The Cheese Lady” Kauffman on Saturday wed retired Cmdr. Bill Parry in Manitowoc, Wis., dressed in pirate costumes, presumably talking in pirate voices (”yarr, do ye take this rogue to be ye scurvy buccaneer?”) and telling reporters the extraordinary story of how they met. They were seated next to each other on an airplane when Parry noticed Kauffman reviewing plans for the carrier Ronald Reagan, which she had been commissioned to sculpt in her natural medium, Sargento cheese. “Hey, I’m a Navy guy,” he said — or words to that effect — and she stunned him with her command of the technical details of the ship.
The rest is cheese romance history.
We’ve been scouring the Internet for a photo of the resulting cheese sculpture, and if there are any Reagan sailors or cheese-sculpture enthusiasts out there who’ll send us one, we’ll give you a big shout-out here on the Deck.
Update: We’ve got the images here.