Ship Deployment Finishes

Richard Jackson, Editor of the Navy Today, reviews the RNZN's contribution to the MIO.

	The return of HMNZS Te Mana brought, on its arrival at Devonport, a dockside proposal of marriage from AET Stephen Nino to Kelly Taylor.

HMNZS Te Mana arrived home on 4 August (in company with HMNZS Manawanui, fresh from Five Power Defence Arrangement exercises off Singapore). Te Mana’s return to New Zealand marked the end of an eight month commitment by our ships to the War against Terror.

So what did the frigates actually do while on the Maritime Interception Operation (MIO)? Traffic through the Straits of Hormuz is heavy: giant tankers pass to and from the Gulf oil terminals, freighters and container ships, coalition transports and hundreds of dhows and small craft. The ‘go fasts’ are ever present - small high speed boats that transit between Iran and Oman. The big ships are vulnerable to terrorism; the smaller craft are potential means of transport for transnational terrorists.

Our frigates undertook escort operations, where the coalition warships were charged with keeping the narrow sea lanes of the Straits of Hormuz open. The threat came from small aluminum or fiberglass boats driven at high speed, mostly trying to evade our frigate. But, it would only take one, filled with explosives, or carrying RPG weapons, to target our ship, or a coalition ship, successfully. “Nine small boats trying to evade a warship at full speed is truly a sight to behold, “ said Air Marshal Ferguson, who had visited Te Mana while deployed on these operations. The little ‘go fasts’ were also vulnerable to bad weather – both Te Kaha and Te Mana conducted sea rescues of ‘go fast’ crews during their deployments.

Then, there was the continual task of boarding of merchant ships and small craft to search for possible Al Qaeda or Taleban personnel. Our ships boarded anything ‘from huge super tankers to small coastal dhows.’ Dhows were usually the most ‘interesting’ to visit because they generally included livestock: goats as cargoes and usually enormous cockroaches and huge fat black rats – ‘not for the faint hearted!’ Te Mana reported.

“The Boarding Team includes personnel from all ranks and branches above the rank of Able Rate. The team is on stand by to go 24/7 whilst at sea and gets called out day and night to conduct boardings. Once the pipe for ‘Hands to Boarding Stations’ is made, the team kits up, the Boarding Officer receive a brief from the Captain and the team is briefed. Once approval to board is passed, ammunition is provided, the team boards the RHIB and transfers to the vessel of interest.”

Boarding parties and Operations Room Staff were just the most visible part of each ship’s team. They could not do their jobs without the support and backing of the rest of the ship’s company. “For example, Marine and Weapon Engineers undertook Quartermaster and helmsman’s duties on the Bridge, while the Stores Department and others of the ship’s company provided lookouts. The Chefs worked until the early morning hours to ensure that meals are available for those watch keeping, and then the Ship’s Flight, who seemed to always conduct flying operations between 2300 and 0600! Without all of the different departments coming together to achieve our common goal, we could not succeed up here,” said Sub Lieutenat Kiri Ohlsson of Te Mana.

Our ships found that the Navy’s Super Seasprite helicopters were ‘most capable’, compared with other coalition ships’ helicopters. The Seasprites proved to be ‘very good at finding the small high speed boats that transit between Iran and Oman.’ The Kiwi helicopters ‘made us a very valuable asset for the Canadian Commander of our Task Force,’ says Lieutenant Commander Dave Toms.

In between operational tasks the ships’ companies had to find time to conduct maintenance of, and training on, critical equipment. ‘If this equipment is not operating to its fullest we just would not be able to achieve our mission. The teams who undertook those unseen tasks worked late into the night in very hot temperatures and under tight time constraints. Temperatures during the day generally reached the mid-40s and rarely dropped below 30° overnight. These conditions make any upper deck evolutions such as RAS and Boardings uncomfortable and a challenge.’

With the ships spending from three to five weeks at sea during any one patrol Replenishment at sea (RAS) was essential. The British, French, Japanese and Americans all provided tankers to the MIO task force. Each RAS was a moment when the RNZN was on direct show to the other MIO navies. Te Mana, for example, conducted 19 replenishments at sea: nine with the Japanese tanker, seven with a British ship, 2 with the US civilian-manned naval tankers and once with a French ship. The Canadian Task Force commander was full of praise for the RNZN’s efforts in the Gulf, and told TE MANA he was ‘most impressed with the professionalism with which you have conducted your duties.’

Chief of Defence Force, Air Marshal Bruce Ferguson, had pointed out to the RNZRSA National Conference that fighting the War on Terrorism “is now an NZDF mission.” The current, on-going, deployment of an RNZAF P-3K Orion in the Gulf of Oman continues the work undertaken by the frigates Te Kaha and Te Mana, he explained. “We may not be the largest contributor in numbers, but reference is always made to the quality and professionalism of the NZDF. Our Navy is highly respected for their performance of these duties.”

In a recent statement, Air Marshal Ferguson assessed the outcome of the two ships’ deployments as: ‘Is this mission a success? Well, how do you measure success? Freedom of navigation exists in the waterways being patrolled, and no threat has materialised, where it no doubt could - and had - before the operation got into full swing. I term that a successful mission.’