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Colombian Ship Visits Little Creek

Navy Newsstand

Story Number: NNS031020-09

Release Date: 10/20/2003 11:04:00 PM

By Journalist Seaman (SW) Melissa Pinsonneault, Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek Public Affairs

NAVAL AMPHIBIOUS BASE LITTLE CREEK, Va. (NNS) -- It's been more than 30 years since a Colombian warship has sailed into the Chesapeake Bay. When the Colombian ship ARC Valle del Cauca (Cutter 44) came to Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek in early October, it was for three things: training, training and more training.

Helping conduct training aboard the Colombian ship were Navy and Coast Guard personnel attached to the Afloat Training Group Atlantic (ATGLant) based at Naval Station Norfolk. The training group provides readiness and refresher training to numerous Navy and Coast Guard ships on the East Coast.

"This is a unique opportunity for us," commented ATGLant trainer Chief Boatswain's Mate Bob Montague, who helped train the foreign sailors in various shipboard operations. "We make sure Sailors are following the correct procedures that are most up to date."

The ATGLant trainers went aboard the Colombian ship to observe the way the crew performs during various training evolutions.

"We are here to observe as much as we are to train," explained Montague. "We try to illustrate to the Colombian sailors our way of doing things, so they can incorporate our techniques into the way they operate."

The first day of a two-week training period was composed of navigation, seamanship and damage control drills. The crew of 53 personnel, including 43 enlisted and 12 officers, trained on everything from precision anchoring to combating a shipboard fire.

ARC Valle Del Cauca was formerly named USCGC Durable (WMEC 628), while previously belonging to the U.S. Coast Guard. The ship was built in 1968 and has gone through several overhauls. Recently, the United States donated the Coast Guard ship to the Colombian navy, where it was then renamed.

After having been deactivated for two years at the naval shipyards in Baltimore, the Colombians commissioned the ship Sept. 4 at the Coast Guard headquarters in Washington D.C.

The ship is the only one in the cutter class that is now part of the Columbia navy and will make its home port in Bahia Malaga Navy Base. The primary mission of ARC Valle del Cauca's crew is counter-narcotics operations off the coast of Colombia.

According to Lt. Jason Testa, a U.S. Navy exchange officer currently with the Colombian navy, the Colombian sailors have confiscated more than 39,000 kilos of cocaine in the first nine months of this year.

The 210-ft. long and 34-ft. wide ship is equipped with commercial "off-the-shelf" technology, as well as commonly used equipment found aboard U.S. ships. The former Coast Guard ship can cruise through the waters at a maximum speed of 17 knots.

"We will take what we have learned here and maintain that level of training," concluded the commanding officer, Cmdr. Jose A. Soto Amezgorta.