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Communication Key to SEACAT Boarding Exercises

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS060526-36
Release Date: 5/26/2006 2:39:00 PM

By Senior Chief Journalist Melinda Larson, Destroyer Squadron 1 Public Affairs

ABOARD USS TORTUGA, South China Sea (NNS) -- Philippine navy visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) teams boarded USS Tortuga (LSD 46) May 23 and 24 to practice searching for illicit drugs and weapons caches during two Southeast Asian Cooperation Against Terrorism (SEACAT) boarding exercises in the South China Sea.

SEACAT is a weeklong at-sea exercise designed to highlight the value of information sharing and multinational coordination within a scenario that gives participating navies practical maritime interception training opportunities.

The exercise between the U.S. Navy and the navies of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand offers 10 liaison officers (LNO) a chance to work with their peers from neighboring countries to address maritime threats in the region. The boardings were tangible results of the information-gathering piece of the exercise.

“We had [exercise] intelligence information that the Tortuga was carrying weapons and drugs,” explained Lt. Cmdr. Anuar Mohamed of the Royal Malaysian navy. “Based on that information, we made a recommendation to our task group commander that we conduct a boarding.”

Each country’s SEACAT headquarters receives bits of information it shares with its LNOs, based aboard Tortuga. In turn, the LNOs receive reports they share with their headquarters. Tortuga serves as the task group’s command ship and an information fusion center.

The LNOs work in a space on the ship that has been designated as the Combined SEACAT Watch Floor. From this space the LNOs communicate with their country’s SEACAT headquarters via e-mail or the Combined Enterprise Regional Information Exchange System (CENTRIXS).

CENTRIXS is a secure computer system allowing real-time chat with headquarters ashore.

“CENTRIXS is very important to us because the communication is immediate, like talking face to face,” Anuar said.

In the exercise scenario, Tortuga was suspected of presenting a maritime threat after U.S. Navy P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft spotted the mock suspect vessel transporting cargo from another ship while at sea. Working from information received by each country’s SEACAT headquarters, and intelligence gathered by the LNOs, a boarding plan for the rogue Tortuga was developed.

“Based on intelligence gathered and analyzed by the combined SEACAT watch team, the Philippine navy dispatched its patrol vessel, Apoliniario Mabini (PS 36),” said Lt. Kirk Lee, SEACAT coordinator on the staff of Destroyer Squadron 1, which leads the U.S. Navy task group taking part in the exercise.

A Philippine navy islander maritime patrol aircraft located Tortuga and passed its position to Apoliniario Mabini. The vessel came alongside Tortuga and launched a rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) filled with boarding team members who then boarded Tortuga searching for contraband.

“The boarding team’s dynamics were good. They moved well together and seemed comfortable working together,” said Ensign Tom Osborn, a U.S. Coast Guard maritime law enforcement trainer who facilitated the Philippine navy boarding.

Osborn, stationed aboard a Coast Guard cutter in the task group, USCGC Sherman (WHEC 720), said that communicating with the boarding team was not an issue.

“Even with the language barrier, we were able to communicate with hand signals and body language,” he said.

The Military Sealift Command ship MV William R. Button (T-AK 3012) is also serving as a suspect vessel and has been boarded by the Royal Malaysian navy and Royal Thai navy.

“As we transit through the South China Sea, we’ve found that the countries can hand over tracking and reporting responsibilities to each other and deploy assets in their region, which is a true measure of the exercise’s success,” said Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Thoma, Destroyer Squadron 1’s operations officer.

In addition to Tortuga and Sherman, other task group ships include the frigate USS Crommelin (FFG 37), destroyer USS Hopper (DDG 70) and rescue and salvage ship USS Salvor (ARS 52).

Immediately following SEACAT, the five ships will transition into the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercise series. CARAT will be conducted with the armed forces of the six SEACAT participating nations.

Capt. Al Collins, commander of the SEACAT exercise task group and commander of Destroyer Squadron 1, will also lead the CARAT task group through the three-month bilateral exercise series.