• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Royal Malaysian Navy Boards MSC Ship Button During SEACAT

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS060526-39
Release Date: 5/26/2006 2:41:00 PM

By Edward Baxter, Military Sealift Command Far East Public Affairs

ABOARD MV SGT. WILLIAM R. BUTTON, Strait of Malacca (NNS) -- A team from the Royal Malaysian navy boarded the Military Sealift Command’s MV Sgt. William R. Button (T-AK 3012) May 24 as a contraband-smuggling scenario played out during exercise Southeast Asia Cooperation Against Terrorism (SEACAT).

SEACAT involves the navies of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the United States.

The scenario focused on naval forces’ abilities to locate, track and board suspect vessels, and serves as a platform to share ideas and techniques. About 30 nautical miles off the Malaysian coast in the narrow and busy Strait of Malacca, Royal Malaysian navy surface ships and patrol aircraft tracked Button, passing along her location to the Royal Malaysian Navy frigate KD Kasturi. Button, a government contracted roll on/roll off container ship, played the role of a ship that had been identified as possibly carrying contraband.

KD Kasturi radioed the ship, asking for information about the last port of call, destination, crew member names and cargo. Button’s civilian master, in this case played by Lt. Cmdr. Abdel Lopez of the Destroyer Squadron 1 staff, was ordered to stop engines around 1 p.m.

Determining that there was enough suspicion to board the ship, two rigid-hulled inflatable boats (RHIB) carrying 16 sailors approached Button. The side accommodation ladder was lowered and the personnel came aboard in a compliant boarding.

Once aboard, Lt. j.g. Winward Griffin, officer in charge of the U.S. Coast Guard's Maritime Safety and Security Team 91101, from Seattle, also deployed aboard Button, offered tactics and techniques used to secure and inspect a merchant vessel at sea.

“The training was highly beneficial to our Navy since we seldom have the opportunity to board a ship of this size, and the interaction with U.S. forces provides us with valuable experience and ideas that will benefit us in the future,” said Lt. Shahril Mustakim of the Royal Malaysian navy, deployed aboard Button as a liaison officer.

Personnel were designated as Button’s crew members by wearing yellow armbands, and were isolated for questioning. Each person was required to show identification and was questioned about the ship's cargo content. Crew members consisted of Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadron (MPS) 2 staff members, a member of the U.S. Coast Guard, and liaison officers from Brunei, Singapore and Thailand.

The team secured the bridge and questioned the ship’s civilian master while inspecting the ship’s documents and a crew manifest. Teams then split to check living facilities and cargo holds, while others descended to question Button’s chief engineer who was played by Lt. Ulysses Zamora, MPS2’s force protection officer.

Finding no illicit goods aboard, the Malaysian team disembarked and Button continued on her way.

Military Sealift Command’s MV Sgt. William R. Button is part of the 11-ship MPS2, based in Diego Garcia. MPS2 ships are ready to sail virtually anywhere in the world to offload military equipment in response to conflict or a humanitarian disaster. SEACAT is a weeklong at-sea exercise that began May 20 and is designed to highlight the value of information sharing and multinational coordination within a scenario that gives participating navies practical maritime interception training opportunities.

Other ships taking part include a task group made up of the dock landing ship USS Tortuga (LSD 46), frigate USS Crommelin (FFG 37), destroyer USS Hopper (DDG 70), Coast Guard cutter USCGC Sherman (WHEC 720), and rescue and salvage ship USS Salvor (ARS 52).