The Source for Navy News
Multi-national Forces Conclude Sea Saber
Story Number: NNS040122-03
Release Date: 1/22/2004 10:55:00 AM
By Journalist 2nd Class Wes Eplen, Commander U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, U.S. 5th Fleet Public Affairs
MANAMA, Bahrain (NNS) -- In a flash of explosive action, special forces teams successfully boarded and seized a suspected merchant ship Jan. 17 in the Arabian Sea, bringing to conclusion Sea Saber, a multi-national exercise aimed at stemming the flow of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
Sponsored by Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, U.S. 5th Fleet, Sea Saber was the fifth in a series of exercises based on the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) announced by President George Bush in May 2003 in Krakow, Poland. PSI is a global initiative committed to stopping the flow of weapons of mass destruction, related delivery devices and materials by land, air or sea, by both state and non-state actors around the world.
Sea Saber was the first PSI exercise led by the United States, and the first to be conducted in the Arabian Sea, a key region of proliferation concern. With 12 of the 16 partner nations involved, it included the largest number of nations to participate in any PSI exercise to date, including both military and law enforcement assets.
Sea Saber focused on one contingency, the interdiction of a maritime shipment on the high seas. Participants practiced intercepting, boarding and searching vessels thought to be illegally trafficking WMD or related materials. The exercise climaxed in a flag-consent, non-compliant boarding by partner forces, working within the boundaries of international law to legally board the suspected ship, inspect and seize WMD related cargo.
The actual operation, called a Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS), is strictly choreographed. USNS Saturn (T-AFS 10) played the role of Motor Vessel Sea Cluster, a civilian cargo ship suspected of transporting WMD. After leaving port in the northern Arabian Gulf, the suspicious vessel was tracked more than 1,200 miles into the Arabian Sea by a closely coordinated effort of partner ships and aircraft. Permission was requested from the ship’s country of origin to board and search the vessel. After permission was received, the partnership forces went into action.
Spanish Special Operations Forces, working in conjunction with elements of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Group and Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 3 Detachment 1 (EODMU 3 Det. 1) aboard USS Peleliu (LHA 5), were tasked with conducting the VBSS.
“The Spanish special ops team came in first and did the take down, meaning they took the ship,” said Gunnery Sgt. Alonzo Mendozavalencia, Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technician from MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) Service Support Group 13. “They took down any aggressive personnel and anyone with weapons. They took the key spaces like the bridge and the engine room right away, then started a complete search of the boat. By then, the second wave of Marines had landed with one EOD tech, and they joined in the search. The third and fourth waves came in with more EOD personnel and ENBC [Enhanced Nuclear, Biological and Chemical] personnel,” he added.
EOD and ENBC personnel are vital to a mission where finding WMD, their highly toxic components or delivery devices, is the primary objective.
“Basically, what we do is augment these MSPF [Maritime Special Purpose Force] and VBSS missions when there are suspected weapons of mass destruction,” said Sgt. David Moyer of Battalion Landing Team 11, ENBC team. “We go inside there and we find whatever it is. We identify it, we label it and we are able to contain it. We also evacuate any personnel who have been injured or contaminated.”
In addition to EOD and ENBC technicians, countless other experts also played vital roles in Sea Saber.
“We were brought out by 5th Fleet to insert certain elements of realism into the scenario, ultimately implying the notion of WMD aboard Saturn,” said Lt. Cmdr. Ted Grabarz, officer in charge of the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) Mobile Training Team.
“Our primary purpose was to develop the boarding package, the notional package of documents that VBSS teams actually collect up to support the exercise,” added Intelligence Specialist 1st Class Mike Wade from the ONI Mobile Training Team. “There are a vast amount of documents, anything from the ship’s garbage log to the ships registration, passports and documents of proliferation. All the documents have to fold together to create the notional plot that’s going to unravel when they start interrogating.”
Sea Saber was specifically designed as a cooperative exercise to enhance interoperability among multi-national forces in maritime interdiction operations.
Singapore, France, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States contributed both operational assets and observers to Sea Saber. Australia and Italy contributed operational assets and Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and Turkey participated as observers.
“One thing that’s impressed me quite a bit is the ability of the forces from really all around the world to come together and work together very, very smoothly,” said Maj. Kwek Ju-Hon, a Singapore naval officer assigned to the Ministry of Defense. “We’ve been doing some fairly complex operations, like crossdeck landings and boarding training, and I think that says a lot for the interoperability of the countries involved in PSI.”
“I think this went a long way toward building that confidence level we need to work together more in the future," added Garbarz.
The United States contributed staff members from Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/ Commander, U.S. Fifth Fleet, Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 1 staff, ESG 1 ships Peleliu and USS Port Royal (CG 73), the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, both Navy and Marine Corps Explosive Ordinance Disposal personnel, Office of Naval Intelligence personnel, a U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement detachment, P-3 and C-130 aircraft, Saturn and various logistical support.
Australia contributed HMAS Melbourne (FFG 05) and a Royal Australian Air Force maritime patrol craft. France sent members of their Task Force 150 staff; Italy, ITS Espero (F 576); Spain, SPS Victoria (F 82) and special operations forces; Singapore, RSS Endurance (L 207); and the United Kingdom, HMS Norfolk (F230) and HMS St. Albans (F 83) and NIMROD maritime patrol aircraft.
Previous PSI exercises include the maritime interdiction exercise Pacific Protector, led by Australia in September 2003, a tabletop air interdiction command post exercise hosted by the United Kingdom in early October, Sanso ’03 led by Spain in mid-October, and Basilic ’03 led by France in November.
For related news, visit the Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/ Commander, 5th Fleet Navy NewsStand page at www.news.navy.mil/local/cusnc.
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