A rigid-hulled inflatable boat aproaches a Polish frigate, part of the coalition enforcing U.N. sanctions in the Persian Gulf. Ships from the United States, Britain, Austraiia and Poland are on patrol stopping smugglers leaving Iraqi waters with banned cargo. (Mark Oliva/Stars and Stripes)
ABOARD USS MILIUS — Amid the growing armada in the Persian Gulf, some U.S. sailors are tackling two tasks at the same time: preparing for war and enforcing U.N. sanctions against Iraq.
Vessels from the United States, Britain, Australia and Poland patrol inside Iraqi’s waters attempting to dry up the flow of banned oil. The force, composed of boarding teams on small boats, intercepts contraband in the northern waters of the Persian Gulf. Many say the efforts to stop the illegal trade are proving effective.
“We have effectively stopped all tankers,” said Australian Navy Capt. Peter Jones, the maritime interception operations screen commander.
“Twenty-four hours a day, we’re sitting inside Iraqi territorial waters. We have a ship inside their waters and can get the illegal ships before they get out.”
A boarding crew from USS Milius returns after running maritime interception operations in the Persian Gulf. Coalition forces continue to run down smugglers to enforce U.N. sanctions. (Mark Oliva/Stars and Stripes)
Stemming the tide of illegal goods hasn’t been easy for U.S. Navy ships, according to Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Harley, commanding officer of the USS Milius, a guided-missile destroyer. Besides serving as the command platform for maritime interception operations, some of his 280 sailors also serve on the boarding teams. They also operate the Aegis destroyer’s SPY-1D radar as part of the air-defense network for the Constellation battle group. Sailors can track all incoming targets to the carrier battle group as well as guide outgoing offensive ground and anti-ship missiles.
All the while, the crew practices launching Tomahawk cruise missiles, which many experts predict could provide the first blow against Iraq. Tomahawks, first launched during the 1991 Gulf War, have a range of more than 1,000 miles and can easily reach Baghdad with their 1,000 pound payloads.
“We’re ready if it’s surface surveillance or launching Tomahawks,” Harley said. “I think the two missions — maritime interception and as a part of the carrier battle group — overlap. Surface surveillance piece is the same piece we use to support defense of the carrier. We’re always on call to do the strike mission.”
Intercepting contraband
According to U.S. Navy statistics, nearly 5,000 ships were questioned in 2002 as to the contents of their vessels. Of those, almost 3,000 were boarded, and almost 900 of them were diverted back to Iraqi ports because they were carrying oil or other illegal goods.
In 2003, the pace continues. Coalition forces questioned 571 ships and boarded 347.
Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Chris Gentleman climbs a rope ladder from a rigid-hulled inflatable boat to USS Milius after a maritime interception mission in the Persian Gulf. (Mark Oliva/Stars and Stripes)
Jones said prior to Sept. 11, there weren’t enough ships to properly cover all areas of the Persian Gulf. Tankers laden with illegal oil would slip from Iraqi waters into Iranian waters, bypassing the blockade. Now, Iran is enforcing its territorial waters, denying sanctuary to smugglers.
Australia commands the blockade in the northern Persian Gulf, while Canadian, Greek and Italian vessels patrol the Straits of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf, and German and Spanish vessels patrol the Horn of Africa.
Eluding patrols is more than a matter of sneaking past small boat teams riding the high seas. U.N. forces track every vessel on radar. Helicopters overhead monitor ships, and teams on the small boats track smugglers with night-vision goggles, global positioning systems and thermal imagers.
As the flow of illegal oil slows to a trickle, smugglers seem to be growing more desperate. They’ve opted to use smaller ships, called dhows, to hide oil or try mass breakouts where they speed past overwhelmed U.N. forces.
“The most we’ve had is 80 dhows in one hit,” Jones said. “Two of those got through.”
There is a huge incentive, Jones said, for breaking the blockade. Smugglers will pay $40 for a thousand liters of oil in Iraq and sell it for nearly $160, allowing them to net thousands of dollars in profit.
Sailors from USS Milius, a guided-missile destroyer, prepare to launch a rigid-hulled inflatable boat for maritime interception operations in the Persian Gulf, March 2003. The job of stopping smugglers from Iraq has been ongoing since 1990, but recently smugglers have been getting more creative at hiding their illegal cargo and more desperate to slip past the blockades. (Mark Oliva/Stars and Stripes)
Preparing for war
On board the Milius, Harley is constantly drilling his crew to fire missiles. The ship spent 50 days out to sea before making a port call after its arrival late last year. Sailors logged another 30 days at sea before pulling in last week. Milius’ crew holds weekly drills on firing missiles, reacting to chemical and biological attacks and responding to threats from small boats.
As deadlines for U.N. reports loom and forces continue to build in the region, Harley fully expects to receive the call to fire his missiles. He said it’s an order he expected before setting sail from the States, and one he’s even more convinced he’ll carry out before he leaves the Persian Gulf.
“I do expect this ship to be in war,” Harley said. “The best way to prepare for war is to expect it. Our hope is that our presence here will make a war not happen.”
