Global Fleet Stations: Gulf of Guinea

The US Navy has announced the USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43) will represent the 2nd phase of the Global Fleet Stations pilot. While the pilot with the HSV Swift represents a coast guard training deployment with other civil and humanitarian efforts, this Global Fleet Station deployment has an opportunity to truly address Maritime Security issues surrounding the Gulf of Guinea.

The Fort McHenry, homeported in Little Creek, Va., is expected to sail the Gulf of Guinea, working with representatives of participating African nations from Ghana south to Angola. It will also work with representatives of Senegal and Cape Verde.

“Part of the beauty of the Global Fleet Station is that it can be tailored to respond to the needs of the region,” Greene said. “Based on our interaction with the emerging partners and friends, it can be responsive to those [individual nation] desires, in terms of knowledge skills and abilities that they request.”

Back in 2005 the Gulf of Guinea became a focus again for the United States, when apparently someone realized Nigeria imports almost as much oil to the US than Saudi Arabia does. That year the USNS Emory S Land (AS 39) made a 2 month deployment , followed up with another deployment from the USNS Emory S Land (AS 39) in 2006. After the second deployment, there were several professional papers written about the contribution a ship like a sub tender was able to make in the region, ranging from its repair facilities to offshore logistics. One item cited in virtually all the professional papers on why the submarine tender was more successful than other US Naval vessels in maritime training was because the USNS Emory S. Land (AS 39) had 6 small boats. In the end the small boat sailors in foreign Navies related better to small boat sailors of the US Navy, imagine that.

In many ways, the Global Fleet Station in both its pilot and 2nd phase reflects the lessons learned from those two sub tender deployments. With the USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43), the Global Fleet Station deployment to the Gulf of Guinea will probably look much different than the one currently conducted by the HSV Swift. If it is anything like the last time a LSD deployed to the region, specifically the 2005 West African training cruise, the GFS will probably be more detailed towards security.

In 2005 the USS Gunston Hall (LSD-44) and the HSV Swift deployed Marines on a six-week deployment to Ghana, Senegal, and Guinea on board USS Gunston Hall (LSD-44) and the high speed vessel Swift (HSV-2). The Marines trained their African counterparts on riverine operations, ambush, counter-ambush, combat patrol, jungle-warfare tactics, and night-vision techniques. Additionally, Navy Seals and special-boat crews embarked on board Swift for riverine and boat handling training.

A background of current Maritime Security issues in the Gulf of Guinea can be found here. but in summery this quote sums up the maritime focus.

Maritime domain awareness (MDA) is the centerpiece of the U.S. Navy’s strategy in the Gulf of Guinea. MDA is a broad term that refers to the situational awareness of anything in a nation’s waters or territorial or economic exclusion zone, and anything that could affect the nation’s security, safety, economics, or environment.

Last October, the US donated to Sao Tome and Principe an $18 million radar system to help them keep track of activity in their territorial waters and nearby ocean areas. The system, known as the Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) is a relatively cheap way to track shipping. The Global Fleet Station intends to utilize this system to fight piracy in the Gulf of Guinea during the deployment. It is noteworthy that in comparison to economically ravaged Somalia, the US Navy is taking a proactive role in fighting maritime crime in the economically critical Gulf of Guinea region.

A Whidbey Island Class Dock Landing Ship is essentially a mothership, except normally all that well deck space is required to carry ship-to-shore connectors for Marines. In this deployment however, the Marine requirement for ship-to-shore connectors is minimal, meaning the well deck can be loaded with Naval equipment instead of amphibious gear.

The Navy has a real opportunity in the upcoming Global Fleet Station to simultaneously deploy Marines for extended, detailed training beyond what was offered in the 2005 West African Training Cruise, but additionally deploy a large number of smaller navy vessels for maritime training and security.