U.S., Australian Boarding Teams Train Together During Deep Sabre II
Commander, Task Force 73 Public Affairs
SOUTH CHINA SEA - U.S. and Australian forces conducted joint training as part of exercise Deep Sabre II, Oct. 29, looking to sharpen their ship-boarding skills and enhance the two countries’ interoperability.
Deep Sabre II, hosted by Singapore, is a multi-national maritime interdiction exercise being conducted as part of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). Australia and the United States are two of 19 countries taking part.
During the exercise boarding event, teams from the guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) and the Australian patrol boat HMAS Bundaberg (ACPB 91) joined a Maritime Law Enforcement/Force Protection (MLE/FP) team from U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST) San Diego (91109) to conduct a sweep of a suspect vessel. Military Sealift Command fleet replenishment oiler USNS Walter S. Diehl (T-AO 193) served as the staging vessel for the exercise.
The Fitzgerald visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) team and the Coast Guard team disembarked a rigid-hull inflatable boat (RHIB), boarded Diehl and began conducting a security sweep of the weather decks and the bridge. The Australians disembarked a second RHIB and joined their U.S. counterparts on deck. The joint team swept the engineering spaces and located mock weapons and hazardous materials found in topside connex boxes. The exercise concluded with the two countries’ teams comparing notes and reviewing the day’s events.
U.S. Coast Guard Machinery Technician 2nd Class Adam Hunter said the boarding exercise participants all benefited from the cooperative training.
“An exercise like this is an education for all involved,” Hunter said. “We see, through this kind of training, how our [standard operating procedures] differ. Down the line, when we work with them again—or if something bad does happen—we’ll have a better idea of how to integrate our efforts.”
Brunei Darussalam, Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Russia and Singapore are also participating in Deep Sabre II.
The intent of the exercise is to demonstrate the commitment of the international community to countering the proliferation and trafficking of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and to raise awareness of the continued threat posed by WMD.
Deep Sabre II is the thirty-eighth PSI exercise.
(Posted Oct. 30, 2009)