Multi-national forces conclude Sea Saber - Around the Fleet

All Hands, March, 2004 by Wes Eplen

In a recent flash of explosive action, special forces teams successfully boarded and seized a simulated suspected merchant ship 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 Molar Vessel Sea Cluster, a civilian cargo ship suspected of transporting WMD. After leaving port in the northern Persian 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 Unit (MEU) and NaW 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 Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Alonzo Mendozavalencia, Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technician from MEU 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 immediately, 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 Mayer 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 LCDR 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 ship's 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 to enhance the ability of multi-national forces to work together 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 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 cross-deck landings and boarding training, and I think that says a lot for the countries involved in PSI."