THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 20, 1994 TAG: 9406200028
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOHN F. HARRIS, THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: 940620 LENGTH: ABOARD THE PATROL SHIP TEMPEST
On one side was a rotting wooden sailboat filled with 16 Haitians, half of them children, all looking bewildered and bedraggled. On the other side was the Tempest, one of the newest and most agile ships in the fleet, armed with guns and grenade launchers.
{REST} Ken Prince, chief of the Navy SEAL team aboard the Tempest, bellowed to the Haitians, demanding to know where they were going and what they had aboard. Satisfied that the boat was not violating the U.N. economic embargo, he let the Haitians go on their way.
The Navy may be one of the world's mightiest military machines, but its current mission of enforcing the United Nations' embargo on Haiti is the maritime equivalent of a cop walking a beat in a rather seedy neighborhood.
It is a far cry from the giant sea battle against the Soviet Union for which the Navy spent decades preparing. But Navy leaders say the Haitian embargo is an example of how they intend to keep their service relevant to modern-day problems.
Smaller ships such as the two coastal patrol craft that recently arrived off Haiti - the Tempest and the Cyclone, both based in Norfolk - will have a prominent role in these new missions, which include thwarting blockade runners and drug smugglers.
The patrol craft is 170 feet long and among the fastest in the Navy, moving in excess of 35 knots. It is so maneuverable that it can turn around on its own axis. The draft is so shallow, just under eight feet, that the ship can cruise up to within a few hundred yards of the beach, although in Haiti patrol craft usually have stayed about a mile offshore.
``These ships, I think, are long overdue in the Navy,'' said Lt. Shawn Cali, scheduled to assume command of the Tempest this fall. ``It's a different mission than the regular blue-water Navy. There's room for a lot of creativity, a lot of flexibility.''
The Navy's principal job in the mission, known as Operation Support Democracy, is to enforce the economic embargo. The U.S. Coast Guard, by contrast, is primarily responsible for handling Haitian refugees who set sail hoping to emigrate to the United States.
Critics have questioned the wisdom of an economic embargo on Haiti to try to force the removal of the military dictatorship. But the Navy has by most accounts carried out its part of the job in enforcing a blockade. Most of the illegal trade leaking into Haiti, officials say, is coming by land over the border from the Dominican Republic.
Since May 21, when the United Nations tightened sanctions, the Navy has stopped and boarded 81 ships, of which 24 were diverted. Since the embargo took effect in October, the Navy has queried 7,585 ships and boarded 1,103, of which it diverted 101 and cleared or allowed passage of 1,002.
Capt. Albert Myers, who directs the 11-ship operation from aboard the guided-missile cruiser Monterey, said the arrival last month of the Cyclone and Tempest has contributed heavily to deterring illegal shipments. Most larger vessels have stopped attempting to get through the blockade. The ones that are still trying tend to be smaller boats that hug the coastline. These could foil a larger cruiser or frigate, but are easy game for a patrol craft.
Typically, the patrol craft will pull within several hundred yards of a boat it is challenging. Then, a group of SEALs or other special operations personnel will load into a RIB, a rigid-hull inflatable boat. The SEALs then pull up to the suspicious boat for an interrogation.
Commanders say they use their judgment about which vessels to board and search. A boat sitting low in the water is likely carrying cargo. And an especially foul odor suggests the boat has been at sea for a while, even if its occupants insist otherwise.
by CNB