Month: September 2023

Source: United States Navy

Chief Navy Diver Zachary Hanson, MDSU-1 master diver and his team got underway aboard the icebreaker USCGC Healy (WAGB 20) in Seattle to conduct ice diving operations alongside U.S. Coast Guard divers. During their time aboard, Hanson and his team also provided training on the decompression chamber they brought with them.

“They [the Coast Guard] don’t have a decompression chamber, but they’re getting one,” said Hanson. “We let them use ours for this mission conducted for the Office of Naval Research (ONR), and we helped train the Coastguardsmen divers on the operation, maintenance and transport of a decompression chamber.”

Joint training operations like this help build interoperability between services in addition to innovating new tactics, techniques and procedures in an environment as challenging as the Arctic Circle.

ONR and Healy’s mission was to observe arctic ice. They used stationary weather buoys equipped with multiple devices to monitor the ocean, weather and the ice to better understand the Arctic environment, its importance to the world, and how to defend it.

During the mission, Hanson learned about the Arctic’s diverse biosphere, which works to sustain life both above and below the massive ice sheet.

“Most people would think the Arctic wouldn’t have any life under the ice, but when we were under there, we saw jellyfish and some kind of shrimp or krill,” said Hanson.

The MDSU-1 team is uniquely qualified to support this type of mission. Hanson and his team used dry suits designed to protect divers against hypothermia while submerged in 30-degree water. The team also used a dual manifold/dual regulator system to ensure they could continue to breathe from their tanks if one of their regulators froze over and a special tool that helped keep everyone safe underwater.

“We’ve got an ice screw we can use if one of us gets lost under the ice,” Hanson said. “Basically, you push it into the ice and hang onto it. With the strobe light on the back of our tanks, it’s easy to see someone because the water under the ice is so clear.”

Looking at polar ice from above the water, it might be easy to forget the ice is floating because it reflects up to 80% of sunlight, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. However, the light shining through the ice causes a brightening effect.

“It’s got to be the clearest water I’ve ever dived in my life,” Hanson said. “This time of year, there’s sunlight 24 hours a day, and from under the ice, the light is a perfect white, like a kind of fluorescent light. This is because the ice is diffusing the sunlight and mixes with the perfect blue of the water, but when you’re looking at deep water, the blue is only in your peripheral vision. Everything you look at straight on turns black. It’s very surreal.”

According to Hanson, most arctic dives are incredibly remote, and while some could argue the Beaufort Sea is as remote as it gets, the MDSU-1 divers had a unique lifeline right at hand.

“We’re trained to call the Coast Guard if a diver gets in trouble,” Hanson said. “But in this case, we were diving right off the side of a Coast Guard cutter, so we might have been in a super remote place, but the exact people we count on for help were right there.”

As a component of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group (EODGRU) 1, MDSU-1 provides ready, expeditionary, rapidly deployable mobile diving and salvage companies to conduct harbor and waterway clearance, salvage, underwater search and recovery, and underwater emergency repairs in any environment.

Source: United States Navy

Well, thank you, Pete. And again, thank you to you and your team for hosting the 25th International Seapower Symposium. Good morning, everyone. And what a beautiful Newport morning it is. It’s just great to be here with all of you. And it was so enjoyable last night to see you at Rosecliff and to have a chance to start – to build on – our friendship and the great opportunities we have this week.

Ambassador Kennedy, Secretary Del Toro, Administrator Phillips, Commandant Fagan, General Smith, fellow heads of the navy and coast guards, and your spouses, U.S. Navy team, ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinct honor to welcome you to Newport for this 25th International Seapower Symposium. Thank you for being here. Thank you for traveling such long distances. And thank you for investing your time in building and strengthening relationships with your fellow leaders. You enrich this symposium with your presence this week, and I am deeply grateful for your participation. 

This is an extraordinary gathering, with almost 100 countries represented, nearly two-thirds of the world’s maritime nations. 

I can only begin to express how important each of you is to the United States Navy, and to me personally.

I look forward to hearing from every one of you, and I know we will all benefit from the unique perspective and insight that each of you brings. This most certainly includes the spouses who are here today. You play such an important role. Maritime service is a team effort, and not just this week, but every single day. You are the core of our maritime community and I thank you for all of your support, for all that you do to help us increase readiness, and for all you do to strengthen relationships around the world. 

So I’d like this moment to have a round of applause for all our spouses who are here today as well as those who could not be with us. 

Ladies and gentlemen, since we last gathered here in Newport two years ago, our world has changed. The global pandemic still casts its shadow on our economies, our communities, and our families. We have all experienced the devastation of natural forces intensified by the changing climate, from flooding to droughts, cyclones, and rising seas. 

We are all witness to the violence of war, which has exposed the tenuousness of peace. These and other shocks have demonstrated that the interdependencies of the global system offer critical opportunities for collaboration across the maritime domain. 

In a world that grows simultaneously more interconnected and fragile, the maritime domain has taken on an even greater importance. For all of our nations, our safety, our security, and our prosperity are tied to the oceans. 

Every Navy and Coast Guard represented here contributes to the stability of the global maritime commons. Whether you are countering drug trafficking, human smuggling, illicit weapons transfers, illegal and unregulated fishing or piracy, policing territorial waters, delivering humanitarian aid, food, or medicine to people in need, assisting mariners stranded at sea, escorting cargo transports or tankers, or deploying forces forward, each nation here is a vital link in the chain that forms the global maritime security network. 

I believe that with increased cooperation, we can do even more to mitigate risk, enhance security, and strengthen resilience not just within our own nations, but across the international community. And that’s why we’re here this week, to identify challenges and opportunities to collaborate on creative solutions. 

With this goal in mind, the ISS program is designed to facilitate discussions on some of our most pressing issues. During these sessions, and in your engagements during the breaks and our social events, I encourage you to share your perspectives, your insights, and your ideas. 

With open minds, we can all learn from each other. Of course, this week is also intended to strengthen our personal and professional connections in an environment where we can talk with one another as peers and as friends. 

We enjoy a unique bond by leaders shaped by life at sea. It’s a bond shared by sailors throughout history. We know the smell of the salt air, the sight of a storm cloud on the horizon, and the feeling of the deck swaying beneath our feet. 

Navies understand each other in ways that other military services do not. We are all forged by the sea. 

Because of this shared experience, I am confident that we can find unity of purpose. I am confident that we can act with courage and conviction. And I am confident that we are stronger together. 

And as we work in partnership, you will have no more trusted friend than the United States Navy.

Source: United States Navy

With a street value of approximately $9.5 million this is the first narcotics seizure since the French Navy took over command of CTF 150 from the UK in July. The Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) remain committed to disrupting criminal and terrorist activities by restricting their freedom of maneuver in the maritime environment.

Capt Yannick Bossu, CTF 150 Commanding officer said, “This seizure demonstrates once again the operational effectiveness of CTF 150 and illustrates the UK and France’s commitment to maritime security alongside their regional and international partners.”

Cmdr Chris Sharp, HMS Lancaster Commanding Officer remarked, “This success again demonstrates how international partners can work together in stopping illegal maritime activity which funds terrorist activity. This was a great success shared by all those involved.”

CTF 150 is one of the five operational forces of CMF, a 38-nation maritime partnership headquartered in Bahrain. CMF strengthens the maritime security in this strategic area, by countering activities that finance terrorism and international crime. This is the twelfth time that France commanded CTF 150.

Source: United States Navy

Paparo hosted the Malabar navies’ leadership prior to the U.S.-led International Seapower Symposium in Newport, Rhode Island, to reinforce security through partnership in the Indo-Pacific.

The naval leaders focused on deepening maritime cooperation among the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, Indian Navy and Royal Australian Navy in support of a resilient, free and open Indo-Pacific.

 
They also discussed how increased information sharing, expanded naval exercises and cooperative activities, and the provision of reciprocal logistical support can strengthen the maritime security environment.  
 
The four nations participate in the annual Malabar exercise with the objective of advancing collective planning, interoperability, and the employment of advanced warfare tactics between their naval forces. 

In addition to the multilateral and bilateral meetings, the naval leaders toured the USS Arizona Memorial during the visit to Pearl Harbor.