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The Russian Navy Blog recently translated and posted a Russian after-action report. The most interesting aspect of this report is that it spells out the differences between the way the Frence and Russians operate their vessels at sea with particular emphasis on quality (or lack) of life issues. These differences might be well known to many of you, but it is nice to see what the Russians themselves think.
I ran across an interesting document, an after action report detailing “living conditions on board ships of the Russian Navy, observations by officers in the French Navy during joint Russian-French exercises and a port visit to Brest, France by ships of the Northern Fleet” dated 28 October 2004. There are a lot of interesting observations here, which can be summarized thusly:
They have hot water! Sh–, the French have water at all! The watch actually stands watch! Goddamn, we’re dirty! Paint mixed with sand on the decks so people don’t slip and break their necks? Mon dieu! Musters! Do we really need so many musters? And maybe our ships wouldn’t be so dirty if we gave our guys stuff to clean with. Or if we let them shower more than once every two weeks!
Well, not quite, but pretty close.
The Department of Transportation has announced a search for a Superintendent for the US Merchant Marine Academy.
Job Title: Superintendent, US Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, NY
Department: Department Of Transportation
Agency: Maritime Administration
Job Announcement Number: MARAD-10-02-NG
SALARY RANGE: 119,554.00 – 179,700.00 USD /year
OPEN PERIOD: Friday, January 22, 2010 to Monday, April 19, 2010
SERIES & GRADE: ES-0340-0/0
POSITION INFORMATION: Full-Time Permanent
PROMOTION POTENTIAL: 0
DUTY LOCATIONS: 1 vacancy – South Eastern New York, NY
WHO MAY BE CONSIDERED: Applications will be accepted from all groups of qualified individuals.
JOB SUMMARY:
The Superintendent of the US Merchant Marine Academy is responsible for the development of scholastic standards which encourage the intellectual, professional growth and physical well-being of midshipmen, and effective and economical operation of the Academy’s facilities. The incumbent has a profound impact on the Academy’s ability to educate and train individuals to be highly qualified licensed merchant marine officers inspired to sail on vessels of the United States.Come on board with us and take a journey that will challenge your mind and develop your career. The quality of our lives, the shape of our communities and the productivity of our Nation’s economy depend on our transportation systems. We recognize and value the importance of our workforce and the diversity of backgrounds and ideas that each employee brings. The U.S. Department of Transportation: Careers in Motion.
Here is a hint of the type of person they are looking for:
1. Experience that reflects the ability to provide executive leadership for planning, implementing and evaluating a comprehensive academic program at the Nation’s maritime academy. This individual must also have the leadership ability to inspire others to fulfill the mission of the organization. The ideal candidate must be respected and well-known in the maritime field and must possess proven technical and managerial credentials. The individual will have a record of proven results and of ensuring organizational goals are met and mission objectives achieved, while simultaneously maintaining high standards, honesty and ethics, process integrity, commitment to diversity, and a culture of open communication and transparency. Merchant marine qualifications desired.
2. In-depth executive management experience and a history of proven success in the merchant marine industry or academic organization. This includes knowledge of maritime transportation including commercial and military logistics and maritime industry leadership. Also included is skill in assessing national and international maritime transportation trends and related critical issues; the ability to work collaboratively across organizational lines, produce results on-time and within budget; and experience managing resources in an academic environment with a track record of outstanding project and program delivery, customer satisfaction, stakeholder outreach, and management of internal business processes.
3. Demonstrated experience in developing and executing communications plans within the organization, with key external stakeholders, and with senior Department officials. This includes the ability to think strategically, set a strategic direction for a large organization, develop tactics to achieve the strategy, and experience measuring, monitoring, and managing to performance. The candidate will possess expertise in planning and management to enable translating DOT enterprise goals and objectives into measurable business areas within USMMA and Maritime Administration operations.
For a change it would be nice to see a USMMA Graduate take the helm for a while.
Found via The Maritime Executive
Posted by Word comes via the US Merchant Marine Academy Alumni Association that the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy has named an acting Superintendent to handle the position left vacant by the resignation of Rear Admiral Allen Worley back in November. He held the position for a year.
KUMAR TAKES THE HELM
Dr Shashi Kumar, Ph.D., Master Mariner and the Academy’s 12th Academic Dean has again taken the helm as the Interim Superintendent effective January 4th. He served as Interim Superintendent October 1 through November 14, 2008 while the Academy was then searching for a new Superintendent. Prior to joining USMMA, Dr. Kumar was the founding Dean of the Loeb-Sullivan School of International Business and Logistics at Maine Maritime Academy. He earned an unlimited Master Mariner (UK) certificate of competency and sailed extensively for a decade before entering academe. His significant accomplishments include the Transport Reviews’ 1st prize for new PhD’s in transportation, an award for excellence in teaching; Sam M. Walton Free Enterprise Fellowship (1998-2006) as well as the Maine International Innovator of the Year Award. Dr. Kumar has published extensively and authors an annual review of the U.S. Merchant Marine for the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings. He continues to serve as the Academy’s Academic Dean.
Best wishes to Dr. Kumar in carrying out his two jobs.
It remains to be seen how the position will finally be filled, again. As a graduate, I believe that an ideal candidate would be another graduate. The Academy does need a strong leader, if for no other reason but to lobby the Government on behalf of the school. After all, there is no ‘Merchant Marine’ wing in the Pentagon to look after the school. The Academy is also working it’s way through the findings of a critical GAO Report from August 2009. (UNITED STATES MERCHANT MARINE ACADEMY – Internal Control Weaknesses Resulted in Improper Sources and Uses of Funds; Some Corrective Actions Are Under Way)
What GAO Found
One issue the Obama Administration has been facing is what to do with the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell‘ policy. Now comes word that Congress is looking into the matter and would like some servicemen (and women) to publicly ‘out’ themselves. As a reward for doing so, they would be given immunity in the process:
Gay service members who reveal their sexual orientations during congressional testimony would be immune from forced discharges under a bill introduced Wednesday, as lawmakers prepare to consider repealing the ban on gays serving openly in the U.S. military.
The legislation’s author, U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., said the bill is needed to ensure that Congress has reliable and relevant witnesses at its disposal if the House holds hearings next year on the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
The bill also would protect from retaliatory personnel actions any members of the military who testify for or against lifting the 16-year ban. – Washington Post
It is interesting to see how this would play out as the result would seem to be that those service members who testify would then be serving in violation of the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy. And once that happens I can see calls to repeal the policy altogether using those who testify as examples why the policy is no longer needed.
Then again, they can turn this into a de facto repeal depending on how they grant immunity. I would think that simply volunteering to testify would be enough to warrant immunity.
The story does note that immunity is not total:
Alexander Nichols, executive director of Servicemembers United, an advocacy group for gay Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, said the legislation is good in theory but on a practical level would not protect gay service members who out themselves to Congress from becoming pariahs within their units.
“This proposal is, of course, well-intentioned and the idea behind it is certainly noble, but I believe it is a bit naive in its conceit and doesn’t reflect a thoughtfulness on what this would mean for gay and lesbian service members,” Nichols said. He thinks it is better for gay veterans to share their experiences than to put active duty service members at risk. – Washington Post
Developing…
(Cross posted on my blog Fred Fry International)
Here is a press release from the US Merchant Marine Academy:
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Accepts Resignation of U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Superintendent
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today accepted the resignation of Rear Admiral Allen Worley, Superintendent of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York, effective January 4, 2010.
“The Merchant Marine Academy has gone through an important rebuilding year and is positioned for reaching the next level,” said Secretary LaHood. “We are confident the Academy is on course to continue as the premier institution in maritime education. We appreciate Admiral Worley’s service.”
Secretary LaHood noted that during the last year several steps were taken to upgrade processes at the Academy and to improve educational opportunities for Midshipmen, including cutting student fees in half, hiring an outside accounting firm to improve Academy finances and assigning a blue ribbon panel of national experts to examine the capital needs of the school and make recommendations for its upgrade.
Dr. Shashi Kumar, Academic Dean and Assistant Superintendent for Academic Affairs, will act as interim Superintendent upon Admiral Worley’s departure in January. A nationwide search will be conducted to find a permanent successor.
Admiral Worley has been the Superintendent of the United States Merchant Marine Academy since November 2008, the tenth person to hold this post since the institution’s dedication in 1943.
The Merchant Marine Academy, operated by the U. S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, is one of the nation’s primary sources of licensed merchant marine officers and is renowned internationally for its maritime education and training programs. – 9 November 2009
The Admiral is a 1974 graduate of the US Naval Academy and is a former Superintendent of the Texas Maritime Academy.
So the search begins for a new Superintendent.
News comes from Fairplay that the long saga of the ARCTIC ROSE is nearing endgame:
Arctic Sea docked in Malta
ARCTIC Sea is docked today in Valletta Grand Harbour, where repairs are expected to be carried out at Malta Shipyards.
Maltese tug Mari towed the Maltese-registered cargo ship into port yesterday because its steering mechanism needs fixing. The ship was involved in an international crisis when it was apparently hijacked in European waters this summer.
It is alongside at Boiler Wharf, after Malta’s Civil Protection Department found the ship to be free of any radioactive residues or dangerous chemicals.
Earlier yesterday the vessel was handed over by Russian authorities to its owners just outside Maltese territorial waters, the Malta Maritime Authority told reporters.
When asked whether they believed a hijacking of Arctic Sea had ever taken place, the MMA officials said they had no evidence to show otherwise and confirmed that hijacking suspects would be prosecuted in Russia under international law.
The vessel was seized by the Russian navy off Cape Verde on 16 August – by which time international rumours about illicit cargo were commonplace. The Malta officials yesterday denied any contact with Israeli authorities. – Fairplay
OK, so not too interesting. However, strategists normally concern themselves with how to take things. The problem in this case turned out to be how to get rid of the ship once the Russians decided that they no longer wanted it.
There were two interesting stories out in the last week involving Iran and the fight against pirates.
First, we have Iran’s statement that the best way to protect merchant shipping against pirates is to arm the ships:
Iran backs guns on ships – ARMED forces placed aboard merchant ships would be the cheapest and most effective way to deter pirates, an Iranian shipping leader said today.
Mohammad Souri, chairman of National Iranian Tanker, told the International Union of Marine Insurance conference in Bruges: “Having armed forces on board would be the cheapest way to counter piracy in the short term.”
He explained: “If a pirate thinks his life is in danger, he will try and escape the vessel. But insurers are reluctant to support their use on board.”
Multinational forces have included the use of more than 34 warships, helicopters and long-range patrolling aircraft from 16 different nations, he pointed out – all of which runs up huge expenses. But forces on the targeted ships would close down attacks much quicker, he suggested. As an average hijacking episode lasts two months, owners now face long-term fuel, equipment and charter costs – not to mention legal fees and ransoms.
As for his own fleet, Souri reported a dozen piracy attacks on vessels carrying about 2M barrels of crude.
About 30 of the company’s tankers have installed attack-delaying barbed wire, and all entrances are locked. – Fairplay Homepage
I have argued before that it makes the most sense to arm the ships since it is the ships that are the targets. (See link below)
The second article notes just where the Iranians are getting their armed guards:
EX-ROYAL Marines are being routinely deployed as anti-piracy forces onboard fully laden large Iranian oil tankers now under regular attack from heavily armed pirates off the Gulf of Aden. – Lloyd’s List, Former Royal Marines hired to protect Iranian tankers
The Iranians have interestingly stuck to using foreign teams and more interestingly with Brits, who I bet had to think twice before taking the job given Iran’s recent treatment of their fellow countrymen. This probably has more to do with issues related to where the vessels are trading (my guess is Europe) than with a lack of trained personnel in Iran.
Iran has decided to embark professionals onboard. I still think there is a case for training merchant mariners to defend their own vessel. After all, at some point, these armed-guards disembark and surely pirates will migrate to where they are not around.
Just today comes word that Pirates were thwarted by armed guards just long enough for Naval forces to come to the rescue.
“When pirates see the frigate, they usually abort,” said Cyrus Mody from IMB’s Piracy Reporting Centre. HMAS Toowoomba responded to an emergency call from Bockstiegel’s MPP BBC Portugal (3,490dwt, built 2001) on Sunday night.
Nick Davis, speaking for Gulf of Aden Group Transits, told Fairplay today that it had posted an armed Yemeni navy team on the German general cargo ship, which opened fire, causing the pirates to flee while the crew called for help. – Fairplay
Did the armed guards prevent another hijacking? It is impossible to know for sure. However, they were there to defend the ship when the anti-pirate patrols were not.
Previous:
Armed Merchant Ship Crews Will Not Escalate The Pirate Problem
Posted by Fred Fry.
First, the Russian Navy sends half a fleet thousands of miles to rescue the crew of the Maltese-Flag cargo ship ARCTIC SEA despite having no obvious reason to do so.
Next, the Russian Government has to deny accusations that the ship was carrying secret cargo on behalf of the Russian Government.
Then, the Russian Government has imprisoned not only the hijackers but also the crew which still have yet to call home to their families.
The crew members were not allowed to go home on Thursday: like the hijackers they were taken to the Lefortovo remand prison for questioning. In Arkhangelsk the families of the crew waited for their loved ones with their eyes glued to their televisions. However, there was no indication of when the men would get home. “I only know what was said on television. I hope that I can see my husband as soon as possible”, said mechanic Vladimir Kazhinin’s wife Olga to Helsingin Sanomat by telephone.
Vazir Fazylov, the father of seaman Dmitri Fazylov was surprised that his son was not even allowed to call home. “Nobody is saying anything. We’re just watching TV. This is stupid.” – Helsingin Sanomat
And now, the Russian Navy plans to tow the ship over 4,000 miles to Russia for ‘further investigation’. (Bypassing the ship’s flag-state of Malta.)
It’s almost like the Russians know that there is something on the ship worth hiding. Surely, they have already investigated the ship from top-to-bottom, and any part of the ship not accessible due to cargo onboard would be accessible in Algeria once the cargo was off-loaded. Algeria would be the place to inspect the ship given that the cargo is headed that way and it would be somewhat idiotic to offload all that timber just to re-load it, unless there is something secret hidden under it after all.
One more thing. Why are the Russians towing the ship all the way back to Russia? It would be much faster and safer to sail it under its own power. The Ship operator had stated last week that it was planning to send out a replacement crew to the ship. Maybe the Russians don’t want more prying eyes around?
It is almost as if the Russians have hijacked the ship themselves.
The Liberty Ship S.S. JOHN W BROWN will be open for tours in Baltimore’s inner harbor August 13 – 16.
She is one of only two remaining WWII Liberty Ships, the other one being the SS JEREMIAH O’BRIEN which is based in San Francisco. (There is the HELLAS LIBERTY that was just towed to Greece. I am unsure of the current condition of that vessel.)
If you have never been onboard a Liberty ship and you are in the area, be sure to take advantage of this opportunity.
Here are the details:
Project Liberty Ship, Baltimore, Maryland, announces that the S.S. JOHN W. BROWN, America’s oldest surviving Liberty ship, will visit Baltimore’s Inner Harbor August 13-16, 2009. The BROWN will dock at the Inner Harbor’s West Wall Thusday morning, August 13, and will remain there until the evening of Sunday, August 16. The ship will be open for public tours.
The public is cordially invited to tour the BROWN each day according to the schedule below. We ask a donation of $5 for visitors age 12 and older. Children younger than 12 may tour the ship without charge but must be accompanied by an adult.
Most of the ship will be open to visitors. The BROWN is a fully operational and seaworthy World War II-era cargo ship. You may tour museum spaces, crew quarters, bridge, radio room, chart room, messrooms, troop berthing areas, stern gun deck, engine room, etc. Please note that for reasons of safety, children under age 12 are not permitted to visit the engine room. A few additional areas of the ship are off-limits to all visitors, either for safety considerations or for the privacy of our crew.
The Ship’s Store will be open each day where you can purchase souvenirs of your visit.
For further information call the ship’s office at 410-558-0646 or e-mail [email protected] – Project Liberty Ship
You can read more on Liberty Ships and their contribution to World War II at Wikipedia here and more at fellow USNI Guest Blogger EagleSpeak here.
–
Somali pirates have released a Dutch ship they had hijacked last month in the Gulf of Aden and one crew member was found dead aboard the boat, the Dutch defence ministry told AFP.
“The pirates let the ship, in which a crew member was found dead, leave,” ministry spokesman Marcel Pullen said. “He was shot dead.”
The victim had died the day of the MV Marathon’s capture on May 7, he added. – Yahoo News(Found via EagleSpeak)
Looking at the threat, the United Nation’s International Maritime Organization, in a move certain to protect the safety of pirates only, has decided to flatly reject any suggestion of arming merchant seamen:
The MSC agreed that flag States should strongly discourage the carrying and use of firearms by seafarers for personal protection or for the protection of a ship.
Seafarers, it was agreed, are civilians and the use of firearms requires special training and aptitudes and the risk of accidents with firearms carried on board ship is great.Carriage of arms on board ship may encourage attackers to carry firearms or even more dangerous weapons, thereby escalating an already dangerous situation. Any firearm on board may itself become an attractive target for an attacker.
Carriage of firearms may pose an even greater danger if the ship is carrying flammable cargo or similar types of dangerous goods. – IMO guidance statement via EagleSpeak
This ‘professional’ guidance is a joke.
For starters, pirates are already attacking ships with fully-automatic weapons and RPGs. What is more dangerous, rounds going outbound from a ship or explosive RPG rounds coming inbound…. Crazier is the IMO suggesting that seafarers are not skilled enough to use firearms because their use requires special training. This the same group that has absolutely no hesitation in sticking seafarers in school to drill them on everything right down to how to properly wash your hands as part of ‘Personal Safety and Social Responsibility’. To this point nothing has been deemed beyond the training ability of a seafarer, so why now? I can’t think of any reason other than a desire to remove guns from the equation. Too bad for the IMO, that they have no control in removing the weapons causing the problems.
Another argument against arming merchant ships is the ‘threat of escalation’. The first question concerning that threat is with what are they are going to escalate with?
The most realistic option I can think of is that they just use more boats and RPGs. Attacks with larger numbers of boats being involved has already been seen. I can’t think of any more-powerful weapon that they could easily deploy. More advanced weapons are probably much harder to come by, and when available much more expensive, given competing interests. So even if pirates get their hands on something more advanced/powerful, they are probably not going to be so quick to use it, unless they are sure that it will result in a capture. They might as easily destroy the ship in the process. Now, they might be able to arm themselves with a cannon, but they would need a larger/sturdier boat if they wanted to use it. Acquiring a larger vessel might be more of a problem than acquiring more-powerful weapons.
Current attacks have involved small fast boats. Larger craft would probably not be able to go as fast. This will reduce the number of available targets at it becomes easier for faster ships to get away.
A bigger pirate boat, while allowing pirates a more stable platform and give the ability to field more powerful weapons, would also provide defending merchant seamen with bigger targets. Still, pirate boats are less stable platforms to shoot from than merchant ships which are large stable platforms that are not effected to any significant degree except in the harshest weather.
This brings the question, what should merchant mariners be aiming at. There are only two targets, the pirates and the boat that they are riding in. I think that it be best that if any attempt is made to arm merchant ships, then the arming should include the ability to disable pirate boats. If there is to be escalation, then it should be our side that does the escalating.
One weapon that should be considered is a 40mm grenade launcher. Here is one option:
The MGL (Multiple Grenade Launcher) is a lightweight 40 mm semi-automatic, 6-shot grenade launcher developed and manufactured in South Africa by the Milkor company (renamed Rippel Effect in 2007). The MGL was demonstrated as a concept to the South African Defence Force in 1981. The operating principle was immediately accepted and subjected to a stringent qualification program. The MGL was then officially accepted into service with the SADF as the Y2. After its introduction in 1983, the MGL was gradually adopted by the armed forces and law enforcement organizations of over 30 countries; it has since proven its effectiveness in harsh environments ranging from rain forests to deserts. Total production since 1983 has been more than 18,000 units.
The MGL is multiple-shot weapon, intended to significantly increase a small squad’s firepower when compared to traditional single-shot grenade launchers like the M203. The MGL is designed to be simple, rugged and reliable. It uses the well-proven revolver principle to achieve a high rate of accurate fire which can be rapidly brought to bear on a target. A variety of rounds such as HE, HEAT, anti-riot baton, irritant or pyrotechnic can be loaded and fired at a rate of one per second; the cylinder can be loaded or unloaded rapidly to maintain a high rate of fire. Although intended primarily for offensive/defensive use with high-explosive rounds, with appropriate ammunition the launcher is suitable for anti-riot and other security operations. – Wikipedia
Even a ‘miss’ will still have pirates thinking twice about continuing an attack against an armed vessel, probably thinking it better to search for an easier target, especially if their vessel is put at risk. And it need not be the merchant sailors that operate these weapons, but armed military teams embarked on the ships that are targeted by pirates.
There are valid reasons not to arm merchant ships against pirates, but the threat of escalation and a claimed lack of training on behalf of the crew are not. (And anyway, just where are the pirates getting their firearms training?)
So what am I missing? It seems that the threat of escalation is one that should be most risked by the pirates, not the sailors they threaten.
Note: This is cross-posted on my blog Fred Fry International.
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On Defending Unarmed Merchant Ships Against Pirates
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