Catawba tows UN sanction violator
"They were a real mixed bag of Third World citizens who made it very clear they didn't appreciate having us on board," said Capt. John Pope, master of USNS Catawba.
Oil smuggling out of Iraq is a popular business. After the Gulf War, the United Nations Security Council imposed a ceiling on Iraq's export of oil and oil products.
The sanctions allow Iraq to sell only enough oil to meet the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people. With this cap in place, smuggling contraband Iraqi oil has become lucrative for owners of small tankers and people willing to risk operating those ships.
The Navy is constantly rounding up small tankers like MV Saturn and can never anticipate how these smugglers -- caught red-handed -- will react. Most go quietly into detention when arrested, but Saturn experienced engine problems and sabotage was suspected.
"It was probably a last ditch effort to keep a boarding party from forcing the ship to move," said Capt. Pope. "Obviously Saturn's crew didn't figure the Fifth Fleet had Catawba up its sleeve."
On the morning of June 25, Catawba was called into service, and she was underway that same afternoon.
After sailors from USS Jarrett's armed boarding party had secured Saturn, Catawba Second Mate William Woodman, Chief Engineer Steve Mahaffey, Able Seaman John Pierson, Engine Utilityman Wallace Barnes and Capt. Pope made their way to Saturn via Catawba's small rigid hull inflatable boat, or RHIB.
"Saturn was very dirty inside, to say the least," said Capt. Pope. "The public toilet had a grating to keep your shoes
above the filthy water. The engine room had about 18 inches of oil and water in the bilge -- possibly from sabotage.
The smell from the galley was indescribable.
"To discourage boarding, the weather doors had angle iron welded on the insides so that steel bars could be dropped into place preventing them from being opened from the outside, and barbed wire had been strung along the main deck.
"We were kept out of sight as much as possible and could only refer to each other by first names so as not to give rank away," said Capt. Pope.
Catawba's boarding party and six Sailors from USS Jarrett worked tirelessly in the sweltering heat for more than eight hours preparing Saturn for tow.
Enough steel wire and heavy line were found on board Saturn to make a towing bridle. Meanwhile, Jarrett's boarding party kept Saturn's 20 or so crew members confined to their rooms in total ignorance of their destiny.
Catawba towed Saturn for more than 30 hours from the Gulf of Oman through the Straits of Hormuz to Kezar anchorage -- commonly referred to as the penalty box -- inside the Persian Gulf.
Seized vessels are detained at Kezar until the legal and diplomatic procedures are worked out for turnover of the ships to the United Arab Emirates Coast Guard. Catawba then towed Saturn an additional 18 hours from Kezar to Abu Dhabi, UAE, where the UAE coast guard took custody of Saturn and her crew.
"In the towing world, jobs like Saturn are small potatoes, but for Catawba it was important because this type of work is such a rarity," said Capt. Pope.
"We stay busy with a wide variety of operations, but towing is a specialized field of seamanship to which few have much exposure and for which experience is absolutely priceless. All the brainstorming, improvisation, good seamanship and teamwork, turned our small crew into a towing gang."
Soon Saturn will be on the auction block -- again. According to Capt. Pope, this was not Saturn's first tour in the smuggling business nor, probably, her last.
"That's okay," said Capt. Pope. "She tows very nicely."
This was not to be the last of Catawba's smuggler experiences. After delivering two more ships to Abu Dhabi, Catawba assumed guard ship duty at Kezar anchorage with an embarked Navy Vessel Boarding Search and Seizure Team from USS Hopper.
During guard ship duty, a Navy ship assigns a small detachment of armed, specially trained personnel to conduct daily health and comfort inspections on detained vessels.
Catawba was called upon to provide berthing and small boat services to the team from USS Hopper who were overseeing the two ships remaining in detention at Kezar.
At 3:30 a.m. one morning the detained ship MV Divine II cut her anchor chain and tried to run.
Capt. Pope hit the general alarm at 3:32 a.m. after the watch officer called him to the bridge.
Within five minutes, Catawba's small boat was underway with a civilian mariner crew and the Navy boarding team. As Catawba was weighing anchor to join in the chase, Devine II disappeared into the darkness. Using radar tracking information passed over VHF radio from Catawba to the small boat, Third Officer Bobby Escue and Able Seaman Alfred Bonga intercepted the Devine II and nosed the small boat alongside the escaping vessel. The boarding team clambered over the rail with guns drawn.
By 4:04 a.m. the Devine II was dead in the water with her master and two of her crew members lying on her bridge deck in irons.
"I am very proud of the fact that Devine II didn't get away, and I am especially proud that Catawba could go from off-line, deep sleep, to RHIB launch, anchor aweigh and chasing at full throttle in exactly 20 minutes," said Capt. Pope. "That was some pretty impressive hustling." (FROM MILITARY SEALIFT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS).
Follow Us On:
