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U. S. Navy Special Psychiatric Rapid Intervention Team was on scene early, providing invaluable support. Both clearly understood the sense of loss, anger, guilt, and fear encountered by survivors and the need to openly express these feelings soon after an unexpected tragedy of this magnitude. This facet of the problem can be easily underestimated. It should receive strong emphasis.
The national security implications of the press and its power are often the subject of debate. In our routine business or in a future national emergency, can we depend on the press for honest, objective, and informed reporting? Based on experience with these incidents in Tampa, I am marginally encouraged. The Group St. Pete's approach to the press was to spend a little time feeding them, little time
fending them off, and sticking to Pr° viding the facts and avoiding specu^ tion. Granting live interviews pr°ve vastly superior to often inaccurate re
. r tv, he
porting from on-scene reporters. 1 u
successful with the press, we must
be
careful, work diligently, and expeCt occasional setbacks.
Captain Gilbert is currently Commander. CoaS Guard Group, St. Petersburg, Florida.
A Model for Small Navies___________________
By Lieutenant Colonel Lim Kwong Hoon, Republic of Singapore Navy
As developing countries have little or no experience in operating navies, a useful way to build an efficient, viable, and cost-effective navy is to learn from established naval powers. Because the character and roles of big naval powers are so different from small navies, they have limited application. The U. S. Coast Guard, however, is operated mainly as a coastal service and could perhaps be a suitable model for small navies to adopt in terms of organization and operations.
Most coastal navies, though small, are relatively new navies which are in the process of evolving to meet the objectives and missions entrusted to them. If the need is to reorganize the coastal navy so that it can take on the increased coast guard duties, the district organization of the U. S. Coast Guard could be used. The district organization is self-sufficient in all aspects as a functional system. Even for small navies like Kenya and Tonga which have fewer than ten small craft, a simplified structure similar to the district organization could be adopted, because this level operates both shore and afloat units.
For larger navies of developing countries which have extensive territorial waters, like the Indonesian Navy, there is a need to form section and group commands because of geographical limitations, similarity of task, or the need to achieve a common goal such as military readiness. Such an organization keeps the district commander informed of the activities in the group or section.
Navies of developing countries have
to assume more missions related to the rights and responsibilities of coastal states in accordance with the new regimes of the Law of the Sea. In this respect, the U. S. Coast Guard and the navies of developing countries have similar responsibilities in the following areas: to enforce national laws and the provisions of international agreements on and under waters subject to the nation’s jurisdiction; to maintain or improve the quality of the marine environment; to assure the safety and security of vessels and of ports and waterways and their related shore activities; to minimize loss of life, personal injury, and property damage on, over, and under the high seas and waters subject to the national regulations; and to facilitate an effective ready armed force prepared for and immediately responsive to specific tasks in time of war or emergency.
In this respect, the benefits of using the U. S. Coast Guard as a model would be in operations in which this special U. S. service has years of experience and has been very successful.
Search and Rescue (SAR): This is a primary Coast Guard mission. SAR activities are divided into long-, medium-, and short-range categories. With limited resources, developing countries could perhaps adopt the short-range or to some extent the medium-range systems extending out to 100 miles and 500 or 600 miles respectively.
Aids to Navigation: The U. S. Coast Guard maintains more than 45,000 navigational aids. It operates many types of aids to navigation including
lighthouses, lightships, buoys, beacons, long-range electronic
day
ai^s
(Loran), short-range electronic ai1
ids
(radio-beacons, RATAN), and fog s‘g nals. Their cost and complexity Vi'r' buoy costing
dol'
from
an inexpensive river
less than $100 to a multimillion lar Loran station. Therefore, devel°P ing countries could adopt which? systems best benefit their countries-^
Marine Environment Pollution:
U. S. Coast Guard has an effettlV_ environmental protection prog backed by advanced technology- employs an oil-fingerprinting te'
rah1
•cb'
an1
,d
nique, which analyzes spillages traces them to their sources. In °r‘ to combat pollution, the Coast Marine Environmental Protect1^ Program has proven very successful 1
its four main elements:
► Prevention and enforcement eluding surveillance) of marine P°
■d ri
■d
(in'
,lln'
tion'
tion from vessels, transporta related facilities, and ocean dump and surveillance using an advan? sensor systems capable of detecti°n identifying, and mapping oil spiH5’ _
► Responsive minimization of
age by oil and hazardous substan discharged in coastal waters. ^
► In-house abatement focusing °nt
prevention of pollution from G° Guard vessels. . o{,
► Impact assessment such as mon1 j ing effects of ocean dumping measuring removal effectiveness. c
Law Enforcement:
ing’
•i
Like navies
facing
coastal states, a major problem
besf
the U. S. Coast Guard is how ro - ,
r
perform its assigned enforcement
security role in the new 200-mile n
136
Proceedings / October
1
ng zone. The U. S. Coast Guard is
now
' ln the process of initiating an optional pattern which would be ap-
able to greater future protection of other 11 c rr u • • , ■
o- offshore interests within a
^u0-mile
economic zone.
Th • l ■ ne scarcity of resources and the
of1 cost of building and maintaining
naval units demand that developing countries build effective and efficient navies. These small navies are beginning to play bigger roles in safeguarding the maritime interests of their respective states.
In peacetime, the main preoccupation of coastal navies is coast guard
duties. In wartime, the focus of coastal navies would shift to meet the threat.
A graduate of the Singapore Command and Staff Coilege and the U. S. Naval War College, Colonel Lim Kwong Hoon is the Fleet Commander of the Republic of Singapore Fleet.
1
Orpedoing the Coast Guard’s Good-Guy Image
“y u,
leutenant Commander Michael R. Adams, U. S. Coast Guard
a8*ne the following: You, your ^ e> your two children, and your ® are on your 30-foot sailboat tak-
av°‘d b,
Jh:
swjf.
St
erew.
ni
SF>0U;
do.
a leisurely cruise from Key West, tfiit*’ to Nassau. You are a compe- jjay. Sa'lor, and you so trust the fa *.®at’nS and sailing abilities of your C()ri y and yourself that you are not a^Cerned about continuing the pass- ^ during the hours of darkness. t0 ^ 0200 • your spouse awakens you Uptel1 y°u that a small ship is coming rom astern. This ship is corn's b& ^ ^ar^ene<d- The ship’s bow wake (jj are,y visible, but you can hear her throbbing through the night. pirU ^aVe heard the tales of modern I acy and the stories of small sail- 1^ run down in the dark by unAs L'n^ freighters. You are scared, to i 6 sb‘P Sets closer you make ready urninate your sails in order to 'etng crushed by this ship.
Vessel, and
j ePs over your boat, blinding your A srnan and startling your children.
Th°'Ce h°°ms through the darkness: atld'S *S tbe Coast Guard. Heave to 'Og !tandby for a Coast Guard board- thr 'four heart returns from your dig 81 t0 your chest as you begin dous- V0ur-i and rousting out the rest of
Y,
ng
yourself, my Coast Guard: the men who clean up oil spills, the men who pluck doomed mariners from raging seas? Can it be that this outfit which once wanted nothing more than to ensure “the safety of life and property at sea" now skulks about the ocean in unlighted ships and sends armed boarding parties to look at children's life jackets?
BLACK STAR (S. KATY)
°6e<iing,s / October 1980
137