Pictorial: Unitas XXV ... The Silver Anniversary

he Silver Anniversary

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The Unitas naval exercise, bring­ing together South American and U. S. naval participants, celebrated its 25th anniversary last year. Unitas began in 1960 with a 102- day operation in which 48 ships from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Venezuela, and the United States participated. Unitas XXV ran 129 days, and involved more than 50 ships, 100 aircraft, and 14,000 men and women from Brazil, Chile, Colom­bia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Vene­zuela, and the United States. In addi­tion, units from Paraguay and Panama supported Unitas XXV as participants in seminars and conferences or pro­vided select units in support of specific exercises. Unitas XXV also included six amphibious warfare operations, spe­cial warfare crosstraining, and coast guard symposia on search and rescue, pollution control, and contraband inter­diction.

Unitas requires the blending of a great variety of assets, reflecting each navy’s own missions and strategy, from antisubmarine warfare to riverine patrol and guerrilla interdiction. Weapon sys­tems range from the proven Exocet MM-40 surface-to-surface missile to the short-range surface-to-air Aspide mis­sile. Ecuador’s new Wadi A/’rag/i-class corvettes, relatively small at 620 tons and a little more than 200 feet long, pack an impressive array of weapons— six MM-40 Exocet missiles, the Al- batros surface-to-air-missile system (Aspide missiles), a single barrel 76­mm. cannon, a twin-barrel 40-mm. cannon, six antisubmarine torpedoes, and a SCLAR Mark 2 chaff rocket launching system.

Each phase of Unitas, from the first week in waters off the coast of Puerto Rico, to the final exercise off Recife, Brazil, is planned by South American and U. S. representatives to encompass almost every phase of naval warfare. In addition to seminars and briefings ashore, there are in each of eight phases antisubmarine, antiaircraft, sur­face-to-surface, amphibious, and special warfare operations.

Every effort is made to integrate the personnel of the participating countries. Officers from the various navies ride ships from other countries, and instead of merely serving as observers, are as­signed normal duties. The 180-man U. S. Marine detachment, attached to the tank landing ship Fairfax County (LST-1193) during the exercise, often exchanged units with South American marine forces.

In antiaircraft missile exercises,

U. S. and Venezuelan ships scored six hits in six shoots, using the NATO Sea Sparrow, Aspide, and Standard missile systems. The Venezuelan frigate Gen­eral Urdaneta, destroyed one unman­ned drone with a direct hit. In antiair­craft gunnery, the Colombian Navy unleashed the rapid-fire 76-mm. and 40-mm. cannons on its new “FS- 1500’’-class frigates and knocked down two drone aircraft in two shoots with direct hits—exceptional shooting by any standards.

U. S. units conducted antisubmarine operations with the Brazilian ASW car­rier Minas Gerais. U. S. and Brazilian ASW surface units, with Brazilian Air Force S-2E Tracker aircraft from the carrier and the U. S. SH-2 helicopter from the Unitas flagship USS Thorn (DD-988), established an effective screen against submarine attack. A P-3C Orion from the U. S. Patrol Squadron Eight flew many missions in support of the ASW operations, further extending the ASW screen. Despite some early difficulties caused by lan­guage differences, umpires described these ASW ops as very successful.

Unitas XXV had its real-life crises as well. During operations off the coast of Colombia, two U. S. sailors on the submarine Scamp (SSN-588) became ill and required immediate treatment. Co-

°nibian Navy units responded quickly I transported the sailors to the Co­lombian Naval Diving Medicine Center ^ln Cartagena. Both men recovered and ^turned to their boat. When a U. S. arine was injured during pre-landing

Separations ^{on (}be coast of Peru, a

eruvian helicopter returned the man to ^e Foirfax County for treatment, m Callao, Peru', U. S. Navy Senior ^,ef Wendell Jennings leaped into the ater alongside the guided missile de- ^r°y.^er MacDonough (DDG-39) to save ^e of a girl who had fallen from ^e pier during general visiting by the Public. Jenkins reached the girl as she ^as going under. He held her and a line dangling from one fo the ship’s fenders, until they could be pulled to safety.

Rear Admiral Clinton Taylor, Unitas XXV Task Force Commander, pro­claimed the silver anniversary exercise a symbol of the willingness and ability of the nations involved to work to­gether for a mutual goal, “the common defense common interests in this hemi­sphere.”

Having celebrated its silver anniver­sary, the Unitas naval exercise now is going for the gold. This annual blue water rendezvous seems to suggest that “allied Navies that train together re­main together.”

The opening ceremonies of Unitas XXV in Roosevelt Roads and the USS Thorn (DD-988), flagship for the exercise, are visible in the Unitas Band member’s sousaphone. Before the end of the exercise four and one- half months later off Brazil (previous page, two Brazilian Mk-10 frigates), there would be many ceremonies. In Lima, the Unitas operations coin­cided with Independence Day cele­brations, which featured an impres­sive parade and Peruvian President Fernando Belaunde Terry’s partici­pation.

More than 50 ships from eight navies conducted multinational and bina­tional exercises for 77 days of the 129-day operation. Facing page, an Ecuadoran corvette, U. S. destroyer (USS MacDonough [DDG-39]), and Colombian “FS-1500”-class frigate steam in a column, and Brazilian Air Force S-2 Trackers operate from the exercise’s only carrier, Minas Gerais. Here, the Chilean oiler Araucano refuels the USS Talbot (FFG-4), and a Colombian “FS-1500” heads to station.

Sailors of different navies wear dif­ferent uniforms and, sometimes, use different procedures to accomplish their tasks, but Unitas offers oppor­tunities for participating “American” sailors to improve their skills together. Facing page, Venezuelan sailors pass ammo and race to secure an AB-212 ASW helo on board the Lupo-class guided missile frigate Gen­eral Salom. Here, a Uruguayan sailor flashes a message from his navy’s flagship, 18 de Julio-, a U. S. sailor on board the USS Thorn (DD-988) monitors a refueling from a Chilean oiler; and Venezuela submarine sail­ors prepare to cast off.

Unitas amphibious and special war­fare operations often involved opposi­tion forces, live firings from fleet warships, and close air support. Peruvian and U. S. special warfare forces made their way to the beaches from helos and in small rafts. Left, a Peruvian military unit patrols the high ground above an amphibious landing zone north of Lima, and Colombian marines move onto a beach. The U. S. Marine force par­ticipating in Unitas numbered 180 men and rode the Fairfax County, here passing through Panama.