"Naval Commandos"

[recce_o]

Cost cutting has forced the Canadian military to use a lot of civilian contractors, including for the transport of our equipment overseas. Well one of the contractors decided that he wasn't being paid enough and would hold on to 10% of Canada's armoured vehicle fleet until he goet paid. That was... until Canada's "naval commandos" got the call:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/national/000804/4530773.html

[Enfield]

This has to be the most aggressive action taken by the CF since, oh, the Korean War. It's like something out of a movie "10% of the nations military held captive by Russian extremists"... Oh well, all's well. 3 soldiers got extra UN pay, the Navy boarding parties got some exercise, and the military brass showed they had some balls left.

Enfield

[TonyM]

Hey recc_o

Is that you sliding down that rope?

[VENOM]

This reply from the captain of the Katie made me laugh:

"If they come, we won't help them," he said. "We won't resist, but I'll just turn off the engine and they won't be able to start it again because it's Russian technology."

Do you what unit those "Naval commandos" were from ?

In the article they say that they were armed with MP5s but if you look at the picture it looks like a C7. What do you guys think?

Last thing, I wonder how long it took the commando to board the ship because they were using the Sea King's "arnest" (sorry about that word I don't know the technical term yet and my english is far from perfect) instead of a fast rope or rappelling techniques ?

Sorry if it looks picky but I love to talk about the small details like that. http://www.specialoperations.com/ubboard/smile.gif

Take care ! (et bonne journée)





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VENOM

[Enfield]

The "Naval Commandos" were just the normal Boarding Party from HMCS Athabaskan. All frigates maintain a part-time boarding party, whihc trains a lot in securing ships. They get a lot of practice, with all the blockades we do.
That looks like a C8 to me. The boarding Parties also use MP5's, so maybe part of the Party had MP5's. The Boarding Parties use C7/C8's, MP5's w/flashlights, shotguns w/flshlights, pepper spray, and handguns. Probably the best job in the Navy, and one of the better jobs in the Forces.
I must say that it's been many years since an article that positive was written about the CF. A few days the Captain was threatening to use all the munitions and gear aboard against any raiding party, or to blow up the ship (hope we insured those vehicles...). Amazing, eh? 10 years ago were supposed to fight'em.. now they're hauling our equipment around.
As to why they didn't fast-rope or rappel down, I dunno.

Enfield

[baboon]

Looks like a C8 to me too. Well done CF! I read in a Canadian Army forum a suggestion that JTF2 be renamed " Canadian SAS ". What do you guys think of this idea? It sounds good to me, it should raise morale and make the guys feel part of the international SAS family. Besides JTF2 sounds like a bit of a comic book name.

[VENOM]

Originally posted by Enfield:

I must say that it's been many years since an article that positive was written about the CF.


I have to agree with you, once in a while it's good to have the good side shown up. http://www.specialoperations.com/ubboard/smile.gifThanks for answering my questions.

To Baboon: Where did you hear about the Canadian SAS ? Personaly, I don't think it would be a great idea. JTF-2 doesn't want the public to compare them to the british SAS cause after all they are just domesticaly based http://www.specialoperations.com/ubboard/rolleyes.gif I think also that the operators in JTF-2 don't care if the name sounds like a comic book name. http://www.specialoperations.com/ubboard/smile.gif

Take care !

(Don't you just love the smilies hehehe... but they look like they come straight out of a comic book http://www.specialoperations.com/ubboard/biggrin.gif )



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VENOM

[Enfield]

Ok, guys, that whole harness thing with the boarding party bugged me, so I asked around (lot of naval types around Halifax). Here's the deal: Those guys are sailors, not SEALs. Rappeling or fast roping from a shifting helicopter onto a heaving deck in the wind isn't something they like to do. What they like to do is land the helicopter directly on the ship, if possible. The Boarding was considered "Unopposed" - meaning nobody was shooting at them. And the Navy doesn't do "Opposed" Boadrings (I don't think anybody does nowadays - "Prepare to repel boarders" isn't a command the navy uses too much in the 20th century).
If the ship is going to shoot at a boarding party, they do everything they can do make it "Unopposed" - using a Phalanx rotary cannon on the bridge superstructure is one way to make it "Unopposed", but I think negoatiation an dother pecafeul tactics would come first. The Navy isn't willing to try to land a boarding party while being shot at, too much risk (what do you think 7.62 could do to a Sea King?). Maybe JTF-2 does stuff like that, but the regular Navy prefers not too.
I guess the situation wasn't considered hostile enough to warrant a highly aggressive seizure. If the crew was really all that dangerous then the 3 soldiers on board would have had a far worse time.

Sorry for the book, it was just bugging me.

Enfield

[VENOM]

I guess I'm not the only one who loves the details hehehe

Take care!

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VENOM

[wcollar]

Enfield,
You're right about the boarding parties. As your navy is much like ours (US), then your ships that participate in blockade/counternarcotic ops all have dedicated boarding teams composed of ship's personnel. Our Navy runs a few schools for that and most ships try to get their boarding parties to attend. The means of entry for these teams is usually the ship's small boat and they're not expecting a heavily opposed entry. I know that they were trying to get a dedicated VBSS (Visit, Board, Search, Seizure) school together for sailors around 1997. I attended a combat pistol shooting course that supposedly was a prerequisite for a VBSS class. Great course.
All our opposed VBSS's are done by the SEALs. I happened to be a recipient on one done by the SEALs/Force Recon in 1996 for an exercise during our deployment. They come in very fast and really don't tolerate much back talk (I didn't get to see too much of the exercise as I spent most of it facedown, staring at the floor with a guy holding a MP5 standing above me. At least we were all on the same side). They fast rope in and that is quite difficult to do on a ship. It requires a great deal of practice as I saw one guy splatter on our flight deck during a drill (EOD not SEAL and he was quite embarassed by the whole thing). To takedown a ship with an opposed entry is quite difficult (we also definately wouldn't try it on a real warship) and requires a great deal of practice. I imagine that JTF-2 has practiced that especially after what happened with the incident over the Spanish fishing trawler ESTAI.
That was a very good bit of research over the whole incident. Semper Gumby, wcollar.

[King]

The JTF2 tried to board that Spanish fishing trawler in 1995. They made three attempts but failed because of bad weather. They have trained on it I'm sure.