Maritime Observations of Operation United Response

Tuesday afternoon will mark the one week anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti. Several maritime operations are underway worth observing.

Maj. Gen. Cornell A. Wilson repeatedly called the MEU arriving off Haiti a Sea Base (audio here). That term has been used in so many ways since Seapower 21 that it has become impossible to define, but I do believe his use in this case is accurate based on what is unfolding. It will be interesting to see where the Marines land in Haiti. Based on satellite imagery I suspect they will land southwest of the port near Carrefour, closer to the epicenter of the earthquake and not necessarily near the airport giving the relief operation a distributed feeling. There have been many reports of security problems in Carrefour, which may put the Marines in position to provide security even if the Secretary of Defense suggests security isn't their role.

USNS Grasp (T-ARS 51) arrived and is working in the port with the U.S. Army's 544th Engineer Dive Team, Explosive Ordnance Disposal group 2, the Mobile and Diving Salvage Unit 2, and Underwater Construction Team 2 under command of Rear Adm. Samuel Perez, Commander, Task Force (CTF) 42. Worth noting from the article:

Grasp and the 544th had been conducting Navy Diver Southern Partnership Station 2010 (ND SPS 10) off the coast of Belize prior to the earthquake in Haiti. Once diverted, the ship made a brief stop in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to refuel and collect food and supplies for humanitarian aid and disaster relief prior to their arrival in Port-au-Prince.

I think that is noteworthy because USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44) has also arrived in Haiti, but had previously been planning on deploying last Friday in support of African Partnership Station (APS) East. We have lost sustained presence in the 4th Fleet and 6th Fleet by diverting units previously tasked as Partnership Stations. Is this an example where Partnership Station deployments are working as designed - able to quickly respond to emerging crisis, or a flaw in the system - presence is lost because assets are needed elsewhere?

I wonder if USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44) would have been sent to Haiti if LPD-17 or LPD-21 were available? These would appear to be issues for Congress.

Worth noting the Nassau ARG deployed Monday with USS Nassau (LHA 4), USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19), and USS Ashland (LSD 48). The ARG has long been scheduled to deploy to the 5th and 6th Fleet AOR, but can always be tasked to go anywhere. It is worth noting the deployment for a different reason though, because when looking at the amphibious ships on the East Coast, the absence of the San Antonio class LPDs raises questions.

USS Whidbey Island is in dry dock. USS Ponce (LPD 15) and USS Oak Hill (LSD 51) returned with the USS Bataan and the 22 MEU deployment in December 2009, and may be in maintenance availability already. In other words, all the Marines have is the USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7), USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) and USS Wasp (LHD 1) in reserve after the USS Nassau (LHA 4) and 24 MEU deploy, and it is unlikely all three LHDs are actually available.

Big deck amphibious ships are flexible and extraordinarily useful, but they are so expensive that the Marines simply can't field enough of them. I would argue that the 22 MEU response to Haiti is an excellent example of the kind of strategic speed that makes amphibious ships important, but the emphasis of amphibious ships in the Marine Corps existing maritime force structure doesn't give the Marines a response capability with tactical speed. If Marines are the countries 9/11 force - tactical speed does matter.

The future of the Marine Corps may become a big debate in 2010, and I for one hope they are looking beyond Amphibious ships and the EFV while not being forced to settle for JHSVs and Littoral Combat Ships. I think the Marines represent a very important debate that is a great deal more complicated than specific equipment discussions, and it will come over the next 30 days. I intend to participate in that debate from the cheap seats.

As the Coast Guard has demonstrated over the last 7 days, a platoon of Marines could potentially do a hell of a lot of good on a smaller vessel, and if smaller vessels were organized in squadrons one would have the necessary intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and communications to effectively deploy a Marine Rifle Company for distributed ops in littorals very much in line with the company level operations being done in Afghanistan. I think that article was one of the most important Marine Corps articles of 2009, a must read, and will be linked many times from this blog in the future.

As of Tuesday morning there will be at least 10 US Navy ships around Haiti including USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), USS Higgins (DDG 76), USS Normandy (CG 60), USS Underwood (FFG 36), USS Bataan (LHD 5), USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43), USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44), USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) USNS Grasp (T-ARS 51), and USNS Big Horn (T-AO-198). Additionally 5 Coast Guard cutters including USCGC Oak (WLB 211), USCGC Forward (WMEC-911), USCGC Tahoma (WMEC 908), USCGC Mohawk (WMEC-913), and USCGC Valiant (WMEC 621) are offshore of Haiti. Combined there will be at least 48 helicopters supporting the operation as of Tuesday morning, almost all (and maybe all) of which are provided by the maritime services.

Other ships expected to arrive this week include USS Bunker Hill (CG 52), USNS Henson (T-AGS 63), USNS Sumner (T-AGS 61), USNS Savagawea (T-AKE 2), and USNS 1st LT Jack Lummus (T-AK 3011).

The Army appears to be preparing to build a port, and has deployed several ships that carry some of their maritime equipment. gCaptain has a must read on MARAD assets being deployed to Haiti.

The U.S. Maritime Administration announced Monday that MV Gopher State, MV Cornhusker State and SS Cape May will join OPDS Petersburg from California and M/V Huakai from Hawaii.

“Sending these ships will help those on the front line of this effort save as many lives in Haiti as possible,” Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said. “These ships will add crucial capabilities by supporting operations to move large volumes of people and cargo.”

EagleOne has been talking about Joint Over the Sea Logistics here and here over the last few days, and there is nothing left for me to add regarding expectations of this capability beyond his comments. By the way, M/V Huakai is not in Hawaii, both of the former Hawaiian superferry's are in Norfolk. It's a shame the Navy didn't paint them yet, because that color scheme is ugly.

Both links at EagleOne are worth a read for those of you who want to see how the sea logistics will come together both short and long term, likely beginning by the end of next weekend. It takes a lot of time to put some of this together though, so getting the massive equipment to Haiti is only the first step. People may not like it, but we are one week away from being able to provide a some throughput from sea, but perhaps a month away from being able to truly provide major logistics support on a large scale from sea - assuming everything goes according to plan. The Army project in particular is very expensive and such an operation could cost nearly $40 million or more if the equipment is left behind for a long period of time to support relief in Haiti.

When it is all done, it will be incredible to see, but the type of massive sea based engineering that is being sent to Haiti doesn't come together quickly.

I still have not seen security problems reported in the news that have me concerned... yet, and the weather forecast looks good with no major storms over the rest of the week. I am still very cautiously optimistic about the ability of maritime forces to resolve the logistics issues in Haiti to allow the relief in, but it is still very early in the crisis and the throughput of relief supplies will not significantly increase for several more days.

An air drop of relief supplies, for example, is very dangerous and represents a sign that things are getting desperate on the ground. We have already seen Navy helicopters throw relief supplies out the window to Haitians scrambling underneath. That is another sign of the serious issues in distribution, and immense challenges that must be addressed this week.

The second week will be just as difficult as the first week.