As frigates age and LCS lags, fleet searches for answers in Caribbean ops
ABOARD THE FRIGATE ELROD — The Elrod shook, rattled and rolled as it made all haste at 27 knots toward the coast of Panama. So constant was the ship’s throb that one crew member was overheard saying that “we’re going so fast the paint is peeling.”
The frigate was moving with a purpose, chasing a “go fast” boat heading north, likely out of Colombia, and suspected of carrying cocaine.
That boat, with dual outboard engines, had been located by one of the two SH-60B helicopters operated from Elrod by the “Jaguars” of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron (Light) 60.
On the ship’s boat deck, the crew of the Elrod’s rigid-hulled inflatable boat was preparing to launch, peeling off protective covers and checking everything for the drop to the water. The deck crew donned blue-and-white hard hats and orange life jackets so they could quickly accomplish that job.
They were fast, but the drug runners were faster. They dumped their cargo overboard and beached the ship on a populated island. The Navy pilots could only watch as locals converged on the vessel and picked it clean while the boat’s drivers ran off. At that point, the pursuit became the domain of the Panamanians, who arrived on the scene within the hour and quickly apprehended them.
“It’s not the endgame we would have wanted,” Cmdr. Jack Killman, Elrod’s commanding officer said to the ship’s crew over the vessel’s announcing system. “But the end result is the same. We’ve disrupted traffic going north and the bad guys are in custody.”
That’s how it goes sometimes in the Caribbean Sea, where the Navy and Coast Guard are tasked to protect the U.S. coastline from smugglers trying to bring drugs, immigrants and, potentially, terrorists and weapons into the country.
It’s a job that’s already tough because of a lack of resources — commanders say only about one-third of the smugglers who are tracked can be caught — and it’s about to get tougher.
The Navy’s contribution is mainly from frigates such as Elrod, which are scheduled to be decommissioned in the coming years — faster than the littoral combat ships designed to replace them can come into service. Meanwhile, the service is shifting its focus toward the Pacific at the expense of missions in the Americas, and budget cuts are likely to keep the Coast Guard from taking up the slack.
At sea, the Navy and Coast Guard seize approximately 100 tons of cocaine annually — 2½ times the amount taken in every year by the entire U.S. law enforcement system, from local police to the Drug Enforcement Administration — Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Bob Papp said April 16.
“We could take more out of it if we had more ships out there,” Papp said.
Finding an answer
The Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates, which date from the 1970s and 1980s, have proved to be effective weapons in the drug war: Since January, when Elrod deployed with three other frigates — Nicholas, Ingraham and McClusky — as part of Operation Martillo (Spanish for “hammer”), they’ve assisted partner nations in seizing or disrupting the movement of more than 46,000 metric tons of cocaine and more than 1,300 pounds of marijuana, according to U.S. Southern Command. At least 29 aircraft, vessels and ground vehicles have been seized, and 84 suspected traffickers have been detained.
On the U.S. side, Elrod has the top tally among the frigates, seizing 9,630 pounds of drugs with an estimated street value of $720 million.
“I don’t think there’s a more ideal ship for this job than a frigate,” Killman said. “They’re fast, maneuverable and good on gas.”
But the 21 remaining frigates are set to be decommissioned by 2019, including six in the next fiscal year and seven more each in 2014 and 2015.
Meanwhile, LCS construction is lagging. The third ship of the type, Fort Worth, was delivered to the Navy on June 6, and only eight more are expected to arrive by the end of fiscal 2015.
“I think there’s a belief, over the next three years — at least on paper — [that] we might lose 50 percent [of necessary assets], based on the FFGs going away and the LCS coming online,” said Vice Adm. Joseph Kernan, military deputy commander of U.S. Southern Command in Miami.
The implications of that could be serious, Kernan’s boss, Southern Command chief Air Force Gen. Douglas Fraser, said at a March 7 breakfast for defense writers, because a smuggling network that allows drugs into the U.S. also could be used to bring in terrorists or weapons.
“The concern in the connection that we’re watching is whether or not those routes that are criminal routes from the drug trafficking to the trafficking in persons to weapons, all those provide an opportunity to come … into the United States,” he said. “We are watching all those areas for any indication.”
Though some have proposed delaying the frigate’s demise for a few years to bridge the gap, Kernan said that argument is over.
“The FFGs need to go away. The Navy made that decision, and there’s a lot of resourcing implications, as well as second- and third-order effects if we tried to extend the FFGs,” he said. “The loss of the FFG without an immediate replacement, one for one, is a loss and we will feel it.”
The solution, Kernan said, most likely will be a creative patchwork of ships and different deployments in the region.
“[There are] a lot of creative things [Navy planners] can come up with,” he said. “But it depends on the availability of assets. I’ve had this discussion with [Fleet Forces commander] Adm. [John] Harvey and they’re completely committed to creatively sending assets down there based on availability.”
Gators to the rescue?
One idea has already been tested. The Navy’s 80-day deployment of the dock landing ship Oak Hill to the region from September through December, Kernan said, proved you don’t have to be a frigate to disrupt drugs and could become a new line of work for other amphibious ships in the near future.
The deployment marked two firsts for a U.S. amphibious ship, officials said, as it deployed with two helicopters and embarked riverine patrol boats that supported interdictions and conducted normal river operations.
It’s also expected that the Navy’s coastal patrol craft gradually will become a fixture in the region, though they’re not capable of supporting helicopter operations.
“The PCs will definitely be value-added,” Kernan said. “Are they the same as an LCS? No. But in a time where there is high demand for a lot of assets and not a lot of assets to go around, creative solutions are needed.”
In fact, he said, the PCs do a lot of things LCSs can’t, operating closer to shore and with the smaller vessels used by partner nations.
The PCs also could operate effectively with a larger “mothership” in the mix. Such a solution has been brainstormed by Kernan and Rear Adm. Mark Buzby, who heads Military Sealift Command, and could possibly involve T-AKEs — dry cargo/ammunition ships.
“This completely is just an idea at this point,” Kernan said. “If we could get funding, that would be a great platform. It’s huge, it’s got helicopters, it can loiter easily — a great mothership-type of platform.”
More partnerships with other nations can also help solve the resource shortfall.
But Kernan said an LCS could still play a role by deploying to the area for a few weeks at a time while on shakedown cruises.
“If they can get us an asset for two weeks, that’s a lot,” he said. “An empty LCS could drive around and do their sea tests and we can operate from them while they’re here. We can launch helos and RHIBs; we can tailor it for a lot or a little. Even a basic LCS can do a lot.”
Kernan said he hopes these creative solutions will make up for the anticipated 50 percent shortfall in operational assets over the next few years.
“The Navy is sensitive to this gap in assets down here,” he said. “They’re going to pay attention and will look for creative ways to get at this. So in the end, I think we’ll be better than paper says because solutions are going to come up to mitigate the gap.”
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