I traveled up there on an Iraqi patrol boat, the Falcon if I'm not mistaken. We give them English names in addition to their Iraqi name, but they only have a number on the hull. And you don't see the hull as you descend the ladder from the OPLAT, so I didn't notice which one we were on.
These aren't passenger ferries, but that's how they are used. As a result, everyone essentially rides on the roof. That means either on top of the pilot house or on the level above the engine compartment. Patrol boats of this size, both U.S. and Iraqi, don't have exhaust stacks. The exhaust comes out the sides, not too far above the waterline. The Kuwait's actually part this part of their ships black because it winds up that color anyways.
The route to Umm Qasr is up the Kwar Abd Allah waterway, or the KAA. I'd seen it on the charts, but riding up the KAA certainly gives a better perspective. For one thing, we tend to associate land with hills or mountains. Not around here! It's basically a large sandbar on either side of the waterway. And there were no buildings until we made the turn into the actual river at Umm Qasr.
Like any river or sea lane near shore, there are plenty of wrecks. Only difference here is the number of wrecks that are almost completely above water. Basically they went aground at high tide, and there are pretty big tide swings, so they are pretty high. The first two must indicate a tricky part of the channel, given their proximity to each other. From a distance the one looks like its just at anchor, but as you get closer you realize that's not the case!
As we neared Umm Qasr, there were a few vessels anchored in the river. There was a couple more good wrecks. Hard to tell what happened to this first one, its just resting on its keel in a somewhat random location.
The next one looks like it was at some sort of pier when the tide went out and it just rolled over, almost completely turtled. It looks like a pretty old ship, so they didn't know how to predict the tides back in the day. Or maybe it was like the others, and the rides have changed over the years, and it finally rolled over.
The Coalition Naval Advisory Transition Team (C-NATT), as I believe its now called, it mostly a Royal Navy run operation inside the Iraqi Naval Base. Before you start thinking this is some huge operation, consider the Iraqi Navy has about 100 yards of waterfront. For their entire Navy! But they are purchasing a lot of boats, so hopefully that will change. Below you can see three small boats and one of their larger patrol boats, like the one I was on. After that, its all commercial port. Lots of cranes.
Here's a closer view of the Defender class boats, the closet thing they have to our 34' security boat.
Our visit went well, and we were up early the next morning to catch a ride back out to KAAOT. It was colder this time, and I was wearing everything I had to keep warm, including jacket, black watch (ski) hat, and mechanics gloves that I pre-emptively purchased back in Kuwait when we were told there was going to be a cold snap. While transiting we did have a fly-by of Army Blackhawk helicopters in format. Pretty cool.
Some people have asked exactly what I'm wearing for armor and weapons, so I'll explain the photo below. Everyone in MSRON 1 was issued type four individual body armor (IBA), helmet, and gas mask when were in San Diego. We wore it for our training assessment and evaluation. Now that we are over here, we don't carry our gas mask, just IBA and helmet. For some reason our boat crews don't bring the helmet on the water, just wear the IBA when on station, with an integrated 'horse collar' flotation device. You might wonder if that little horse collar will keep you afloat while wearing all that armor. The answer is yes. In fact, they did 'confidence testing' in San Diego, I think you still float even without the horse collar. Also, the are special maritime vests which allow you to 'dump' the chest and back plates with the pull of a lanyard on the front, top right side. Those of us who received new vests actually had to assemble this piece, and judging by how hard it was to push the plates up into the vest, and stitch it closed with the lanyard, I'm pretty confident it would work as advertised.
We have to carry a 9-mm sidearm when out on the water or off base, so I definitely took it with me to Iraq. I used to keep it in a thigh holster, but moved that to my vest to make it easier to maneuver on the water in our our boats. That's on the lower right part of my vest. Lower left is my 'blow out' or medical kit. Best to have in front I think, in case you need to use it, or someone needs to use yours on you. Above that is my 9-mm ammo, with my flashlight next to that. The Army puts their rank in the middle of all their uniforms now, so I had an O-4 devise made with velcro, and put that above another patch I had made with my warfare insignia and name. If we go to board a vessel I would take off my rank and name patches.
This weekend I got to a couple of the social events that our Chaplain has organized here as part of our overall cooperative effort. During the course of a week, we have tea with the Iraqi Navy (IqN) and Iraqi Marine (IqM) officers, an ice cream social in the Iraqi galley, and a game night. We're scheduled a shared meal for a couple people, but the IqN/IqM officers already told us we are all invited this week. I went to my first ice cream social last night, along with my Commodore and his boss, who were both up visiting. We provide the ice cream, and the Iraqi host it in their galley. We had some informative discussions with a couple of the IqN officers, a LT and a LCDR, both of whom have had command of an IqN patrol boat. I got some answers about the weapons and crew onboard. Commodore asked about their patch. I proudly announced I purchased one at the store on their base. The LT responded by pulling out a patch and giving it to the Commodore. He reciprocated by retrieving a couple of his MSRON 1 coins from his room.
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