Week #25 - Boat Week

I'll call this week Boat Week because I was able to get out on the water a lot.

View from the cabin

We aren't the only small boats up here in the North Arabian Gulf. Every one of the ships up here has one or two rigid hull inflatable boats, or RHIBs. That pretty much describes their construction: rigid aluminum hull with inflatable pontoons for coming alongside ships. The smallest are the orange RHIBs off the Coast Guard WPBs. They have a single Honda outboard. To put them in the water, the WPB hoists them over the side with a small crane. My first boat ride up here was in the RHIB from the Baranof to KAAOT, and I'm still grateful it was a very calm day and smooth ride, because there isn't a lot to keep you dry on one of these.


Next up are the RHIBs from the Guided Missile Destroyer. Way back when I was on the Shiloh, we had the Captain's Gig in the port davit and the RHIB in the starboard. On a DDG, they just go with two RHIBs, starboard side aft if I'm not mistaken. There is one crane positioned between the two. These are gray, and bigger than the Coasties' boats.

The biggest U.S. RHIBs come off the Patrol Craft (PC). Along with the integrated stern gate on the PC, these were designed for the SEALS, as I explained last week.


The Cadillac of RHIBs are the U.K. ones. Or at least the ones on the last Royal Navy ship. I got a ride in one. It seemed much bigger and more stable by comparison. Another just showed up on station today, we'll see what they've got.

I've also received a ride in the Iraqi Navy RHIB, which for some reason they call fast aluminum boats, or FABs. They use these for boarding the deep draft oil tankers.

And then there are our boats, which I refer to as 'security boats.' They are also aluminum, and have sponsons. When it gets rough, we're the last ones out on the water. They weren't really designed for heavy weather, though. We have problems with bending and breaking parts on the outdrives, steering mechanism, and even electrical after a hard day on the water. But we fix, or completely swap them out with the beach and let them fix them, and keep going. We also have a cabin, are a lot more heavily armed, and carry a radar, GPS, and secure communications gear. A little more like a small ship.



We recently did a routine operation where we took two of our boats and two other RHIBs to go do boardings. Actually we did this twice this week, but I only brought my camera on one. Called Interaction Patrols, we escort the RHIBs to a location and they conduct boardings of the dhows in the area. These are compliant boardings - they have to get permission from the ship's master to come aboard. With the help of a translator they ask a series of questions. We give them some 'psyop' gear such as work gloves, sunglasses, etc. This entire operation falls under the "winning hearts and minds" category.


At the end of the first operation this week, the weather really picked up quickly. The Coast Guard RHIB reported their bilge pump was not working properly, which gave me flashbacks to my boat ownership days. So we completed the boarding we were on and boogied back to the platform where we offloaded passengers, including myself. I was able to get some decent pictures of our boats maneuvering around KAAOT. We had an Iraqi PB, the next larger 'boat', alongside. When the weather gets bad they bug out and head back to Umm Qasr.




I've been working on my boat qualifications, studying here on KAAOT and getting things 'signed off' while underway on the boats. First up is the crewmember qual, reviewing fundamentals such as basic damage control, seamanship, launch and recovery, anchoring, and towing. I also worked ahead on went over surface engagment (with weapons) and engagement tactics because we will be teaching this to the Iraqi Defender boat crews later this spring. On the water, you also have to complete or demonstrate lots of frequest tasks, infrequent tasks, abnormal conditions, and emergency procedures. To accomplish this, and just to get familiar with the boat, they even let me drive every once in a while.


Giving back and trying to reinforce teamwork between the Security Detachment on the platforms and the Boat Detachment on the water, I've been working on a coin for the Maritime Expeditionary Security Forces up here. I just sent the design off to the coin shop in Korea I used for my CNFK 'Fightin' Det. C' coin.


Lastly, upon return from an operation a couple days ago, we noticed some activity on top of the conex boxes on the other side of the platform. My father-in-law Gary will be happy to know that I was able to hit a few balls off the platform. I had someone take some pictures of me. I now have a better idea of why the ball doesn't know go straight when I hit. The pictures were so bad I refuse to publish them! Instead, he's a shot of the Commodore. He must be a player.