Posted on 11/06/2004 10:36:22 PM PST by CWOJackson
Oh, I'm not unhappy. FWIW, they (USN and USCG) can sink a drug runner's vessel and all aboard her, as far as I'm concerned.
I just worry about whether we are following the laws we want others to follow. I seem to remember a small matter of Barbary Pirates and The War of 1812 having something to do with Maritime Law issues.
That is usually a fairly quick process that has already been worked out through various agreements with the more commonly used nations.
At that time the nation of registry is granting us official permission to make a legal search. If permission is withheld the vessel is simply followed until permission is given.
From about 1992 onwards....(I had a cement contract from Baranquilla to Marsh Harbour)...they stopped everything leaving Colombia and Venezuela from Turbo to Puerto Cabello Venezuela. The naval vessels which bunkered in Aruba were US or Brit. They had Coasties and Customs agents on board to help with the inspections....navy guys did not know ship's papers I guess.
Usually....you would get hailed "US Warship so and so hailing Northbound merchant vessel, captain maintain course and speed and prepare for boarding"....really loud since they had super amped 20 meters. On occasion they might dust ya with a bird first....fixed or rotor.
Further north in the Yucatan or Windward or Mona , it was more likely to be a large USCG cutter like the Bear but the procedure was about the same.
We were never stopped in the Pacific though they did have the balloons in place from Panama to Long Beach...at least I saw them.
I also read about USCG cutters busting ships coming out of the Straits of Molucca area carrying large loads of Thai weed too.
Likewise working in conjunction with local assets off the coast of Ireland and the UK too and Spain looking for Euro bound coke and spliff.
...but I have been landbound for some time now so my personal observations are dated.
it's a question of manpower....they see and hear about everything but how and what to send looking in that spot is tuff....remember in the old days and the AWACs radar would show scores of birds leaving Colombia's north coast at dusk for late night drops in the Gulf or Bahamas and they would have to pick and choose who to tail or try to intercept....the Pacific is a much bigger pond for that and hundreds if not thousands of vessels traversing at any given time....with precious few choke points.
Lots of nations give preemptive permission...but in practice....back in my day...the US was only worried about screwing around with major friendlies or serious enemies like USSR or ChiCom or NK.
They weren't all that worried about what Honduras or Liberia or Malta thought about their boarding of one of their flagged vessels.
Believe me, they crossed the T before stopped those ships. It really doesn't take long with some nations, as for instance your mentioning Liberia. That's almost like ordering a pizza.
Courtney Love will have to go back to being a heroin addict, what a shame.
Schweizer SA2-37B
Designed from the outset as a covert day/night surveillance platform, the RG-8A Condor Schweizer SA2-37B does not look like a covert spy plane. However, its sophisticated suite of FLIR, EO and electronic sensors, large payload, long endurance and low acoustic signature, enable this unusual aircraft to provide a comprehensive surveillance capability at relatively low cost.
To enable the Schweizer SA2-37B to operate effectively it was designed to fly quietly, using minimum power to reduce noise and this works so effectively that above 2000ft the aircraft is virtually undetectable from the ground. The reduced acoustic signature was achieved by a clever aerodynamic design which carefully matched the propeller, engines and various sound muffling devices. Powered by a Lycoming T10-540 engine rated at 250hp, in quiet mode the engine can be throttled back to between 1,100 – 1,300 rpm, generating just 65hp which is sufficient to keep the aircraft flying slowly.
The clever aerodynamics and engine efficiency also gives the aircraft an excellent endurance of 12 hours or a radius of operations of 200nmi whilst remaining on station for 7 hours. Generally the aircraft operates below 5000ft, to give the optical sensors the best possible views, but it also has a 24,000ft service ceiling and can undertake high level missions. The SA 2-37B can carry up to 510lb (231kg) of sensors and associated equipment in a 70 cu ft payload bay in the fuselage. The payload bay was designed to accept modular systems enabling different sensors to be changed quickly.
Three Schweizer SA2-37Bs have been operated by the US Coast Guard for a number of years in supporting anti-drug smuggling operations. A further 3 aircraft are believed to be operated by the CIA in support of various clandestine operations and one of these aircraft is believed to have provided support for the Peruvian government on 22 Apr 97, when terrorists seized 72 hostages in the Japanese ambassadors residence in Lima.
To provide an additional surveillance capability in their continual fight against the narcotics trade, in 1999 the Colombian government placed an order for a single Schweizer SA 2-37B as part of a joint US/Colombian project known as LANAS – Low Acoustic Noise Signature Airborne Surveillance; a further four aircraft were funded directly by the USA . The Colombian aircraft rolled off the production line in 2000, was certified on 7 Jun 00 and given the registration N2601L (c/n0015). The installation of the various sensors took a year and the in late 2001 the aircraft departed for Colombia. The unique capability this aircraft offers has considerably enhanced the ability of the Colombian government in their ongoing battle against the countries cocaine smugglers.
THIS IS OLD TECHNOLOGY AND NO LONGER USED. WE'VE GOT BETTER STUFF NOW, BUT THESE BIRDS COULD CHECK OUT A LOT OF INCOMING BOATS AT NIGHT AND NEVER BE SEEN.
They never asked me for permission.
They said prepare for boarding and we did.
What else were we gonna say..."sorry we don't have time, we're in a hurry....at 12 knots"...lol
The Coasties were not superintimidating but those Navy frigates were ominous looking alongside ya......they would make any break bulk merchant vessel helmsman shaky.
The big fear about Coasties was that if ya were headed to a US port that they would find something wrong and bag ya and I would have to post a bond (at 10%) for whatever the infraction was...usually some environmental crap...like improper MSD or some third world crewman with improper papers (boy that is a hoot nowadays isn't it?)
We used to do a lot of used paper bundles from Miami to Rio Haina Dom Rep and then something cheap back and would sometimes get stowaways...and back then the INS would actually shite and make us hold them and cuff them in the food locker and post a bond that we would return them via plane to nation of origin....man...that seems like a joke now with armies of mexicans streaming over nightly...i had not thought about that in a while.
Guyana was really bad for that too....of course Haiti was the worst....they might even hijack your ship there given a chance.
In the Dom Rep...if you caught them hiding in your cargo, the local barneys were afraid...you had to hire seguros to yank them out of their hidey holes.
man...i don't miss all those headaches.
Well if you can't make any money fishing...
Granted the environmental compliance issues are a pain but I'm surprised you didn't mention the biggest headaches around...zero tolerance. I can tell you right now, we worked hard to get that tempered with a little reality.
For those who don't know what the zero tolerance policy was, if one of your crew men had as much as a joint in their shaving kit we could lock up the whole boat. The owner would get it back...eventually.
Now we just take down the runners.
And how is that?
But luckilly, the government knows what's best for us to do with our own bodies.
Could you explain, Sept 17th newbie, why you think the government should not outlaw cocaine?
This is a thread that you will want to read, the Freepers have added so much knowledge to it.
Wonder if any of this was Al Qaeda navy? (dope)
Clinton was deeply saddened.
Dang, $2.3 billion. And that's only one month's worth.
That's okay, one of the side benefits of the War on Terror is we're getting far better at the War on Drugs. Great news!
Big deal. I'd bet that much gets across every two weeks or so, in cars and trucks that are being waved through at border crossing from Mexico, and half those involved are Mexican officials and Mexican law enforcement.
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