Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

US hires Danish ships for possible use against Iraq
irna ^ | 8/13/02

Posted on 08/12/2002 9:28:33 PM PDT by knak

Brussels, Aug 13, IRNA -- The US defense ministry, Pentagon, is going to pay the Danish company A. P. Moellers, subsidiary company of Maersk Line Limited, almost 1,7 billion Kr. for the use of eight ships. (1 USD = 7.59 Denmark Kroner)

The ships are to sail to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, the former base of American B52 bombers during the Iraq-Kuwait war 12 years ago, the Danish DRN-I online news reported Monday.

The cargo bay on the ships are to be filled with ammunition, tanks, trucks and ambulances for the American army, it said.

The Maersk Company has to run the ships and their maintenance, but this task could be conflicting with official Danish foreign policy, said the website.

So far the Danish government has not made any comments on a possible attack on Iraq.

Villy Soevndal of the Socialist Peoples Party says the issue is a big problem and former Foreign Minister Niels Helveg Petersen would like the current Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller to explain the matter, noted DRN-I.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 08/12/2002 9:28:33 PM PDT by knak
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: knak
Just one more piece in the puzzle. One thing I like about the current administration in Washington. They are doers, not talkers. Quite a contrast from previous talking but not doing administrations.
2 posted on 08/12/2002 9:38:37 PM PDT by B-bone
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: knak
Things are happening that we have no ideas about...Bush is getting everything in the ready, to make sure that the soldiers have everything that they need.
3 posted on 08/12/2002 9:39:34 PM PDT by Jewels1091
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dark Wing
ping
4 posted on 08/12/2002 9:41:25 PM PDT by Thud
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: knak; B-bone
Uh maybe.

Doesnt say where the ships will be going. For all we know they will be heading to Europe or the philippines or Israel etc etc.

The American Military has hundreds of tons of prepositioned equipment at Diego Garcia and a safe assumption is that this is concerning Iraq. But still not enough info to make a direct link.

Anyway, I'm sure the destination probably isnt even known to the differing ships captains at this point.

5 posted on 08/12/2002 9:44:31 PM PDT by VaBthang4
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: knak
So that's Saddam's weakness... breakfast pastries!


How we gonna ship all that Danish up his Euphrates?

6 posted on 08/12/2002 9:47:40 PM PDT by Sabertooth
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sabertooth
LOL
7 posted on 08/12/2002 9:53:39 PM PDT by B-bone
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: VaBthang4
Doesnt say where the ships will be going.

Diego Garcia, which sounds about right.
8 posted on 08/12/2002 10:11:50 PM PDT by Arkinsaw
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Arkinsaw
Yeah that's it....we contracted a bunch of expensive vessels to go to Diego so we can load them up and anchor them there indefinately.

:eyeroll

9 posted on 08/12/2002 10:58:27 PM PDT by VaBthang4
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: VaBthang4
"hundreds of tone of prepositioned equipment"

Are you serious? There's not ONE SQUARE INCH of storage space on DG. Material started moving there since before the first of the year.......I'm sure even before anyone knew exactly where it would finally end up.

Once this marterial moves out, they'll start moving in avgas, bombs, aircrews/aircraft (the big ones:) and spare aviation parts.

It's a decent natural harbor with much improved docking/cargo facilities and the best transhipment point in the Indian Ocean.

It's just part of the "Pony Express" model of material movement.....Hawaii, Filipines, Singapore and DG....so whatever material has to be finally positioned by air can be done so very quickly, substantially reducing our "flight hour per ton" ratio and making up for substantial reductions in our airlift capacity.

It's alot easier to move a few million tons 1500miles quckly that to move it 10,000miles quckly. 1/10 the time. The first gulf war took us 6 months to move all the material......consider an armed force 1/2 that size moving material 1/7th the distance.

We could assault a few beaches and airports and have a full assault corps moving through the desert in two weeks.

Not that we would do that mind you.......it's just that we COULD if we wanted to:)

Wars are won through practice, training, weapons and logistics.

We have the best such institutional support on all 4 fronts. Each new victory brings both the momentum of marvel and fear into the face of every world citizen. They all know we can do whatever we wish whenever we wish and they'll never stop hating us for it, whether our acts are for good or evil.

Bush's next campaign song should be "I did it myyyyy way" :)

10 posted on 08/12/2002 11:48:41 PM PDT by Mariner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Mariner
"Are you serious?"

Yep.

11 posted on 08/13/2002 12:06:58 AM PDT by VaBthang4
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: knak
Shinseki should have been thinking about MPS instead of self esteem berets.
12 posted on 08/13/2002 6:38:59 AM PDT by SMEDLEYBUTLER
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: knak
A.P. Moeller has two daughters who are US citizens. They are the majority owners of a US corporation that owns vessels that are part of the US sealift capacity - I assume these are the vessels in question. If so they are US flag vessels crewed by US nationals.

Interestingly enough A.P. Moeller owns just about the whole of the Danish Oil and gas leases in the north sea and would be a major beneficiary of any increase in oil prices.

My guess is that their long term contracts with the Pentagon are too important to worry about domestic Danish opinion.

13 posted on 08/13/2002 8:54:46 AM PDT by Timocrat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sabertooth
So that's Saddam's weakness... breakfast pastries!

The great cream puff Satan.

14 posted on 08/13/2002 9:00:04 AM PDT by lavaroise
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Mariner
I'm rather surprised that we don't have our own ships to do this.
15 posted on 08/13/2002 9:04:52 AM PDT by Dog Gone
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Dog Gone
We *do* have them. Eight Fast Sealift ships, among many others under the control of Military Sealift Command. They are kept on reduced operating status but can be partially crewed, provisioned and underway in under four days. A few are "pre-positioned containerized cargo" type, kept loaded with certain hardware. Others, such as the eight that I suspect are referenced in this article, must take on their cargo (and a portion of their crew) after going operational.

I believe the article's title is misleading - Danish foreign policy should have nothing to do with it. If the Danes didn't want to get caught up in our military adventures, they shouldn't have allowed one of their corporation's U.S. subsidiaries to bid on the ship maintenance work. Methinks this is just some EuroPress hand-wringing; it's not as though these ships - and their primary task - are a big secret.

Do a search on the Military Sealift Command - you'll find that they have an amazing number of ships squirreled away around the country. There are a few on the list that are of WWII vintage! The Fast Sealift ships are decidedly more modern, though. Here's a pic of one:

Haze grey and underway. Looks "Navy" to me.

16 posted on 08/14/2002 9:36:58 PM PDT by Cloud William
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson