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Navy tours to test global fleet concept

In the coming weeks and months, the Navy will begin two pilot programs to test the Global Fleet Station concept, putting sailors into a new kind of mission first in the Caribbean basin and, later, off the coast of western Africa.

Intended initially as a way to spark the friendships that will build the “1,000-ship fleet” of like-minded nations, the GFS should test the concept of a global partnership of maritime nations.

“GFS deployments are aimed at reaffirming the high regard and close relationships we have with our partner nations and nongovernmental organizations,” said Cmdr. Aaron Jacobs, director of plans for Central and South America at U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command, and lead planner for the GFS pilot program. “GFS pilot 2007 is designed to serve as the proof of concept for the Navy’s GFS initiative and as an enabler for the vision of a Global Maritime Partnership.”

And it’s getting started in a hurry.

In late April, the high-speed vessel Swift will depart Mayport, Fla., for a six-month deployment in the Caribbean with 50 crew and 20 trainers aboard. It will make port visits in Belize, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama.

Jacobs said the sailors and trainers are deploying for “both classroom and hands-on training to host-nation maritime services,” which will include small boat operation, leadership development, risk management, and security.

Swift will be on deployment until early fall, around the same time an as-yet-unnamed amphibious warfare ship will depart the Hampton Roads, Va., area for a yearlong GFS deployment in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western coast of Africa.

Lt. Chris Servello, a spokesman for U.S. Naval Forces Europe, says the goal of the GFS pilot program off Africa is to provide a persistent presence with the same relationship-building goals as the Caribbean deployment.

The Gulf of Guinea is a politically shaky but oil-rich region of high interest to the world economy. As such, the submarine tender Emory S. Land and the frigate Kaufmann have been making regular visits to the area in recent years, in a prelude to the GFS concept.

But as Servello says, “Episodic engagements don’t work.”

Instead, the ship designated for the GFS deployment will be stay in the region, making regular port calls in a “continuous loop for several months.”

Using a larger ship such as a dock landing ship will allow more space for classroom training, use of the well deck for small boat operations as well as the room for contingents of sailors from the regional navies.

While a dock landing ship is still technically a warship, the initial intent of GFS is being presented as a preventive medicine in the war on terrorism — making friends to snub out potential conflict. Africa eventually will have its own combatant command.

“We basically need to be down there all the time to build these relationships,” Servello said. “It helps us achieve a fairly persistent platform that we need.”

Global Fleet Station is described in the Naval Operations Concept 2006 as a way to achieve the goals of “more widely distributed forces” and “increased forward presence.” Likewise, the Gulf of Guinea and the Caribbean are noted in the 2006 document as emerging areas of interest to the Navy and Marine Corps.