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In the wake of the Kursk: 'Sorbet Royal 2000'
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| 19 February 2001 |
In the wake of the
Kursk: 'Sorbet Royal 2000'
NATO
held its fourth and largest submarine rescue exercise 'Sorbet Royal 2000'
off the coast of Turkey between 4-13 September last year. Taking part
were the US, Turkey and Italy, with additional observers from Israel,
Argentina, Chile, Singapore and Sweden. One nuclear and four conventional
submarines were deployed accompanied by a frigate, two submarine rescue
ships, one salvage ship, one survey ship and several patrol boats and
auxiliaries.
Postponed from 1999 due to the earthquake in Turkey, the exercise was
overshadowed by the Kursk disaster just four weeks earlier. Russia declined
an invitation to attend, and the UK also pulled out due to their earlier
participation with an LR5 rescue vehicle in the real-life incident.
Bad weather mid-week led to elements of the exercise being postponed but
a total of 10 rescue exercises, eight search, survey and ventilation exercises
and a full day of undersea medical training were completed over the nine-day
period.
Held in and around the Mersin bay, the exercise began with mechanical
faults on US Deep Submersible Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) Mystic resulting in
host vessel USS Dallas calling it back from a simulated rescue attempt
on Turkish submarine Hizirreis. A later attempt at the same task proved
successful, giving command confidence in facilities for repairing the
DSRV abroad. "That's why you don't depend on one system," says
NATO officer Capt Bill Hanson, "You have all the assets on the horizon,
and if there's a problem, you can go to the next one."
Other
drills proceeded more smoothly. The Italian SRV-300 rescue vehicle successfully
rehearsed docking procedures with Italian submarine Prini and two sailors
from Prini were evacuated to Turkish ship TCG Akin using a McCann rescue
bell. The SRV300 was in fact the only RV with a 100% success rate during
the exercise.
Turkey's navy demonstrated the capabilities of its quick-response Submarine
Parachute Assistance Group (SPAG). The four-man team was dropped from
a CN-235 aircraft with a rubber boat and supplies just 25 minutes after
receiving a distress signal.
Overseeing the exercise was UK Navy Flag Officer Submarines and NATO Commander
Submarine Forces East Atlantic and North regions Rear Admiral Rob Stevens.
Though he agreed that NATO itself did not yet have 100% standardisation
for submarine rescue missions, Rear Adm Stevens said they were "working
towards that goal".
"The main objective of this exercise is to practice a variety of
submarine rescue methods to confirm submarine rescue interoperability,"
he said. "During this exercise we've successfully demonstrated our
combined multinational ability to conduct submarine rescue in this environment."
'Sorbet Royal' exercises alternate with paper exercise 'Phoenix', which
develops the command and control aspects of rescue operations.
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| MOSHIP
Anteo deploys the SRV300 during 'Sorbet Royal 2000' off the Mediterranean
coast of Turkey. (Source: NATO) |