ABOARD USS DONALD COOK -- It was a rare moment of excitement on a long, tedious counter-piracy patrol. On the evening of Sept. 24, lookouts on the USS Donald Cook, a Virginia-based destroyer assigned to a NATO flotilla in the Gulf of Aden, spotted a mysterious shape on the horizon. The distant vessel did not respond to Donald Cook's hails as it loomed closer.
With the cry, "Ship of interest," crew members summoned Donald Cook's captain, Derek Granger. Interrupted during a rare bit of down-time, Granger climbed to the bridge wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Lighting his customary cigar, he joined lookouts on the port bridge wing -- a sort of outdoor deck attached to the ship's side -- and scrutinized the approaching vessel through binoculars.
Soon the mystery ship's features were evident: a long hull, blocky superstructure, tall vertical posts and an aft flight deck on which was lashed a blue-and-white painted Sea King helicopter. The Americans consulted with a ship recognition guide, just to be safe, but it was plain to see: The vessel was an Iranian naval supply ship -- one of at least four warships deployed by Tehran to the pirate-infested waters.
A year after Somali pirates seized the headlines with a series of high-profile hijackings, world powers have assembled a naval counterpiracy coalition that is "without precedent," in the words of Commodore Steve Chick, commander of the NATO flotilla that includes Donald Cook. World Politics Review spent four days on Donald Cook to observe piracy patrols firsthand.
The coalition includes flotillas provided by NATO and the EU, plus one split off from a U.S. Navy-led counterterrorism task force. In addition, China, Japan, South Korea, India and Russia have deployed warships on national counter-piracy missions. The roughly 40 ships share intelligence and supplies and, in the event of a pirate encounter, help cover each other using their armed helicopters. Every month in Bahrain, representatives of these pirate-fighting nations assemble to hash out who will patrol what area, so that there's no overlap. "We're all here for the common good," Chick says.
There's just one country plying East African waters that refuses to cooperate. In December, Tehran announced it would send warships to protect Iranian shipping from attack. The first Iranian flotilla apparently departed in May, and a second group set sail several months later. But the deployed vessels never integrated into the international coalition, and therefore do not benefit from the international cooperation. The Iranian ships operate alone, in silence and secrecy, leading some to question Tehran's motives.
| The Bahrainis and Iranians don't get along -- don't even have diplomatic relations. That could make integrating the Iranians a little dicey. |
| If I recall correctly, that's because Iran would like to think of Bahrain much like China does Taiwan, or Syria does Lebanon. |
"It's a mystery," Granger says of Tehran's intentions. He says it's possible the Iranian ships are doing just what Tehran claims -- that is, patrolling African waters to deter and interdict pirates, albeit less efficiently than were they to cooperate with other navies. It's also possible that the Iranian ships are meant as a reminder of Tehran's ability to deploy military power outside its national waters.
There's a third possibility -- one that Granger did not raise. The Iranian warships could also be useful for monitoring the naval capabilities of the assembled pirate-fighting countries. With world concern escalating over the revelation in late September of a secret Iranian nuclear facility, some observers in the U.S. have proposed a naval blockade of Iran. In the event of such a blockade, Iran might find updated information on world naval forces useful in planning any response.
| They could be monitoring Israeli naval assets in the Red Sea. They might also be escorting arms shipments to Eritrea and Sudan so as to make sure said arms aren't intercepted and blown to pieces by the Ruritanian Navy and Air Force ... |
| Or escorting shipments that will eventually wend their way to an Iranian port or border. |
Sometimes Donald Cook's crew intercepts strange Iranian radio messages. It's customary for ships belonging to the counter-piracy coalition to hail commercial vessels in order to confirm their identities. The hails are always in English, the accepted "language of the seas." While usually silent, occasionally the Iranian ships will broadcast an awkward hail to a nearby merchant vessel. "They only do it because we do it," said one Donald Cook officer. In other words, the hails might be cover for Tehran's true purpose in sending its ships into the thick of a busy, diverse naval coalition.
Back on Donald Cook's bridge, the tension released as the Iranian supply ship passed alongside and shrank on the horizon. But Granger lingered on the bridge wing, and the crew remained extra alert. The Iranian ships are known to sail in pairs. It was possible another ship was out there, maintaining radio silence, stealthily listening in on the world's navies as they went about the business of hunting Somali pirates. |