Ballarat’s Thursday War
5 August 2009
For those on the Bridge and the Operations Room of HMAS Ballarat during Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST), Thursdays are proving to be a hell of a day. It is the day of the week that the Royal Navy unleashes their worst on the ships undergoing FOST – simultaneous air, surface and sub surface threats that must be detected and combated by those in the Operations Room in conjunction with the personnel on the bridge.
HMAS Ballarat’s participation in FOST as part of Northern Trident 2009 will benchmark Australian training standards. For those in the bridge and operations teams who manage the Thursday war threats the FOST team direct at Ballarat, this benchmarking is an examination of their navigation and war fighting skills and training.
To test these skills on Thursday War day, HMAS Ballarat is put into the midst of a training scenario which requires the enforcement of a United Nations embargo aimed at maintaining international peace and security of the nation of Brownian, currently under threat from the neighboring state of Ginger. "The scenario requires us to protect a mission essential unit which is an oil tanker destined for Brownia. The protection is provided by a United Nations Multinational force of which Ballarat is a part. To do this the tanker sits in the centre of what is called a screen. We then arrange the defending ships around the screen to patrol specific sectors” explains Ballarat’s Navigator, LEUT Gavin Gillin.
While the scenario is fictional, the assembled ships from a variety of nations comprising the multinational force are very real. The Royal Navy conducts FOST for North Atlantic Treaty Organization Countries (NATO) as well as other countries like Australia who seek out their extensive expertise to evaluate their own training and standard operating procedures (SOPs). During Ballarat’s Thursday war, ships from the German, Dutch, Portuguese, Brazilian and Royal Navies are all undergoing FOST and make up the force protecting Brownia.
While the division of defending ships into sectors on a screen in order to effectively work together is not new for the operations and bridge teams, for many of those involved it was the first time they have experienced such a densely populated screen in which the inner and outer sectors of the screen are all occupied.
"It was quite contrast to exercises I have conducted in Australian waters. When you are on the bridge, within a 3 nautical mile radius of Ballarat you can observe 6 ships moving independently within their own sectors as we each executed our roles within the multinational protection force". "There were more units and a greater concentration of capability during FOST than I have previously experienced" said Officer of the Watch, LEUT Andrew Erven.
In addition to the surface vessels involved in the exercise, Ballarat’s appreciation of the subsurface aspect of the exercise is paramount to both containing the threat and working with friendly submarines to achieve offensive aims.
"The role of the ships operations room during OST was to detect, track and engage the air, surface and subsurface threats. Particularly for the subsurface threats the anti submarine capability acts as the eyes of the ship, assessing the detected contact as friendly, hostile or neutral and providing this information to the Principle Warfare Officer" said LS Combat Systems Operator Brett McKenzie.
The Principle Warfare Officer as well as directing the console operators within the operations room engages with the Officer of the Watch on the bridge to together ensure that Ballarat navigates in the best manner to ensure her own safety and also to prosecute most effectively the threat which the operations room has detected. To effectively participating in the scenario requires the close cooperation of all personnel on the bridge and in the ops room to ensure a complete visual and sensory picture of the area is maintained.
"The complexities of operating as part of a multi-national Task Group in a true multi-threat environment, coupled with the inherent difficulties in doing things the NATO way, presented a level of difficulty that we can't experience anywhere else. It was definitely one the most professionally challenging and rewarding experiences I have had in the Navy." said Principle Warfare Officer, LEUT Grant Coleman.
No matter whether the threat was detected visually on the bridge or via the sensors in the operations room, an aspect of the Thursday war which was a daunting yet awe inspiring for all was the harassment of Ballarat by hostile Ginger jets throughout the day, simulating both aircraft attack but also missile threats upon the ship.
"We exercise with RAAF jets at home occasionally but this was the first time I have dealt with them in such numbers and at such close range, some came in so close you’d think they were going to hit the mast". "The jets approach the ship at bridge height which mean that as they flew past you could actually see the pilots and you felt quite exposed on the upper decks, even with the 50 calibre machine gun in your hands said AB Boatswain Mate, Phil Seacomb.
The FOST experience demonstrated to the Ballarat team that although Australia may be geographically distant with very limited opportunity to engage in exercises of this size, when given entry onto the enlarged playing field they are more than capable of holding their own while taking in all the lessons that the expanded experience can offer them.
