It has literally traveled around the world four times and for the first time the United States Navy's "HSV 2 Swift" has docked in Belizean waters. That's right, it's a swift boat, but neither John Kerry nor the ghost of his political candidacy are on board this high speed vessel. But it still does have an interesting story. Sure, it's only half the size of a cruise ship but it is a world unto itself. Keith Swift found out why it is here in Belize.
Keith Swift Reporting,
This is it, the HSV2 Swift. It may look like a cruise shop or even a space ship but it's not.
Capt. Douglas Wied,
"If Batman had a ship, this would be it. If you look at it, it does not look like a navy ship. It is fast, about 45 knots, that's about 83 kilometers per hour, and it has a shallow draft and that all gives it the ability to go a lot of places other ships can't."
This morning Commander Charles Rock took the media on a tour of the vessel, which was built at a cost of US$60 million. And this is what $60 million looks like. As far as size goes, the HSV 2 isn't spectacular. It's only 312 feet long and 88 feet wide but it makes up for it in speed. It is built with aluminum and has three decks. It is capable of transporting five hundred tons and has living quarters to accommodate more than one hundred persons.
The central deck is here where the cafeteria, conference rooms, and lounge areas are. And if the lounge area looks like an airplane, it is because this high speed catamaran was originally built to ferry passengers in Australia.
Charles Rock, Commander
"The Swift was originally designed as a ferry and unlike most US Navy ships that have a design for a specific mission, the Swift is very generic. It doesn't have a specific mission. It can be whatever mission you want. As
you can see behind me we have a lot of open space. We can use that space for many many different functions and we've participated in many disaster and humanitarian relief efforts around the globe over the last three or four years and we've turned the ship into a hospital, we've turned the ship into a support ship for the global war on terrorism operations, and you name the mission and you dream up an idea and we can figure out how to do it aboard here."
The HSV 2 cruised into Belize on Saturday and its mission here is training. About 20 officers from the Belize's Coast Guard, the Police Department, and the BDF are participating in training on the lower deck. Their classroom is this trailer which was trucked onto the ship. Captain Douglas Wied is the Commander of this mission called the "Global Fleet Station 2007."
Capt. Douglas Wied,
"We are here for two weeks working with our partners, the Belize Police, the Coast Guard, and the Defense Force training in classes such as small boat operations, there is a boat down there doing it right now, professional leadership development, and port security."
Ensigns Audiblado Monima and Marlon Hernandez are with the Belize Coast Guard. Monima is the training officer and Hernandez is in operations. Both are participating in the training.
Ens. Audiblado Monima, Belize Coast Guard
"We are conducting two types of training on the ship. We're conducting
the coxswain course and we are also conducting professional development course. The coxswain course is basic boat handling for young coxswain coming up, you know maneuvering of small boats which Belize has and the professional development is basically the leadership course, the professional course whereby younger seamen and petty officers will have uplift themselves in the future and can work at a better and more professional manner out at sea."
Ens. Marlon Hernandez, Belize Coast Guard
"The training provided is beneficial to us. Myself I am a young officer. I have no experience in boat handling so that course that I am actually on is coxswain boat handling and personally I am out there learning how to maneuver a boat."
Ens. Audiblado Monima,
"What the training will do to us, it will uplift us and we will perform at a higher standard whereby the people out there at sea will believe in us now that we know that we can do our job."
And that's why Captain Weid says they are here. He says the U.S. Navy wants to maintain a presence in the region but its to not intimidate. Apart from these 60 caliber guns - placed at strategic locations - the HSV 2 isn't armed because Captain Weid says they are here to help and the global fleet station is one way of doing that.
Capt. Douglas Wied,
"When I say presence, I mean we got the ship and all of our trained personnel in the area, in the Caribbean and Central American region. During our six month deployment, we are visiting several countries, multiple times. We've been to Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and now we are here in Belize and we'll be visiting all those countries twice and the goal in the future is to have a presence like this continued so we are constantly working with our different partners."
And so big brother will be watching and as the HSV 2 SWIFT shows, it may be closer than you think.
The ship will remain in Belize until June 21st. It returns on August 26th for another week. Not mentioned in the story is that while it is a U.S. naval ship, the HSV 2 Swift is being leased by the U.S. government from Australia.
