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SOUTH CHINA SEA -
The cramped and lengthy ride in a
submarine rescue chamber (SRC) may seem miserable at the time, but
imagine if you were part of the crew of a bottomed submarine and
your life depended on squeezing into this sweltering, steamy little
compartment. Submariners around the globe would gladly endure these
conditions for the sake of survival, and in the unlikely case of a
submarine casualty their survival is a humanitarian interest that
requires cooperation across national and alliance boundaries.
To demonstrate a commitment to this
humanitarian aid discipline, the U.S. Navy along with navies from
Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the Republic of
Singapore conducted a Submarine Escape and Rescue (SMER) exercise,
codenamed Pacific Reach, from 17 to 25 Aug. U.S. Military Sealift
Command rescue and salvage ship USNS Safeguard (T-ARS 50) and the
San Diego-based Deep Submergence Unit (DSU) participated in a
variety of submarine rescue drills, including multiple deployments
of the U.S. submarine rescue chamber, demonstrating a highly
sophisticated level of international interoperability to conduct
humanitarian submarine rescue missions.
“This exercise shows that our systems
can work with international navies’ submarine systems, and that our
procedures are similar and we can cross over,” said Cmdr. David
Lemly, commanding officer of DSU. “In an actual rescue, multiple
nations would respond and we may end up using several different
systems—whichever can get there first. So it’s important that we not
only know how we can operate together, but that we are communicating
and have confidence that we can operate together.”
Pacific Reach is the largest and most
sophisticated submarine rescue exercise conducted in the Asia
Pacific region. Senior military officials from thirteen countries
participated as observers, including Canada, China, France, India,
Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Africa, Sweden,
Thailand, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.
“In Southeast Asia our job is to provide
rescue, salvage, towing and diving services for any asset for any of
the countries here if it’s been requested,” said Senior Chief Master
Diver Ted Walker, from the Pearl Harbor-based Mobile Diver Salvage
Unit One. “Our mobile diver unit is very versatile, and we can
provide a ready rescue cell anywhere in the world. Right now we’re
providing a platform for DSU and we’re helping them to do this
exercise.”
Safeguard was one of two submarine
rescue support vessels—including the Singaporean MV Swift
Rescue—that served as the focal point for a series of submarine
rescue events. The DSU deployed the SRC from Safeguard using a large
crane to lift the massive capsule over the side. Using this SRC, the
DSU conducted successful open-hatch matings with JDS Arashio and RSS
Chieftain; submarines from Japan and the Republic of Singapore that
bottomed for this simulated rescue scenario.
During one event, four countries were
represented in a single simulated rescue and chamber mating. Naval
officers from the U.S., China, and Republic of Singapore were sealed
together inside the U.S. SRC for more than three hours as they were
lowered via tether to mate with Arashio. At a depth of nearly 200
feet, the SRC connected with the submarine, and a U.S. Navy diver
inside the SRC opened Arashio’s hatch to shake hands with Japanese
crew members from the bottomed submarine.
This year's exercise, the fifth in the
series, was hosted by the RSN for the second time and consisted of a
shore phase conducted at the Changi Command and Control Center and a
sea phase held in the South China Sea. The exercise also comprised a
medical symposium as well as simulated evacuation and treatment of
personnel from submarines in distress.
“The medical portion of this exercise is
essential. We rescue submariners and not submarines, so just getting
the guys to the surface isn’t necessarily enough,” said Lt. Cmdr.
Jeffrey Gertner, a U.S. Navy deep submergence medical officer aboard
MV Swift Rescue. “One of the biggest challenges is that things get
really chaotic with many patients. You can’t bring a hospital out
here, so you have to do the best with what you have, which means you
usually have limited manpower and lots of injuries all at once.”
Medical teams from the U.S. were among the countries participating
in medical symposiums and drills to share ideas and practices with
each other, with the goal of overall improving the survival rates of
submariners who may be rescued from high-pressure underwater
environments.
“It’s important worldwide to be able to
support the submarine force,” said Gertner. “We’re sending them out
into harm’s way, and it’s crucial to be able to have a plan and
resources to save them if necessary.”
Exercise Pacific Reach aims to develop
regional submarine escape and rescue capabilities and strengthen
interoperability in submarine rescue operations among participating
navies. Speaking at the opening of the exercise, RSN's Fleet
Commander, Rear- Admiral Joseph Leong, said, "Exercise Pacific Reach
serves as a platform to foster cooperation on submarine escape and
rescue, as well as to enhance multilateral relations among the
submarine operating countries. As more countries acquire or enhance
their submarine capabilities in the region, it is also important
that we build and maintain a strong network for multilateral
submarine rescue collaboration."
This year, the RSN contributed a Landing Ship Tank, RSS Endeavour,
submarine RSS Chieftain, MV Swift Rescue and submersible rescue
vehicle, Deep Search and Rescue Six. With hyperbaric facilities such
as recompression chambers and a high dependency unit, MV Swift
Rescue provides immediate and specialized medical treatment to
injured personnel who are evacuated from distressed submarines. In
2000, the RSN hosted the first Exercise Pacific Reach, involving
navies from Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United States.
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