You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Europe
Danish warship should patrol in the Arabian Sea
2007-01-06
The head of the Royal Navy believes a new Danish warship could be best used as a patrol vessel in the Indian Ocean - specifically in the Arabian Sea where it would be close to hotspots in the Middle East and the African horn of Somalia and Ethiopia.

The navy has ordered a total of five warships from Maersk-owned Odense Steel Shipyard, and Rear Admiral Nils Wang of the Naval Command thinks at least one ship should be permanently deployed for peacekeeping duty in the Arabian Sea. The navy currently has two of the ships, but the fifth is not expected to be delivered until 2012.

'If you hope to be within reasonable sailing time to where something serious happens, you shouldn't be positioned outside Tromsø, Norway,' Wang told daily newspaper Berlingske Tidende.

Wang believes a Danish warship on permanent global patrol would be a natural progression of the nation's active security policy. From the Arabian Sea, the ship could reach nearly all the hotspots in the eastern hemisphere within three days. Wang said that in addition to military assignments the crew would also be able to help combat piracy and provide humanitarian assistance to Danish citizens. 'I can confirm that the foreign affairs ministry is placed under an unyielding requirement from our citizens to come and save them, regardless of how they've gotten into the situation they've found themselves in,' said Wang.

Defence Minister Søren Gade agrees that a permanently stationed ship in the Indian Ocean would be beneficial. 'Defence is an important tool for foreign policy and today the army conducts operations in places we wouldn't have dreamed of 10 years ago.'

The opposition Social Liberal party is also open to the idea of having a ship in the area. 'It's parliament that decides what operations the armed forces participate in, but I'm open to discussing it, especially if there are practical reasons for putting a ship in the Indian Ocean,' said Morten Helveg Petersen, the party's spokesman on defence issues.

Per Kaalund, the Social Democratic defence spokesperson, was less enthusiastic. 'We're not building patrol ships in order to send them to the Indian Ocean.'
After reading about the British Navy's travails, this article is a breath of fresh air. More on Admiral Wang's POV linked here.
Posted by:mrp

#9  Any bets on how long after taking station in the Gulf, somebody flys a 'signal' flag that has one of the offensive cartoons printed on it? In plain view of some of the natives????
Posted by: USN, ret.   2007-01-06 21:41  

#8  Nothing strikes fear into the hearts of those muslim dogs like a dutch frigate.
Posted by: bigjim-ky   2007-01-06 20:06  

#7  lol :-) not that there's anything wrong with that. Some of our finest personal appliances have come from there
Posted by: Frank G   2007-01-06 17:32  

#6  Frank, it's a Danish warship; crewed by Danes, and undoubtedly designed by Danish naval architects who are comfortable with their Danishness.
Posted by: mrp   2007-01-06 17:16  

#5  rather disturbing er....tower...on that ship in the post, mrp. LOL
Posted by: Frank G   2007-01-06 16:16  

#4  Djibouti won't take that much money : it is the home of USSOCOM's Horn of Africa Command, and a major naval and Coast Guard basing location. The French effectively dumped Djibouti a couple of years back by pulling out most of the French Foreign Legion, and the US stepped in and saved the day. A surprising large part of the Djibouti GNP is now due to USSOCOM and the Navy/CG bases.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2007-01-06 15:43  

#3  One problem with deploying EU ships to the Indian Ocean is lack of logistical and maintenance facilities. Someone, somewhere, is going to have to provide those facilities. Diego Garcia is a long way away. Iraq, Kuwait, and the rest of the Gulf States are too bottled up (Straits of Hormuz). Two logical places would be Djibouti and Mumbai (Bombay), or Goa, India. That's going to take a lot of diplomacy (i.e., money).
Posted by: Old Patriot   2007-01-06 15:21  

#2  It's a brave new world, Frank :)

A link to his picture and interview (interesting) is in the post's comment.
Posted by: mrp   2007-01-06 15:05  

#1  Rear Admiral Nils Wang?
Posted by: Frank G   2007-01-06 14:52  

00:00