Smugglers

Between unreps with Coalition forces the Rover would return to an area in the Gulf and await further orders. Maneuvering at a crawl within a box awaiting orders for the next rendezvous, our bridge watch spent a great deal of time eyeing our radars carefully. Smuggling in the Gulf is very big business. A great deal of smuggling takes place in the area between Iran and Oman, and by extension the United Arab Emirates. This area, the Strait of Hormuz, is a choke point for international oil shipments. The giant supertankers share the Strait with freighters, roll-on/roll-off ships, chemical carriers, Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) carriers, fishing vessels, sheep carriers, etc. and smugglers. To avoid the area looking like a Los Angeles freeway, Separation Zones keep inbound and outbound vessels apart with a small buffer zone between the two. The inbound zone is to the north (close to Iran) while the outbound zone is to the south (closer to Oman). During periods of heightened tensions between the US and Iran the transit can be one of considerable excitement. During the Iran Iraq war in the 1980s, my ship was being escorted by a US frigate through the Strait in daylight. An Iranian gunboat approached and the conversation over VHF Channel 16 became very tense. Seems the gunboat had ‘locked on’ to either us or our escort. Having tested the frigate’s resolve the gunboat departed. Vessels carrying US military cargo will have a squad of soldiers (sometimes Marines or National Guard) aboard to “protect” the ship and its cargo from pirates and bad guys. These squads will often times set up machine guns amidships both sides with armed men on bow and stern. As the vessel transits the Strait at maximum speed the tension among these soldiers is ratcheted up considerably. All are well aware of the bad blood with Iran and have been warned about possible suicide vessels running into the side of the ship and causing death and damage. As the ship transits the Strait the soldiers are on high alert for any suspicious activity. Unfortunately, having never been through the Strait before the soldiers are not familiar with the smugglers and how they operate. After dark and often well after midnight the “Smugglers Parade” begins. Small extremely fast vessels make the run between Oman and Iran; I have counted 8 at one time in my area. Using the massive size of the tankers and other large vessels to mask them from the shore based radar, the smugglers make high speed runs from one vessel to another. It is not at all unusual for a large tanker to have two smugglers hiding in its radar shadow. The smuggler reduces its speed and runs along with the tanker for a few minutes, until it spots the next ship whose radar shadow it can hide in. In this way the smugglers make the run from Oman to Iran and back again. On one voyage during the 2nd Gulf War my ship was carrying a squad of soldiers from the Puerto Rico National Guard. Very professional men they intended to be on their toes during the transit. Heavily armed and ready for anything we began our transit inbound (closer to Iran) just after midnight. As I maneuvered my ship around slower ones, I could see the smugglers parade was already well underway. Watching our radar carefully I noted one small vessel clear the stern of a large tanker, in ballast and presenting an enormous radar signature, and was approaching on our starboard side at high speed. The National Guard squad spotted it almost immediately as well as their radios came suddenly to life. The back and forth between the major on the bridge and his squad grew frantic as the smuggler came closer. Though my Spanish was very much out of practice it was apparent the starboard machine gun was getting ready to open fire. A hurried consultation with the major and literally lighting up the smuggler with our bridge wing signal light and the small vessel immediately altered course away. We all heaved a sigh of relief. The Rover carried neither a squad of soldiers nor any weapons of any kind; we were pretty much on our own. Thankfully we were in open waters and of smugglers we saw none. One morning, the 17th of January 1991 to be exact, on watch from 0400 to 0800 I noticed that all outbound vessel traffic (away from the north end of the Gulf, i.e., away from Kuwait and Iraq) had halted. All vessel traffic was now northbound and converging. Operation Desert Storm, the invasion of Kuwait, had begun.