Thread: USS Essex : Bound for Burma

Originally Posted by Texpat

And the Air Force doesn't operate either.

Yeah, I know. You guys prefer buffs and crotch rockets. Bit of trivia. The US Army has more boats than the Navy.

U.S. military amphibious ship, the USS Essex (LHD2) is seen stationed about 85 nautical miles or 113 km south of Yangon, Myanmar in the International waters of the Andaman Sea on 16 May 2008. The U.S. navy ship is awaiting permission from the Myanmar military to lift and transfer much needed humanitarian relief aid supplies to impoverished country struck by Cyclone Nargis on 3 May.

EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG

Helicopter pilots from the U.S. Marines with Sea Knights, U.S. marine helicopters parked on the deck of military amphibious ship, the USS Essex (LHD2) stationed which is about 85 nautical miles or 113 km south of Yangon, Myanmar in the International waters of the Andaman Sea on 16 May 2008. The ship has 14 helicopters onboard ready to transfer aid suplies to Myanmar once the U.S. navy ship receive permission from the Military junta to transfer the much needed humanitarian relief materials to the impoverished country struck by Cyclone Nargis on 3 May .
EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG

U.S. navy sailors and marines pass bags of water for packing into boxes on U.S. military amphibious ship, the USS Essex (LHD2) stationed about 85 nautical miles or 113 km south of Yangon, Myanmar in the International waters of the Andaman Sea on 16 May 2008. The water packs are part of the aid supplies to be transferred to Myanmar once the U.S. navy ship receive permission from the Military junta to transfer the much needed humanitarian relief aid supplies to impoverished country struck by Cyclone Nargis on 3 May .

EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG

U.S. navy sailors and marines fill up bags with water on U.S. military amphibious ship, the USS Essex (LHD2) stationed about 85 nautical miles or 113 km south of Yangon, Myanmar in the International waters of the Andaman Sea on 16 May 2008. The water packs are part of the aid supplies to be transferred to Myanmar once the U.S. navy ship receive permission from the Military junta to transfer the much needed humanitarian relief aid supplies to impoverished country struck by Cyclone Nargis on 3 May .

EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG

cite

ASEAN plan may open doors for French, British, US aid flotilla waiting off Myanmar
May 19, 2008

BANGKOK, Thailand: Lt. Denver Applehans runs down the list of what's ready.

Almost within sight range of Myanmar's cyclone-devastated shore are the USS Essex, USS Juneau, USS Harpers Ferry and USS Mustin. There are 14 helicopters, two landing craft vessels, two high-tech amphibious hovercraft and about 1,000 U.S. Marines.

But here's the bottom line.

"We are currently not providing any aid from the ships," said Applehans, a public affairs officer aboard the Essex, an aircraft carrier-like ship which for the past week has been biding its time in international waters just 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the Myanmar coast.

An odd deal may be in the works, however, to allow the U.S. flotilla — and French and British ships in the same situation — to finally join in the relief effort after Cyclone Nargis.


Though extremely reluctant to allow foreign militaries access into the devastated Irrawaddy Delta, Myanmar's ruling junta appears to be weighing a proposal that would put Asian intermediaries in charge of ferrying the aid from the ships to the shore.

The deal would break an impasse over what to do with the ships, which are ready and capable of providing a huge boost to relief operations for the more than 2 million people believed to be in severe need of help.

British Foreign Office Minister Lord Malloch-Brown told the British Broadcasting Corp. that the junta was considering the arrangement, and said he was guardedly optimistic that they would accept it.

"I think if there were Asian partners able to transship into the delta area from ships, this may become an option," Malloch-Brown said Sunday. "I think you're going to see quite dramatic steps by the Burmese to open up."

In an emergency meeting in Singapore on Monday, Southeast Asia's regional bloc ASEAN announced it will set up a task force to handle distribution of foreign aid for the cyclone victims. Details of what the ASEAN-led task force would do remained sketchy.

Suggestions that foreign ships carrying aid make a forced entry into Myanmar were rejected, however.

"That will create unnecessary complication. It will only lead to more suffering for Myanmar people," said Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo.

The junta is under tremendous pressure to relent.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said over the weekend that the disaster caused by the cyclone is fast being surpassed by what he called a "man-made catastrophe" and warned that Britain would consider circumventing the junta if it continued to deny its people much-needed help.

He did not give details — though the possibility of air drops or direct landings ashore has been raised.

"We rule nothing out, and the reason we rule nothing out, is that we want to get the aid directly to the people," he said.

Britain is currently the chair of the UN Security Council, but resolutions to approve direct intervention in the delta were unlikely because China, Myanmar's biggest ally, has veto power and in the past has supported the junta against international pressure.

The Bush Administration, meanwhile, has been highly critical of the junta's handling of the disaster, but has tried to couple its outrage with more reserved diplomatic efforts out of concern that too much pressure could prompt the junta to become even more defensive and shut off what little aid it is already allowing in.

In the meantime, the flotilla waits.

The US ships can produce approximately 70,000 gallons (265,000 liters) of drinking water per day and the Marines carry equipment capable of producing 5,000 gallons (19,000 liters) of potable water per hour ashore. Just itching to go are more than 120 Navy medics, 12 doctors and three dentists.

Britain's Ministry of Defense said it had dispatched a Royal Navy frigate, the HMS Westminster, to the area "as a contingency."

The Westminster broke away from an exercise with the French and Indian navies to help in Myanmar. Britain's Department for International Development said the ship is stationed 12 miles (about 19 kilometers) off Myanmar's coast "and will remain there as part of the UK's humanitarian contingency plans."

The spokesman said the ship carried a crew of 98 and was equipped with a communications facility, a Merlin helicopter, two sea boats, a doctor and a paramedic. The spokesman added that the crew are all trained in disaster relief.

France, meanwhile, has an amphibious assault ship, Mistral, nearby.

French Defense Minister Herve Morin said French officials were still negotiating with Myanmar on delivering Mistral's cargo. French officials have said they are prepared to wait for days or even weeks until they get the green light.

Morin gave no indication on how the talks are progressing, but said "it would be too bad that the Burmese authorities prevent this important effort that France is making to save a population in distress."

"We can't remain with our arms folded when we have the means in the area to bring aid to a people, to men and women who have the right to live," Morin told France Info radio in an interview Sunday. ( mid : highlight mine )

iht.com

Originally Posted by Mid

Details of what the ASEAN-led task force would do remained sketchy.

The only practical thing they could do would be in on the ground distribution operations. Should be acceptable to all. Junta gets it's way. The Burmese only see Asian faces and the aid gets delivered.

Originally Posted by Norton

Originally Posted by Mid

Details of what the ASEAN-led task force would do remained sketchy.

The only practical thing they could do would be in on the ground distribution operations. Should be acceptable to all. Junta gets it's way. The Burmese only see Asian faces and the whole thing goes tits up.

Just took the liberty of correcting your post for accuracy.

Originally Posted by Norton

Junta gets it's way. The Burmese only see Asian faces and the aid gets delivered

Thats right Norton, but where the hell and to who does it get delivered??

Western navy help unwanted by Myanmar
Sat May 24, 2008

The USS Essex and the Essex Amphibious Ready Group steam in formation Friday in the Andaman Sea.
ASSOCIATED PRESS


YANGON, Myanmar — With their history of xenophobia, no one expected Myanmar's generals to welcome a flotilla of warships trying to help bring relief to millions affected by Cyclone Nargis.

True to form, they didn't.

As a half-dozen military ships from the U.S., France and Britain laden with aid and helicopters capable of reaching hard-hit areas waited offshore, Myanmar said they were not needed or welcome.

Although the junta agreed Friday it would let commercial ships and foreign aid workers help survivors of the May 2-3 cyclone, the military — a major factor in relief after the 2004 tsunami — was forced to sit on the sidelines.

"The strings attached to the relief supplies carried by warships and military helicopters are not acceptable to the Myanmar people,” the New Light of Myanmar newspaper, a mouthpiece for the ruling generals, said this week.

It did not say what strings were attached, and U.S. military officials have repeatedly said there were none.

"This is purely a humanitarian mission,” said Lt. Col. Douglas Powell, a spokesman for the stalled Operation Caring Response. "We have no ulterior motive other than to assist the Burmese people.”

snip

newsok.com

The "strings attached" were to fly into Burma's sovereign airspace (gasp) and over their land. Possibly seeing airports (gasp) and landing zones in which to offload supplies. They'd probably prefer 2,000 AGL airdrops from planes with the Burmese flag painted over the stars and stripes.

When the US went into Indonesia after the tsunami, we had the same sort of reluctance -- for about a day. When the scope of the disaster came into focus the Indos welcomed our aid, and we stayed for months.

Too bad Myanmar's pride trumps their sense.

send the ships to China .............

patience has it's limits .

Those Frenchy, Brit and Yank sailors are always willing to make a healthy injection into the ... ahh... economy.

The whole thing just pisses me off with the way the Burmese Generals are acting !!I
I have been involved with this sort of thing on both practical ( digging out survivors) and logistical (building refugee camps) sides for over 40 odd years -
Mexico City
Oran
Ibb
Eritrea
Taiwan etc
up to and including the Tsunami
and have NEVER seen such a display of absolute stupidity as we are seeing here!

A few examples

We shipped in dozers and excavators from El Salvador to Mexico within 4 days with no paperwork apart from a telex saying "Yes" to our offer from the Mex government - no import/export formalities - did the job and took them back .

The same for Ibb(yemen) we shipped in plant from Saudi within 2 days - same conditions- ( plant was taken from Bin Laden dealership - Osamas das's company !!!)

Etc etc

The most recent was the Tsunami
I flew into Phuket the day after - I had been working in Taiwan for the previous 6 weeks- and as luck/ fate would have it- had spent the previous day with the Taiwan Rescue Team ( having a pissed up reunion after the 1998 quake when I worked with them for 2 weeks) when the tsunami news came in .
When I caught the flight in the morning China Air had bumped 20 people off the flight and the complete reaction team was on it- without being asked and with no visas etc but with a sh*t load of equipment ( including sniffer dogs) on board - my bags were left and sent on later.
Fair play to the Thais- they were unexpected but welcomed and given all assistance when they arrived and then were taken straight to Kao Lak and were at work within half a day !

Why the Fcuk can't the prats in Burma do the same ???



Rant over
Just thought I would let you know that it can and has been done before - in the real world !

Aid donors turn up heat on Burma
Sunday, 25 May 2008


Only a quarter of the 2.4m affected have received help, the UN says

snip

American, French and British military ships full of aid are waiting just outside Burma's waters.

But, diplomats say, the Burmese government is concerned that these ships could somehow be used to launch an invasion.

Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein said Rangoon would accept supplies from foreign warships off its coast, but only if they came in on civilian boats.

snip

bbc.co.uk

Originally Posted by Mid

Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein said Rangoon would accept supplies from foreign warships off its coast, but only if they came in on civilian boats.

The idiots in the junta will be fooled by something like this.

What do condoms have to do with the Burmese Junta?

Burma: more UN help on the way but US ship may leave
22 May, 2008


USS Essex has been waiting just off the coast of Irrawaddy delta region for almost a month now.
Photo by AFP

Australian government has delivered two more helicopters to Thailand for the use of the UN World Food Programme in the relief work of cyclone victims in the delta region of Burma.

However, Navy Admiral Timothy Keating told the media that USS Essex may leave the Burmese coast where it has been waiting for weeks the green light from the Burmese government to be able to help refugees who are urgently in need of food and supplies.

In another development, former UN special envoy for human rights in Burma, Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, said that there is a window of opportunity for more dialog the may lead to political transformation in the military ruled country.

bbc.co.uk


and ........



French navy ship unloaded in Thailand.
Photo by AP

cite

bbc.co.uk


incredible


.

US Invited Burmese Officials to Ride in Relief Helicopters
By LALIT K JHA
Thursday, May 29, 2008

The US invited a Burmese government delegation to visit its aircraft carrier USS Essex off the coast of Burma and check on the humanitarian purpose of its mission to the region.

Burmese officials were even told they could ride in US helicopters or landing craft delivering aid to the cyclone survivors, Admiral Timothy J Keating, commander of the US Pacific fleet, told reporters at the Pentagon in Washington on Wednesday.


An MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter air lifts supplies from another ship onto the USS Essex.
(Photo: Reuters)

Four ships of the Pacific fleet, including the USS Essex, are carrying relief supplies which Washington has offered to deliver to the survivors of this month’s cyclone. The Burmese regime, however, has rebuffed the offer, apparently suspicious of the true intentions of the US mission.

Keating delivered a letter containing the offer at a meeting in Rangoon with a Burmese delegation led by a three-star general.

Keating assured the delegation the US only wanted to provide humanitarian aid to cyclone survivors. He told reporters at the Pentagon that he had assured the Burmese: "Once you tell us we're done, we will leave. You will not know we were here."

Keating said he had also told the Burmese delegation: “We're not in the business of reconstruction; we're in the business of supplying relief supplies."

The US admiral said he had also offered to send his fleet’s hospital ship, Mercy, to the region, but he doubted whether the Burmese regime would accept.

Keating flew from Thailand for the Rangoon meeting on May 11, aboard the first US relief flight, together with Henrietta Fore, director of USAID, and Scot Marciel, deputy assistant secretary of state at the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Keating said he, Fore and Marciel had gone to “great lengths” to convince the Burmese delegation “that we had no military intentions here. We wanted to provide relief. And we were capable of doing that already.

"The delegation accepted my comments and said: ‘We understand, we acknowledge, but we cannot approve. This decision has to be made at the very highest levels of our government, and we will take your recommendation to the highest levels of our government."

Keating said the US was capable of delivering about 250,000 pounds of relief supplies per day to Burma. “We were capable of moving it from the central distribution point there at Rangoon out to the areas needing the equipment, the relief supplies, using our medium- and heavy-lift helicopters, of which we have about a dozen in Thailand and another dozen on the USS Essex group, which is off the southwest coast in the Bay of Bengal."

Keating said whenever the US delegation tried to explain US intentions, the response from Burmese officials was the same: "We understand. We acknowledge. We appreciate your offer. But we can't give you a recommendation now.

"They listened graciously, if you can listen in a graceful manner, but they listened. They were very straightforward."

Admiral Keating said: "I assured our Burmese colleagues that we would do this without fingerprint. That is, we wouldn't need any gas; we wouldn't need any fuel, gas, fuel; we wouldn't need any food; we wouldn't need any lodging.

“We would come in, be entirely self-sufficient. We would come in, if they chose, at first light and leave every evening. We offered them the opportunity to put their own military members or civilians, their choice, on our airplanes, on our helicopters."

Keating said the distribution of US aid arriving in Rangoon was being handled by “nongovernmental organizations to a limited degree and to a larger degree by the government of Burma. Do we know where they're going? I do not necessarily know where those relief supplies are going.

"That is why we continue to emphasize our desire to put helicopters into Rangoon and the surrounding countryside so as to assist in the further distribution into the Irrawaddy delta, where we are convinced that the help is needed most desperately."

irrawaddy.org

Originally Posted by Mid

Burmese officials were even told they could ride in US helicopters or landing craft delivering aid to the cyclone survivors,

No way if I was any of those junta jackasses would I fly in a US helicopter with open doors. Might end up as a the ultimate "relief" drop for the Burmese.

the ultimate "relief" drop

10........................

Burmese military southeast command watches US warship
Fri 30 May 2008
IMNA

The Southeast Command based in Moulmein (Mawlamyine) the capital of Mon State has been keeping a close watch on a US warship which is waiting off the coast of Burma with relief supplies for cyclone refugees. The command has also posted soldiers on the costal villages along the bay in the state.

According to a source close to soldiers at the coast, they (soldiers) are watching the US warship with binoculars. They told villagers that "You already know what we are watching".

The soldiers guarding the costal area are from the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No-587 and LIB No-343 based in Aru-taung village in Lamine Sub Township.

"They are based along the mountain side near the sea and are closely watching the pagodas along the mountain near Kawdood village and plantations," the source said that. They started the monitoring a week ago.

They have been observing every fishing boat including fishermen they suspect near the sea-shore from the Andaman Sea.

About five vehicles passed along the Moulmein - Thanpyuzayart highway over two days ago, said an eyewitness in Mudon Township.

According to a woman in a village, villagers have been saying that soldiers from foreign countries came to Kalar Gote Island near Kawdood in a boat. "I didn't see it, but many people in our village are talking about it."

US warships will unload relief material soon on the Burma Sea if the Burmese regime does not permit distribution of the supplies for the victims of Cyclone Nargis, according to The Irish Times.

monnews-imna.com

Essex waiting for a few Burmese Navy patrol boats to appear! Anyone fancy another Gulf of Tonkin incident?

Why don't the fishermen sail out to the Essex and fill up on rice and generators and tarps and water? Are the soldiers checking every fishing boat?

Originally Posted by Mid

They have been observing every fishing boat including fishermen they suspect near the sea-shore from the Andaman Sea.

Originally Posted by Texpat

Are the soldiers checking every fishing boat?

All. Don't know but looks they are watching.

US aid ships to leave coast of Burma
Wednesday, 04 June 2008

New Delhi - In an unfortunate move, the United States on Wednesday said it will withdraw naval ships off Burma's coast, carrying relief material, after the country's military rulers refused to allow it to help survivors of last month's Cyclone Nargis.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Timothy J. Keating said the US Navy has made at least 15 attempts to convince the Burmese military junta to allow them access to help the cyclone victims. But the junta refused.



"I am both saddened and frustrated to know that we have been in a position to help ease the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people and help mitigate further loss of life, but have been unable to do so because of the unrelenting position of the Burmese military junta," Keating said.

After the failed attempts, Keating has recommended that the USS Essex group and U.S. Marine Corps 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) continue with their previously scheduled operational commitments by June 5.

"The Secretary of Defence approved this recommendation," the statement said.

Keating said the Essex ships will now head for the coast of Thailand to reload their remaining helicopters and personnel on June 11.

"However, should the Burmese rulers have a change of heart and request our full assistance for their suffering people we are prepared to help," said Keating.

The US Essex ships had been positioned off the coast of Burma since May 13, ready and able to deliver urgently needed humanitarian assistance to the victims of Cyclone Nargis that swept Burma on May 2 and 3, leaving more than 130,000 people dead or missing and 2.4 million homeless.

The statement on the withdrawal of the US Navy ships came days after US Defence Secretary Robert M. Gates said that the Burmese junta's obstruction of international efforts to help cyclone victims cost 'tens of thousands of lives.'

Keating, who personally flew to Rangoon with the first U.S. military relief flight on May 12, said he had offered the Burmese junta to visit U.S. ships in international waters and to fly on U.S. military relief flights in an effort to help ease any concerns they might have regarding U.S. humanitarian assistance and intentions.

But the junta turned down the offer and continues to deny permission to help victims in the hardest hit areas in Irrawaddy delta, wasting the efforts of the Joint Task Force Caring Response, including the four-ship Essex Group, 22 medium and heavy lift helicopters, four landing craft, and more than 5,000 U.S. military personnel.

Earlier last week, the French withdraw its military vessel loaded with relief aid from its position near the coast off Burma after failing to obtain permission to go into the Delta to help cyclone victims.

Burma's military junta has maintained that it welcomes aid supplies and international aid workers to help survivors of the cyclone but will not accept the use of any foreign military equipment for relief purposes.

The United States was quick in responding after Cyclone Nargis hit Burma on May 2. The USAID and the Department of Defence have so far completed a total of 106 airlifts carrying more than two million pounds of emergency relief supplies that are believed to be reaching at least 417,000 people.

The United Nations, however, said aid has reached only an estimated 1.3 million out of the total of more than 2.4 million affected people.

mizzima.com