USS Typhoon Operates in Horn of Africa

Defend America News ^ | Petty Officer 3rd Class Bobby Northnagle

[SandRat]

U.S. Navy sailors aboard the USS Typhoon connect with Royal Netherlands support ship HNLMS Amsterdam prior to refueling. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Bobby Northnagle
USS Typhoon Operates in Horn of Africa
The underway period marked only the second time a Navy patrol craft has operated in and around the waters surrounding the Horn of Africa.
By U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Bobby Northnagle MANAMA, Bahrain, May 1, 2006 — USS Typhoon completed a month-long operation with Combined Task Force 150, April 27, that called for the patrol craft to conduct maritime security operations alongside the Royal Netherlands Navy support ship HNLMS Amsterdam and U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Wrangell. "[Typhoon’s] job was to get as close to dhows and merchant vessels as possible and to send a boarding crew to gather intelligence about maritime activity in the area." U.S. Navy Lt. T.J. Mayott The underway period marked only the second time a Navy patrol craft has operated in and around the waters surrounding the Horn of Africa and the first for patrol craft crew delta. Combined Task Force 150, commanded by Pakistan Navy Rear Adm. Shahid Iqbal, is responsible for conducting maritime security operations in the Gulf of Oman, Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea and the North Arabian Sea. Maritime security operations set the conditions for security and stability in the maritime environment as well as complement the counterterrorism and security efforts of regional nations. These operations deny international terrorists use of the maritime environment as a venue for attack or to transport personnel, weapons, or other material.	Typhoon’s role in the mission, like the Wrangell, was to use its size and speed to do what larger Navy vessels can’t. “[Typhoon’s] job was to get as close to dhows and merchant vessels as possible and to send a boarding crew to gather intelligence about maritime activity in the area,” said U.S. Navy Lt. T.J. Mayott, Typhoon’s weapons officer. “The mission was also to show our presence to local mariners and let them know coalition forces are here to prevent piracy and terrorism,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. P.C. Thien, Typhoon’s commanding officer. Delta crewmembers aboard Typhoon operated the ship while members of Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment 401 performed necessary boardings. “This mission revealed how versatile a [patrol craft]crew is,” said Mayott. “Every sailor is expected to do the jobs of multiple rates. At any moment, a gunner’s mate can be a culinary specialist, help fix an engine or perform the duties of quartermaster of the watch. A [patrol craft] sailor is a well-rounded sailor.” “[Responsibilities] are pushed farther down the chain-of-command then normally expected,” agreed Thien. “Some seaman aboard the Typhoon have more on their shoulders than some first class petty officers on a larger ship.”

[SandRat]

Navy PING

[bnelson44]

Sailors look good in tan :)

[El Gato]

I think this pic gives a better feel for the Typhoon PC-5 (5th boat of the Cyclone class). Somewhat the modern equivalent, mission wise at least, of the Swift Boat.

The Cyclones are much larger boats than the old Swift Boats (PCFs). The Swifts were 50 feet long with a crew of 6. The Cyclones are 170 feet long, with a crew of 28, (plus potentially 8 Seals or Spec Ops)

[onedoug]

ping

[SandRat]

Any old WWII PT Boat skippers must be drooling at the thoughts of what they could have done with those in WWII.

[MedicalMess]

Tracking Chinese submarine movements?

[Spruce]

I would bet the sailors doing the boarding leave the M-16s and berreta 9mms. Dollars-to-donoughts says they take 1911s and 12-gauges.

[SandRat]

Bet they'd give anything to have a Thompson.

[Spruce]

An old 870, with 8 rounds, full of bird-shot is just as good when the creeps are all around you. (with a 1911, with 11 rounds, to finish the deal)

[Grampa Dave]

USS TYPHOON is the fifth CYCLONE - class patrol coastal boat. From November 2001 on, the CYCLONE - class ships were temporarily operated under US Coast Guard control for homeland defense.

General Characteristics: Awarded: August 3, 1990
Keel laid: May 15, 1992
Launched: March 3, 1993
Commissioned: February 12, 1994
Builder: Bollinger Machine Shop & Shipyard, Lockport, Louisiana
Propulsion system:4 Paxman diesels
Propellers: four
Length: 170 feet (51.8 meters)
Beam: 25 feet (7.6 meters)
Draft: 7.5 feet (2.3 meters)
Displacement: approx. 331 tons
Speed: 35 knots
Aircraft: none
Armament: 2 25mm Mk-38 machine guns; 2 .50 cal machine guns;
2 Mk-19 automatic grenade launchers; 6 stinger missiles
Homeport: Little Creek, Va.
Crew: 4 officers, 24 enlisted and 8 Special Forces personnel

[El Gato]

Any old WWII PT Boat skippers must be drooling at the thoughts of what they could have done with those in WWII.

Because of their torpedo armament, PT boats could, and occasionally did, kill capital ships. This boat can't do that. It's big enough to be armed with at least Harpoon sized missile, which could kill at least cruiser or destroyer sized ships. But it's not.

It's also not as fast as a WW-II PT boat, which could do at least 40 knots. The Cyclone class is also larger, about twice as long. About the only armament the PC's have that the PTs didn't would be the Stinger missiles. At least the late war PTs. But then there those torpedos...