By Captain Edward Lundquist, U.S. Navy (Ret.). Courtesy of Surface SITREP. Republished with the permission of the Surface Navy Association (www.navysna.org).
The commander of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, Commodore Roderick Bowe, says the Bahamas is recapitalizing its maritime security and safety capability and capacity with its multiyear port and ship construction project codenamed “Sandy Bottom.”
The Bahamas are blest and cursed by geography. The islands and surrounding pristine waters encompasses 700 islands, cays, and islets (only a handful of them are inhabited) with a total land area of 5,358 square miles, spread out over 180,000 square miles of ocean. Those waters also invite poachers and smugglers, and the vast expense of water to patrol is a major challenge for Bahamian authorities.
The country has a population of about 320,000, with about 250,000 inhabitants living on the island of New Providence, where the capital, Nassau, is located. It is one of America’s closest neighbors. The westernmost island, Bimini, is only 53 miles from the Florida coast.
Although not “tropical,” the Gulf Stream gives the low-lying Bahamas (the highest point in the chain is 207 feet above sea level) a warm, winter-free climate, providing for an economy largely reliant on tourism, with the majority of visitors coming from the U.S.
The country has a single military service, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (the RBDF), which is essentially the navy of the Bahamas.
“From north to south, our geographical footprint is similar to the distance from Puerto Rico to Trinidad and Tobago” says the head of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF), Commodore Roderick Bowe. “We’re right between the greatest economy in world and poorest nation in North America. And because we lie in the midst of the hurricane belt, we have to be ready to respond to natural disasters.”
With all that water to patrol, Bowe says the SAR mission is of great importance. “As mariners, we’re all responsible for the safety of life at sea.”
But, he says, the vast amount of ocean presents challenges. “We can’t be everywhere all at once to provide security and safety.”
Project Sandy Bottom
The RBDF embarked upon the ambitious and comprehensive Sandy Bottom Project to update and expand its fleet, while also making the necessary infrastructure improvements.
Dutch shipbuilder Damen Shipyards Group will deliver nine vessels over a six-year acquisition program. Included are four Damen Stan Patrol (SPa) 4207 type offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) and four SPa 3007 patrol craft, along with a 615-ton, 194-foot Stan Lander 5612 roll-on roll-off (RO/RO) landing craft. The landing craft has a 25-ton crane and can embark and deliver vehicles and cargo to any port in the Bahamas as well as unimproved landing areas such as the island chain’s many beaches.
The larger 4207s, with a 24-person crew, will have a range in excess of 2, 000 nm and can achieve speeds of 20 knots. The 4207s are operated by a number of navies and coast guards, including many in the Caribbean. The Jamaica Defence Force Coast Guard, Albanian Naval Defense Forces, Barbados Coast Guard, Bulgarian Border Police, Canadian Coast Guard, Honduran Navy, Venezuelan Navy, Netherlands Coast Guard, Mexican Navy and United Kingdom Border Agency operate this class of OPV, which is also quite similar to the U.S. Coast Guard’s fast response cutter.
The OPVs carry weapons and a pair of RHIBs, and are well suited for anti-poaching, migrant interdiction, smuggling of currency and firearms, and drug enforcement missions.
The first 4207, HMBS Arthur Dion Hanna arrived from the Netherlands in May 2014, followed by HMBS Durwood Knowles in July and HMBS Leon Livington Smith in September 2014.
The Spa 3007 is a 30 meter OPV with a range of up to 2,000 nm at 10 knots, and equipped with a stern boat launch ramp. It will have a crew of 13. Although the 4207s will have the more traditional planning hull, the smaller 3007s feature the distinctive “axe bow.”
Until the new ships started arriving, the RBDF has relied upon two 198-foot OPVs, HMBS Bahamas (P-60), along with sister ship HMBS Nassau (P-61), both built in the late 1990s by Moss Point Marine, now VT Halter Marine, in Mississippi. Damen will provide a mid-life upgrade to the Bahamas-class vessels, which entered operational service with the defense force in 1999, to extend the operational life for several years.
The Dutch civil engineering company Van Oord is responsible for the design, engineering, dredging and construction of three ports for the RBDF, including the deepening of access channels and construction of quay walls, breakwaters, buildings, jetties, moorings and facings.
The Sandy Bottom package also provides for sustaining the investment with spares and training.
The Sandy Bottom project is noteworthy because it not only adds hulls, but upgrades the existing port and creates two new ones so the RBDF can spread the afloat assets throughout the country. Dredging and breakwater improvements are being made to the existing base at Coral Harbor on New Providence, along with a ramp for the RO/RO ship. Breakwaters and manmade coral reefs are being constructed to create protected berths at Mathew Town on Great Inaugua and Gun Point on Ragged Island.
RBDF Lieut. Cmdr. Chapell Whyms says the HMBS Arthur Dion Hanna is well equipped with the latest technology, and has the range and endurance to be effective on patrol. “This is like comparing a new model BMW to an older model BMW,” he said. “It’s still a BMW but the newer one is of course better equipped, upgraded and advanced.”
Bowe says the RO/RO landing craft will be especially useful for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. Haiti asked neighboring countries for help following the devastating January 2010 earthquake, but Bowe said the Bahamas didn’t have the assets. “Our ability to respond to crises in the region has been nonexistent because we didn’t have the resources to do so. Now we can assist the other Caribbean countries. We can take our own support, hospital, food, and supplies, and we can deliver personnel and material where it’s needed. We have a desalinization plant onboard to make fresh water, and we can produce a lot of ice, as well, so people without power will be able to keep their perishables.”
Minister of National Security Dr. Bernard Nottage says the cost for the nine vessels is $149 million, with another $75 million for the port construction and improvements. He says the investments prove that the government is serious about protecting the country’s borders.
Caribbean challenges
Bowe says the RBDF is charged with maintaining law and order, defending and protecting the country, assisting people in need and conducting other duties as assigned. “We are the lead agency guarding our heritage, responsible for the safety and security of all who live in and visit the Bahamas.”
Operations are often coordinated with the U.S. and neighboring Turks and Caicos as part of Operation Bahamas, Turks and Caicos (OPBAT). The OPBAT task force joins the U.S. Coast Guard, and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) with authorities in the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Island (TCI) to combat drug smuggling, human smuggling and other illegal activity, as well as conduct and search and rescue cases throughout the AOR.
Bowe says the Bahamas has very good relations with their neighbors in the TCI to the south. “We’re all in this together,” he says.
On occasion RBDF vessels will visit the Turks and Caicos. “Sailors always welcome a port of call,” says Bowe.
The Defense Force is also a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)'s Regional Security Task Force.
With unmanned aircraft systems becoming more common in both civilian and military applications, Bowe says the Bahamas is looking at UAS for SAR, intelligence, reconnaissance and target acquisition. “We spend a lot of man hours and fuel on patrol. We can investigate areas of interest with a more sustainable presence and make better and more informed decisions.”
Bowe says it is important to strengthen partnerships and increase collaboration, in part, he says because the “criminal enterprises have more resources than we do.”
“We cannot operate in a vacuum. We need to unify our efforts,” he says.
The Bahamas has surface surveillance radars, as does Turks and Caicos. “We’re looking at placing a radar system in the southern Bahamas to close the radar gap.”
Bowe says the RBDF also has reservists, with the first reserve members of the force joining about two years ago. Bowe says the U.S. model works well. “The reserve program allows me to enlist persons beyond 25 years of age who want to work their regular jobs and give service to their country. We’re still working through it, but I don’t think we can exist and be the professional force we want to me without them.”
